Living in Aachen and the Surrounding Area
Three different countries and cultures meet at Aachen's city limits, giving the city a very special charm. Use our information about Aachen and the region to get to know your new living and working environment. Find out about the diverse cultural and leisure activities on offer in the city of Aachen and benefit from the various sporting activities offered by RWTH!
You can also use the pages of the Newcomer Service of the City of Aachen to get to know Aachen, find tips and get assistance on your new location, and various offers for your family.
The University also offers you a variety of opportunities to get to know your colleagues and to network with like-minded individuals. Use the various offers available for networking and making contacts, joining in on scientific discourse, and discussing ideas with other researchers.
Cultural and Leisure Activities
Museums
There are many museums in Aachen and the surrounding area. The exhibitions in Aachen's museums are usually accompanied by a diverse program, which includes workshops and seminars as well as events for children and young people.
Internationales Zeitungsmuseum (International Newspaper Museum)
Kunsthaus NRW (NRW Arthouse, website only available in German)
Theater and music
The theaters in Aachen and the surrounding area, the Aachen Symphony Orchestra, and various cultural initiatives offer a wide range of events, such as opera, theater, and ballet performances, concerts, and open-air events.
One cultural highlight is certainly the music event Aachen September Special, where international, national, and local artists perform on one of four stages in the middle of the city over a four-day period. Moreover, the city has another special treat in store for classical music fans: Kurpark Classix, where the Aachen Symphony Orchestra plays concerts to an audience at the Kurpark, in a summery atmosphere.
Further organizers and festivals in Aachen and the region are:
Wining and dining
Aachen features a very appealing range of restaurants, cafés, and pubs. Pontstraße is particularly popular among students and guest researchers. Winding down from market square to Ponttor, the long street offers a variety of pubs and bars as well as many restaurants with food from all over the world. Especially in summer, the lively Pontstraße will easily tempt you to spend summer evenings outside with pizza, beer or wine in a buzzing atmosphere.
Aachen and the surrounding area
You can take part in numerous guided tours and city tours to get to know Aachen and its surroundings better. For example, the City of Aachen organizes excursions to Aachen Forest, the Eifel, the border triangle area, and neighboring cities such as Liège and Maastricht.
From Aachen you can visit a number of interesting cities in the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion area that spans parts of Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. These cities, which are an hour's drive away or less, include Cologne and Dusseldorf in Germany, Maastricht and Heerlen in the Netherlands, and Brussels, Liège, and Hasselt in Belgium.
Sporting activities
With RWTH’s University Sports offerings, everyone is sure to find a sport they like! Take advantage of the wide range of activities for students, doctoral candidates, and employees. Partners may join the University Sports Center as external guests and attend most of the activities available for university members.
In Aachen's swimming pools you can not only enjoy the water, there are also special offers, for example for children, separate fast lanes, aqua fitness courses, or swimming lessons.
If you like hiking or cycling, you can discover beautiful hiking and cycling trails in and around Aachen. If you did not bring a bike with you, then you can rent one out from one of several bike stores in the city that offer this service.
Other
Aachen also offers a wide range of other activities, including CHIO, the world-famous equestrian festival, every year. Furthermore, Aachen has a long and important tradition as a spa and thermal bath city - even the Romans knew about the beneficial and healing effects of Aachen's thermal water. Today, the Carolus Thermen in particular are a popular destination for Aacheners seeking rest and relaxation in its thermal baths and saunas.
World Equestrian Festival CHIO Aachen
Aachen Observatory
Aachener Tierpark (Zoo)