Moving to Dortmund with a baby and toddler

Hello there,

We will be moving to Dortmund soon, I don't know the area at all and need some advice.

Which areas are nice and convenient for families (baby and toddler)?
What is the situation re kindergartens and nurseries?
Is there an English speaking kindergarten in Dortmund?
What is the housing market like?
Any other useful information you have? Any web sites you can recommend? Have been to dortmund.de

Thanks so much

Meimei

Hi! I'd love to help, as I've lived in the Dortmund area for over 8 years now, but no kids. Kindergartens abound here, but I've not heard of any specializing in English. Most teachers, however, will have rudimentary English, and deal often with children unable to speak German (mostly Russian, Polish, or Turkish). Used to be a lot of Brits stationed around here, though most have assimilated quite nicely. As for housing, depends on if you want to live in the city area, or on the outskirts. Also, certain area are very "multi-cultural", resulting in much more affordable rent, though not always the nicest or quietest of environments. The Nordstadt, Scharnhorst, and Hörde are a few of the afore mentioned areas. You can find quite nice places, warm, on the outskirts in the 400-700 Euro range, anywhere from 70-90 square meters. www.immobilienscout24.de is a decent site to find a place, as well as www.immowelt.de. All depends on if you need to be close to the city self, and if you want to travel with public transportation or by car. Sorry I can't be more help, but if you have any other questions, I'd be happy to try and answer them.

Thanks very much for your reply. Have been doing some research and apparently Aplerbeck is very popular? Anyone know this area? I've been reading lots about noise related to the airport - is this really a problem? And what is it like living in the Western suburbs? Thanks.

Yeah, I live just down the road from Aplerbeck, and there is quite a bit of noise from landings/takeoffs from the Dortmund Airport. Have gotten used to it mostly, but watching TV in summer is a pain at times. Aplerbeck has some really nice areas, my wife has her eye on a coupla for the next move. Don't know the western areas too well, pretty much stay on the eastern side. It is quite a mixed-up city, with old industrial buildings spread throughout the area, but with a lot of agricultural land and parks in between. You have gorgeous old buildings next to 60's-70's block architecture, with butt-ugly apartment complexes spread generously throughout the city. All a matter of taste and price, I would say. The outer cities in the area, like Unna or Hagen, are a quite nice, and usually quieter. Bochum has a lotta cultural sites, as well as a bit of university night life going on. I'm from New Orleans, so I find most of Germany (except big city nightlife or drunken festivals, of course) very much quiet and reserved. As for the Dortmund area direct, it is quite a grab-bag, and constantly changing due to economics and cultural influx.

There is a Montessori Kindergarten for 0-6 year olds in Dortmund. In each classroom they have a native English speaker.

Montessori Kindergarten
Severingstr.27
Dortmund 44328
Germany
Phone: 0049 231 230055

Hi, I´ve lived in Dortmund most of my life so I know the area pretty well. My partner is from Manchester and we have 3 kids. The kindergarten my youngest goes to has English lessons quite regularly and as we speak English at home the kids are pretty fluent even if they refuse to speak English to strangers! Please feel free to get in touch and I´ll help you all I can. Look forward to hearing from you. Silke

Silke-
Is it a public kindergarten that your youngest goes to?

Yes it is a public Kindergarten (run by the church).
Silke