City districts in and around Bonn

Currently living in Neuss and will be relocating to Bonn very soon. Can anyone recommend any suitable places in Bonn or places to avoid?
Thanks for your time

Desirable locations but expensive: Popplesdorf, Suedstadt, Musikerviertel
Still nice but less expensive: Endenich, Kessenich, Ippendorf and area between it and Bad Godesberg, parts of Beuel
Alternative / culturally mixed area: Altstadt
Avoid (not nice): Tannenbusch, Auerberg, Nordstadt
Avoid (if you have no car as shops are non-existent and bus service bad): former Regierungsviertel

Further out:
There's lots of nice towns near Bonn like Koenigswinter, Bad Godesberg, Remagen if you like the small town feel. I'd avoid the area going from Beuel out towards Sankt-Augustin and the airport, and most of the sprawl between Bonn and Koeln personally.

Louise, would you not recommend Sankt-Augustin specifically? Husband will be based there so we are on the look out to where to move to also in the area.

Seen tons of property for sale in Windeck...do you know of any reason why the whole town seems to be up and moving out?

I would agree on the whole with Louise. The area between Beuel and Sankt Augustin lacks character by comparison as it is more modern and suburby. It is, however, quiet and family friendly so if you want quiet streets where your kids can learn to ride their bikes then it's worth considering.

Dale, If you tell us a bit about where you are in Neuss, what you like about it and what you don't, it may be easier to make suggestions. Like everywhere else, if you want space to park a car and a bit of garden its best to look outside the centre. There are some really nice villages and towns on both sides of the Rhine south of Bonn. If you plan to travel to work in Bonn without a car then look at the tram routes 66, 62 and 18.

Corinne, No idea about Windeck but there are several areas, Hennef, for example, where there is a seemingly endless supply of new housing. I think it must be that there is still plenty of space to build compared to many of the areas close to the Rhine. If you want to be close to where your husband works then have a look at Holzlar. It's a nice area, near good shopping ( as good as it gets here !!) no trams but good bus routes.

Thanks rebecca,

I need to find a semi rural environment to keep the husband and dog happy and a town/city fun packed place at easy reach with a friendly Gymnasium to keep a 15 year old girl happy (she has moved on some what from learning to ride a bike but not too far one can but hope :$ )...good job I am easy to please (library with an English section will do me, not forgetting someone to hook the satalite up).

Had a Chinese in Koenigswinter once with the mother-in-law...very nice place from what I got to see. Like the idea of being near the water. Bad Honnef is off the list as that is were the mother-in-law lives (husbands adamant about that one).

Anyone with kids in school in the area that can give me a rough giude to recommended Gymnasiums?

Will keep the list you both have kindly given when checking through properties.

Could it be something to do with remoteness?

Windeck has really nice countryside, but is a bit out in the sticks (about 50km of mostly nice and twisty country roads to get to Bonn -- okay, there's motorway from Hennef -- so you'd have to reckon with about 3/4 hr to 1 hr driving in good weather).

Thanks for the replies. We currently live in a place called Grevenbroich stadt, village called Langwaden. We like the countryside but have decided that we are too rural. The problem we have is my wife does not work and does not speak good German, she sees no-one during the day and is totally bored. Hence I am looking for somewhere, where she can use a good public transport to go to language lessons, meet some people and somewhere we can go out on an evening if we want a drink- all of which we can't currently do.
I have seen Oberdollensdorf, Oberkassel and Bad Godesburg (still left in the 80's), that appear to be not too bad.
Again thanks for anyone offering good advise, it is appreciated.

Corinne - I'm not keen on Sankt-Augustin for the reasons Rebecca gave - it always just feels lifeless to me. But I've no stronger objections than that.Windeck I'd avoid for all the reasons given. You'll love the town library in Bonn by the way - it's got a whole two rooms full of English books and videos! On the school front - quite a few of the Bonn Gymnasiums specialise in one area or another, there's one that teaches some subjects in English (st-Adelheid???) and one in French and another that specialises in science, so it may be worth checking school options out to narrow your potential living area down. I've no kids but have heard dissatisfaction with Hardtberg, Tannenbusch and Kardinal-Frings BUT these are all based on colleagues stories so not reliable. There's one on Adenauerallee that has a good academic reputation (Beethven Gymnasium??? a musician anyway) but I have heard it's a bit old-fashioned.

Dale - if you look on the www.bonn.de websites you can get the public transport maps. For your wife's requirements I think you should look for somewhere near one of the tram or U-bahn lines as they're very good services. There's a lot of English speakers around and various social activities - see http://www.english-network.de/ for an idea.

Dale,
I agree with Louise that unless you're running 2 cars it's worth making public transport a priority. The good news is that the whole Bonn / Köln area has a good bus and tram network. The ticket system takes a bit of getting used to.
If you have dogs and like walking then think about the right side of the Rhine and the Siebengebirge. The international community is based more on the left side, Mehlem for example, and consequently has schools with more experience of english speaking pupils. Königswinter town centre is touristy, the villages on either side however, are not. From what you have said about where you are at the moment I think you will find Bonn makes a pleasant change.

Hi Dale,

Can't add much to what Rebecca and Louise have already said. We live in one of the villages belonging to Koenigswinter in the Siebengebirge. It's very pretty but you would have to catch a bus to join the 66 tram line that runs from Bad Honnef into Bonn. Or drive (only 20 mins or so).

In Bad Godesberg there is a Goethe Institut where you wife could learn German (pricey but good) and the other private language schools are in Bonn Zentrum. There are also loads of ex-pats in the area and lots to avoid her feeling a bit isolated.

Also apart from the areas Louise mentioned, the Villenviertel in Bad Godesberg is much sought after as is Muffendorf. I have a friend that lives on the ex-American Settlement in Plittersdorf and am really impressed by the size of the flat and its proximity to the Rheinaue park, Bonn and BG.

Good luck with the move

@ Corinne

We are about 15-20 mins drive from Sankt Augustin and there are loads of villages between here and SA that you may wish to consider although you may end up as Mum's taxi ferrying your daughter around. Beuel though is really quite close to SA, has loads to do including fitness studios and some great biergaerten along the Rhein (they get the evening sun) - the Schwarzrheindorf area is really nice.

I am a teacher currently based in the Black Forest, but when I taught in England, we had an exchange arrangement with the Ernst-Kalkuhl-Gymnasium in Bonn. I know many of the teachers there personally and can recommend it as a good school. It is a private school, which doesn't mean the same as in the UK, and has a boarding section too. The website is http://www.kalkuhl.de and it is situated in Oberkassel, about 15 mins south of the centre.

I always found Bonn extremely pleasant to visit and used to stay with colleagues in St. Augustin-Hangelar and Oberdollendorf. The public transport was excellent, particularly the 66 tram as has been mentioned. I appreciate that living there might be a different proposition though.

Regards

Aidan

Eminence,

Can you explain exactly what private school does mean in Germany ?

Hi Dale!

good decision to move away from Grevenbroich (for those of you that don't know it, it is pronounced "Greven-bruch").

I lived in Neuss for a few years till i moved down to Munich. The best decision i ever made.

I also live in Bonn for 8 months many many years ago as a work-placement student. Bonn is more like a good-sized town than a city but definetly a step up from the Grevenbroich. For the first months i lived in Oberkassel and hated it cos it was a tiny village and going anywhere meant driving. Then moved into a company falt in Auerberg, also not perfect (but cheap) but at least i was closer to the city. My favourite Curry Wurst Imbiß is in Beuel, which is reason enough to live there, imvho. I would agree with everything said about going east of Beuel. My favourite Irish pub was in Bad Godesberg, also reason enough to live there, although that may have something to do with a certain young irish girl... ehem nuff said about that.

Got a flat in Kessenich at the moment great place (very cheap too) local shopping is good for most needs but if you want more the tram connection (61/62) to Bonn centre is brilliant. I cant complain at all (well now that the recent work on the sewer system is coming to an end that is).

OG,

You don't need to drive everywhere from Oberkassel it is on 2 good tram routes and not so far out that you are in the expensive ticket zone. It also has the Karavanne restaurant which is well worth a visit, extremely good value (but book a table if you want to go at the weekend).

eminence,
Thanks for the PM answering my question.

Dale, Langwaden really is small and out in the sticks (nice Kloster, though), it is not "in" Grevenbroich, it is just administered from there. Because of German administrative rules, it has advantages for towns to "include" the surrounding villages as "Stadtteil".

If your wife doesn't speak german, it would be a bit difficult for her. Especially if she's shy about learning by doing with the locals. That would be the case in any similar small village (even in England - I know villages there, where the locals ignore "outsiders"), especially if you have to take a country bus to get anywhere.

If you lived in GV proper, I don't think she'd have the problem. There again, I know Brits, who have felt isolated in Cologne -- Like arrived on Monday. Went to work and gone back to the hotel each day and stared at the wall all evening, because they were "scared" to go out. Then decided on Friday that Germany is boring and they didn't like it, then went back home at the weekend, never to return.


Hmmm, Owain, whether it is a good decision, or not, is a very subjective, and personal assessment. Personally, I find Munich absolutely terrible, and I know more people who found moving here from Munich to be the better move than the other way round.

I think the english speakers will have just as much problem with the pronunciation -- first learn "ch" is not "ck" and not "sh", then learn that "broich" sounds like bruich ("brew ich", just with the "ew i" said a bit faster)

I think you are both being very unfair on Grevenbroich (it's only about 12km from where I live, and I know it well). It is, after all, really quite a nice little town with just about all the amenities you need and quite a high "Freizeitwert". It is also well connected to Düsseldorf, Mönchengladbach, Neuss and Cologne.

@ Rebecca: actually meant Niederkassel (downstream direction Leverkusen, on the other side of the river to Bonn. Not to be confused with the Niederkassel in Düsseldorf), don't know why i wrote Oberkassel.

@mike_a: sorry, can't agree. stand by my criticism. I lived in Neuss for over 3 years, my wife is from Neuss and her family (whom we visit frequentyl) are from Neuss and the area including Grevenbroich (oh by the way, as far as i know it is NOT pronounced like you posted, but more like the english brook but with a long ooo and a throaty ch instead of a K. The "i" is not pronounced). And a very good friend of mine, who also moved down to Munich at exactly the same time, comes from there and would say the same as me. I don't know Langwaden itself but i have friends and family in a few villages between Neuss and Mönchengladbach and some even beyond there.

But it all depends on what you are used to, i suppose. If you are a family person with young children, villages and smaller towns can be a good location. If you are younger and want a bigger offering of activities and social contact, such a small place can be the pits. Neuss was too small for me. Despite its relatively large size (in comparison to Grevenbroich) it remains a very villagey at heart.

I love living in Munich, depsite the Münchner. They can be very stand-offish and hard to befriend. It is ironic, though, that most of my German friends here in Munich are from the Rheinland (Cologne, Neuss, Kaarst, Grevenbroich and Düsseldorf, mainly).

Presumably because it's near Niederkassel in Düsseldorf


My exGF, whose explanation it was, was born and brought up in GV, so maybe it is pronounced differently in Neuss.


Aha!

Sounds great in the big town. In my experience, those who find Munich great don't like Rheinland so much, and vice versa. At least the people in Rheinland are mostly open and friendly...


Yes: Ironic. Went to Munich to be surrounded by Rheinländer...

The difference is: I didn't say Munich was shit, just because I don't like it that much, so I still don't think it right to denegrate Neuss and GV just because you prefer Munich. In fact, I find Munich perfectly boring, the only excitement they ever had there is the Oktoberfest (and that is full of drunken bores) and Moosacher( and he's gone now too).

So I am quite happy to live here at lower cost than Munich and be within easy (<45 mins) reach of tons of nightlife/culture:

Zakk, Phillipshalle, Les Halles, Stone, Tor 3 in D; Live Music Hall, Gebaüde 9, Prime Club, Stollwerk, Underground, E-Werk, Tanzbrünnen in K; Musik Bunker, AZ, Wild Rover in AC; Bla, Harmonie, Kult, the Museumsmeile in BN.

Hmm... Not to mention 2 live music venues and 2 clubs within walking distance of my flat. The "Service Kino" in the next village (have a bar in the auditorium, waitress service).

Older doesn't have to mean boring, but I suppose I'll have to grow up sometime.. Don't want to start counting museums, art galeries, theatres and classical musik venues in the area.

And of course, there is all that countryside right in front of the door... You can cycle all day off-road, in the greenery...

Thanks for the positive comments, we have now found somewhere to live, hence the real work starts. Is it possible in Germany to rent one of those lifts that is used for lifting your stuff to a higher floor througth the balcony windows for example? I have seen many of them about, but am unsure if you can rent one for yourself. If so, can anyone recommend a company in Bonn? Or what I should look for in the yellow pages.

Thanks

Hi, everyone -

I'm coming to Bonn in a couple of weeks for a job interview. I'm hoping to spend a few days looking around the area for potential neighborhoods, in case I'm offered the position. I'm in my mid-30s and am hoping to find a 2-3 room apartment. I visited Poppelsdorf a couple of years ago, when I took language lessons in Bonn for a month. I thought it seemed interesting, but I was only there for a couple of hours during a street festival... any thoughts? The job looks like it's positioned between Poppelsdorf, Bonn Suedstadt, Kessenich, and Gronau.

Also, does anyone have any opinions about the best Konditorei / Baeckerei in town? My partner is a pastry chef and will be looking for a job if/when we relocate from California.

Thanks and I hope to be able to join one of your English-speakers meet-ups soon!

--Johnna

Topics merged by admin

The biggest bakery is probably LUBIG, in Dotttendorf. As for areas to live in, have you thought of Endenich ?

Hiya Johnna,
Poppelsdorf is a super area. One of the most expensive, if not the most expensive, but a lot of the houses there are just stunning. We used to live on Poppelsdorfer Allee but moved (partly because of the expense, and partly because we learnt a bit of German so we could get a better deal elsewhere). I don't know how rental works over in USA, but it's definitely not the same in Germany as in Australia. If you go through an agent, the agent will charge you about 2 months commission when you've found an apartment, on top of the deposit and first month's rent that you pay. Incredible that people actually pay that! You can avoid going through an agent, and go private to avoid this. Going private will mean "Provisionsfrei".
Anyhow, I'm currently living in Südstadt, which is also another really super area. How much do you want to pay each month in rent? You'll find that it'll be a fair bit cheaper renting in Kessenich and Endenich than in Poppelsdorf.
In regards to Bakeries, they seem to be everywhere in Bonn. I'm not sure how easy it would be to get a job though. Good luck!