A scavenger hunt through Dortmund, from brewery tower to City Garden
The Dortmund scavenger hunt is a self-guided city game you play on your phone: you walk from landmark to landmark, solve a riddle at each one by looking closely at what is in front of you, and unlock the stories and legends behind it. Inside the ring of the old city walls the route stays flat: 3.1 km and roughly 42 minutes on foot from the golden U to the City Garden, with 10 riddles that stretch the game to about 2 hours.
Highlights include the golden U on the former Union brewery, the German Football Museum, the Konzerthaus with its winged rhinoceros, St Reinold's Church and its legend, and the medieval Adlerturm. Dortmund's compact centre lies inside the ring road that follows the old city walls, so the route is short and links brewery history, football, churches and green spaces.
- Durationabout 2 hours
- Walkingabout 42 min · 3.1 km
- Stops10
- LanguagesEnglish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch
Puzzles between the U-Tower, Reinoldikirche and the Wall
A golden letter, a winged rhino and a quiet tower
The clue for every riddle is out in the open: the golden U on the old brewery roof, the rhinoceros with wings that serves as the Konzerthaus emblem, the Dominican church that was built without a tall tower. Read the buildings carefully and the answers follow, without any knowledge of German.
A cart that chose its own way
Solved riddles unlock Dortmund's tales: the legend of the cart that carried St Reinold's body all the way from Cologne and stopped by itself where his church now stands, the 1920s high-rise built for the Union brewery, and the Mother Hiroshima sculpture on a square named after the Japanese city. Between the brewery tower and the churches, the audio narration can tell you each legend on the move.
Level ground around the old walls
Dortmund's centre sits inside the Wall, the ring road that follows the medieval fortifications, so the 3.1 km route has no climbs to speak of. About 42 minutes on foot take you from the brewery tower to the old town churches and the green Stadtgarten, with Google Maps showing the way.
Shopping streets and a pause
The game has no time limit, which leaves room for coffee in the shopping streets around Reinoldikirche or an hour in a museum. Pick up the next riddle in the afternoon or on another day.
See the route and attractions →
How it works
- Book online Choose the number of players. Your booking reference arrives by email straight away.
- Get the app Download the World City Trail app from the App Store or Google Play and enter your booking reference.
- Play when you like Start whenever you are ready, walk at your own pace and pause any time. No guide, no fixed schedule.
Who the Dortmund scavenger hunt suits
Borussia supporters on matchday
Arriving for a Borussia game? The hunt passes the German Football Museum right opposite the station and fills a pre-match morning or a free afternoon, with the old town churches and the Wall thrown in.
Visitors new to the Ruhr
Dortmund is often seen as purely industrial, and the riddles show the other side: a Hanseatic past, medieval churches and a city that rebuilt itself after the war, all in about 2 hours.
Colleagues, classes and families
Teams of up to 5, each player with the game on their own phone, can start at the U a few minutes apart and meet again in the Stadtgarten. Children enjoy the golden U, the winged rhino and the rolling cart, with an adult in the team.
Good to know
- Bring a charged smartphone with mobile data; a power bank helps.
- No entry tickets needed: everything happens outside the buildings. Going inside is optional and paid separately.
- Family friendly; children must be accompanied by an adult.
- Not suitable for wheelchair users and difficult with strollers.
- Teams of up to 5 work best; bigger groups split into several teams, one ticket per player.
- Every purchase helps support stray cats and dogs in Greece.
The route: Dortmunder U, Football Museum, Konzerthaus, the old town churches and the Stadtgarten
10 stops · about 42 min walking · start: Dortmunder U · finish: Stadtgarten
The hunt starts at the Dortmunder U west of the centre and heads past the main station to the German Football Museum and the Museum of Art and Cultural History. From there you walk to the Konzerthaus and into the old town to St Reinold's Church and the Propsteikirche, then on to Platz von Hiroshima, the Altes Stadthaus and the Adlerturm, and finish in the Stadtgarten. Football museum, concert hall and Eagle Tower are all solved from the pavement, so the hunt costs nothing beyond your game ticket, and anyone arriving by train can let the app open the game at the Football Museum opposite the station and rearrange the remaining stops.
Open the route map ↗
1Dortmunder UStart
This tall brick building was built in the 1920s as a high-rise for the Union brewery, and the golden illuminated U on its roof was added in 1968. Since 2010 it has been a centre for art and creativity and home to the Museum Ostwall. Look up at the roof, where moving images by the film-maker Adolf Winkelmann light up after dark.
2German Football Museum
Germany's national football museum, run by the German Football Association (DFB), opened in 2015 directly opposite Dortmund's main station. Its exhibitions cover trophies, famous matches and the history of the game in Germany, which suits a city known far beyond its borders for Borussia Dortmund.
3Museum of Art and Cultural History
The museum occupies an Art Deco building from the 1920s that was originally built for the city savings bank. Its collections trace the history of Dortmund and its region from early times to the 20th century, together with paintings, furniture and design. Take a look at the clean, geometric lines of the façade.
4Konzerthaus Dortmund
Dortmund's concert hall opened in 2002 in the Brückstraße quarter and has about 1,500 seats. Its glass front glows in the evening, and its emblem is a rhinoceros with wings, a symbol of the hall's strength and lightness.
5St Reinold's Church
This Protestant church is named after Dortmund's patron saint and is one of the oldest in the city, with a Romanesque nave from the 13th century and a late Gothic choir. According to legend, the cart carrying Reinold's body rolled on its own from Cologne to Dortmund and stopped where the church now stands.
6Propsteikirche St. Johann Baptist
The main Catholic church of the city centre was built in the 14th and 15th centuries as the church of a Dominican friary. In keeping with the simple style of the Dominicans, it has no tall tower. Inside is a large late 15th-century altarpiece by the painter Derick Baegert.
7Platz von Hiroshima
This small square is named after the Japanese city of Hiroshima, destroyed by an atomic bomb in August 1945. A sculpture here, known as Mutter Hiroshima (Mother Hiroshima), remembers the victims and stands as a call for peace.
Read the full story →
8Altes Stadthaus
The Old Town House was built at the end of the 19th century in neo-Renaissance style to give the growing city administration more space. Its decorated façade with gables and ornaments is one of the few reminders of that period in a centre largely destroyed by bombing in the Second World War.
9Adlerturm
The Adlerturm, or Eagle Tower, was rebuilt in 1992 on the foundations of a tower of Dortmund's medieval city wall. Inside, a museum shows the fortifications and daily life in the medieval Hanseatic and imperial city. The ring road around the centre, known as the Wall, still follows the line of the old walls.
10StadtgartenFinish
The City Garden is a green park on the southern edge of the old town, next to the buildings of the city administration. Its lawns and old trees offer a quiet break from the shopping streets, and the Stadtgarten station beneath it is one of the main junctions of Dortmund's light rail network.
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Stella-Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Abigail-Finland –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Wegführung war gut, ein paar historische Hintergründe. Es hätte mehr interessante / lustige / spannende Infos geben können. Rätsel waren alle machbar, manchmal musste man genau hinschauen.
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Schöne Aktion, um die Innenstadt von Dortmund fußläufig kennenzulernen. Die Aufgaben hätten gerne etwas anspruchsvoller sein dürfen. Die Infotexte waren eher lieblos zusammenkopiert.
Anthony-Spain –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Nathan-Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Hannah-France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Stephanie-Slovenia –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Nora-Spain –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Olaf-Norway –
Collected on GetYourGuide