Krefeld

Introduction

Krefeld (German pronunciation: [ˈkʁeːfɛlt]), also known as Crefeld until 1929, is a city in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. It is located southwest of the Ruhr area, its centre just a few kilometres to the west of the River Rhine; the borough of Uerdingen is situated directly on the Rhine. Krefeld is accessed by the autobahns A57 (Cologne - Nijmegen) and the A44 (Aachen - Düsseldorf - Dortmund - Kassel). Krefeld is also called the "Velvet and Silk City".

In more recent decades the city has hosted an honors program in foreign language (German) studies. The program annually places thirty specially selected high school students with families in and around Krefeld for intensive German language training.

Krefeld's residents speak Hochdeutsch, the standard German taught to all people in Germany. However, the native dialect is a Low German variety, sometimes locally called "Krefelder Plattdeutsch," "Krieewelsch Platt," "Plattdeutsch,," or sometimes simply "Platt." The Uerdingen line isogloss, separating general dialectical areas in Germany and neighboring Germanic-speaking countries, runs through and is named for Krefeld's Uerdingen district, originally an independent municipality

Neighbourhoods

Sights and Activities

Events and Festivals

Weather

Getting There

By Plane

Krefeld is located within the triangle Dortmund-Düsseldorf-Nijmegen (Netherlands) and as such profits from having three (major) airports within half an hour drive or so:

• Düsseldorf International Airport (DUS) is a large airport with over 18.3 million passengers (2008), making it the third largest airport in Germany. The airport is located 9 kilometres from the city centre of Düsseldorf and is the major airport for the entire area. Because of the good connections and proximity to the Netherlands, a lot of Dutch people living in the southeast of the country prefer to use this airport.
• Airport Weeze is located near to the Dutch border. Its main user is Ryanair. But also some smaller airlines use this airport.
• Dortmund Airport - Easyjet flies to Barcelona, Budapest, London, Krakow and Thessaloniki, while Air Berlin flies to Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Nuremberg, Mallorca and Tenerife. Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Gdansk, Katowice, Kiev, Lviv, Poznan, Sofia, Timisoara, Warsaw and Wroclaw, and [Istanbul, Munich, Palma de Mallorca, Salzburg and Split, are served by Wizz Air and Germanwings respectively.

By Train

By Car

By Bus

By Boat

Getting Around

By Car

By Public Transport

By Foot

By Bike

Eat

Drink

Sleep

Budget

Mid-Range

Upscale

Work

Learn

Keep Connected

Internet

Phone

See also: International Telephone Calls

Post

Germany's postal system is very efficient, their logistics branch DHL is one of the best companies in this field world-wide, with domestic post or within a radius of 400 kilometres, send within a day. The website of Deutsche Post has an online calculator for postage fees as well as a post office finder. Within Germany, sending postcards costs €0.45 and standard letters €0.55, within Europe it is €0.65 for a postcard, standard letters to places in Europe cost €0.70. Outside Europe, the prices for sending a postcard or standard letter are €1 and €1.70 respectively. Although you will find the old post offices (mainly in the city centre), most of the smaller neighbourhood post offices are part of a small tobacco shop or grocery store.