Düsseldorf is one of the wealthiest and most stylish cities in Germany — a compact, walkable financial and fashion capital on the Rhine, just 40 km north of Cologne. For centuries it was an Electoral Palatinate residence city; today it is the seat of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the industrial heart of western Germany. The wealth shows: on the Königsallee (Kö), a kilometre-long boulevard lined with designer shops and running along a tree-shaded canal, and in the newer districts of Medienhafen, where Frank Gehry's twisting towers and other contemporary architecture have replaced the old docks.
The Altstadt — the compact old town on the Rhine — is known as "the longest bar in the world": more than 260 pubs and breweries packed into a quarter of a square kilometre. The local beer, Altbier, is a dark, hoppy, top-fermented ale served in small 0.2-litre glasses. Uerige, Schumacher, Füchschen, and Schlüssel are the four classic brewpubs — each brews its own Alt and serves it with Rhineland pork dishes. The Rhine promenade runs the length of the Altstadt, with the Rhine Tower (240 m, with a revolving restaurant near the top) at the southern end and views up- and downriver on a clear day as far as the spires of Cologne Cathedral.
Düsseldorf has an unexpectedly good art scene. The K20 and K21 museums together form the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen — Paul Klee, Joseph Beuys, and the best post-war German collection in the country. The Museum Kunstpalast and the Goethe Museum in Hofgarten round out the historical side. Just out of town, the Museum Insel Hombroich is a remarkable art-in-nature site where 20th-century collections are housed in a series of pavilions on a wild landscape.
The city is also home to the largest Japanese community in continental Europe — around 8,000 people — concentrated around Immermannstraße, where you'll find excellent ramen shops, sushi bars, Japanese supermarkets, and a striking Buddhist temple.