The village on the Düssel is a thriving Land capital of 600,000 inhabitants on both banks of the Rhine, crossed by no fewer than six bridges.

The city likes to think of itself as Germany's leading fashion centre, and if luxury shops are your scene, there are none more stylish between Paris and Berlin. The nightlife is one of the most varied and enjoyable in the country, especially in the Altstadt.  

The Altstadt, close to the Rhine, reflects the meaning of Düsseldorf's name in its modest proportions, renowned for being a remarkable range of places of entertainment. Over 200 restaurents, beer halls, wine cellars, bistros, snack bars, jazz centres and discos are crammed into the small area of the Altstadt, which pulsates with activity day and night.

Walking through the Altstadt - 'the longest bar in Europe' according to the to the tourist office - is an enjoyable activity in itself. This small quarter contains a large percentage of the city's most recommendable eateries, though there are many to try in the Media Harbour as well.

Düsseldorf's multicultural make-up ensures a wide choice of ethnic cuisines; the best places for traditional local fare are the Brauereigaststätten, the restaurants cum beer halls of the local breweries, several of which still maintain the time-honoured tradition of brewing in-house. Their most popular product by far is the highly distinctive Alt, which is dark in colour and tending towards sweetness in some varieties, caused by the higher quality of malt used than in lagers.

Visit www.duesseldorf-altstadt.de for more information.

Düsseldorf has a strong tradition in classical music, and also offers a wide range of theatrical entertainments.

Housed in an ultra-modern gallery in Grabbeplatz just north of St Andreas is the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen (www.kunstsammlung.de). Paul Klee, the abstract painter has around ninety of his works on display. You can also see Picasso's most famous representational works, Two Sitting Women, Leger's large Adam and Eve, Kirchner's Negro Dance, Mondigliani's Diego Rivera and self portraits by Kokoschka and Chagnell.

The museum kunst palast (www.museum-kunst-palast.de), directly north of the Altstadt at Ehrenhof 5, has the mission of presenting art in a new and challenging way. One example is the contract between the documentary approach of the great nineteenth-century painter Menzel and that of the comtemporary Düsseldorf photographers Thomas Struth and Andreas Gursky, who have gained international fame and fortune for their starkly realist takes on modern life. A large Rubens altarpeice of The Assumption puts almost all the old masters in the shade. Also on view is the lithographs by Otto Pankok called The Passion, which depicts Christ's whole life.

At the far end of the Hofgarten park is Schloss Jägerhof, a Baroque palace which sustained severe damage in the last war. It's interior decorations have been refitted as the Goethe-Museum (www.goethe-museum-kippenberg-stiftung.de), reckoned to be the best collection of memorabilia of the great poet and playwright after those in Frankfurt and Weimar.

Extracts taken with kind permission of the publishers from the Rough Guide to Germany by Gordon McLachlan, published by Rough Guides £15.99 www.roughguides.com.