Getting around Leverkusen
Leverkusen is unusual among German cities of its size: it has no single central train station, and it has no true city centre in the traditional sense. The district of Wiesdorf generally acts as the hub, and that is where you will find the main station and the bus station. Because the city grew out of a collection of former villages, getting around means moving between several distinct districts rather than around one core.
Rail: regional trains and S-Bahn
Two railway lines cross Leverkusen from north to south, and both carry regional trains. The most important station for visitors is Leverkusen Mitte in Wiesdorf, on the Cologne–Düsseldorf line. It is served by regional trains and by the Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn, and the line onward to Düsseldorf is also served by the Rhine-Ruhr Express. Opladen station, in the Opladen district, sits on the Cologne–Wuppertal line and is also served by regional trains.
From Leverkusen Mitte, the practical picture for a visitor is simple: Cologne and Düsseldorf are both a short regional train ride away, and Solingen, where long-distance trains stop, is a little further on. If you are arriving by long-distance rail, you will generally connect through one of those larger cities rather than stopping in Leverkusen directly.
Buses and local public transport
The local bus network is operated by wupsi and runs under VRS fares, the same fare system used in nearby Cologne. That matters for ticketing: because Leverkusen sits inside the VRS network, tickets and passes are bought and used on the same basis as in Cologne, so a ticket valid for the local network works across operators rather than being tied to a single company.
Express buses connect Leverkusen with Cologne, Monheim and Bergisch Gladbach, which makes the bus a genuine option for reaching neighbouring towns, not just for moving within the city. The bus station is at Leverkusen Mitte, so the rail and bus networks meet at the same place — the natural point to change between them.
Taxis and ride-hailing
Taxis are available in the city, and the main station and bus station area at Leverkusen Mitte is the most reliable place to find one. For a city spread across several districts, a taxi can be a sensible choice for a direct trip between districts or for reaching a specific address that is not close to a station or bus stop.
Walking and cycling
Leverkusen is not a compact, walkable old town. Its present shape is a patchwork of former villages, so walking works well within a district but is less practical for crossing the city as a whole. If your destination is in the same district as your accommodation, on foot is often the easiest option; for anything further, the train or bus will usually serve you better.
Cycling is a realistic way to get around, and there is a notable crossing point for the Rhine: on the north side of the Autobahn 1 bridge there is a shared foot and bike path across the river. That gives cyclists and pedestrians a direct way over the Rhine, which is otherwise a barrier between Leverkusen and the Cologne side.
Crossing the Rhine by ferry
There is also a Rhine ferry, the Rheinfähre Lingel-Hitdorf, running between the Leverkusen district of Hitdorf and the Cologne district of Langel. On the Leverkusen side the nearest address is Fährstrasse 1e; on the Cologne side it is Hitdorfer Fährweg 134. It runs on weekdays from early morning until early evening, with shorter hours on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. The ferry takes pedestrians, bikes and vehicles, and you can pay in cash or by card.
Getting in from the airport
The two closest international airports are Cologne Bonn Airport, south of the city, and Düsseldorf Airport, to the northwest. Both are reachable by car in roughly half an hour. By train, Düsseldorf Airport can be reached using regional trains, which connect onward to Leverkusen's stations. Dortmund and Weeze airports are also within close proximity if you are considering alternative arrival points.
Because Leverkusen has no central station, plan your arrival around a specific station — most commonly Leverkusen Mitte — rather than expecting a single main stop for the whole city.
Arriving by car
Two major motorways, the A1 and A3, cross at Leverkusen, and the interchange sits in the heart of the city rather than bypassing it, which is unusual for a German city. The A59 begins at an interchange between the Rhine bridge and the A1/A3 crossing and heads north towards Düsseldorf. Note that the bridge carrying the A1 across the Rhine was torn down and rebuilt, with the new bridge only partially finished in recent years, so drivers should expect that crossing to be affected.