Getting from Duesseldorf Airport to the city

The two stations, and why it matters

• Duesseldorf Flughafen (Airport) station sits on the east side of the airport grounds. Over 350 trains a day stop there, everything from local S-Bahn services to ICE long distance trains. This is the station your ICE ticket means.
• Duesseldorf Airport Terminal station is in the basement of the terminal building - and only the S11 calls there. The S11 runs from Bergisch Gladbach through Duesseldorf main station to the airport.
• So: if you are on the S11, you arrive under the terminal. On anything else, you arrive at the other station and take the SkyTrain.
• The names are almost identical, which is exactly why people end up at the wrong one.

The SkyTrain

• Seven minutes from the train station to the terminal building, on a fully automatic cabin railway.
• Stops: Duesseldorf Flughafen train station, car park P4/P5, Terminal A/B, Terminal C.
• Daily 03:45 to 00:45, every 5 to 7 minutes depending on how many people are waiting. Nothing runs 00:45 to 03:45.
• Paying is contactless: hold a bank card or phone to the validator on the way in and again on the way out, and the fare is calculated from the distance. VRR fares and conditions apply.
• Also accepted: special DB tickets such as City plus, the NRW-Ticket and the Deutschlandticket, and airport car park tickets, which cover up to nine people.
• No luggage trolleys on the SkyTrain. The cabins have luggage space but the trolleys stay behind.

Buses

• In front of the main arrivals hall: 721 to Tannenhof via Duesseldorf main station, 760 to Ratingen, SB51 to Kaarst-Rathaus via Meerbusch, and 896 to the trade fair centre during fairs.
• At the railway station bus stop: 729 to Theodor-Heuss-Bruecke, 776 to Mercedesstrasse, and SB51 again.
• Long distance coaches use platform 14 before central arrivals, with international routes to Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin, Hamburg, Groningen and more.

Worth knowing

• The DuesseldorfCard Plus covers free travel from the airport across the whole Rhine-Ruhr and Rhine-Sieg network, from Dortmund to Bonn, plus discounts on museums and tours.
• This is the airport for the whole Ruhr, not just for Duesseldorf: Cologne, Essen, Dortmund and Duisburg are all a train ride away, and that is why the long distance station exists.
• Do not confuse it with Weeze, which some airlines call "Duesseldorf" and which is 80 km away near the Dutch border.