Essen Transportation

Flying: Düsseldorf with its airport is nearby.Driving: Ever heard of 'autobahns'? Here is where they nest.Public transport: Wonderful wonderful, at least when all you want to do is getting from one city centre to the other. Reaching the suburbs can create little problems and major delays - that's not a rule, just a warning. ;o) Cycling: What a nice idea! Honestly, very brave of you. Nah, don't be scared, all I'm trying to say is, we have some hills here. When possible, stick to the riverbanks. Less cars, less hills, more landscape. Fine. :o)
Forget your car, you'd only find it stressful to get it parked somewhere - bus, tube and trains are much better, though loads of people (including me) keep mumbling about how bad the VRR-service is... VRR is the public transport union here (Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr). Depending on where you are and where you want to go, the VRR is a gift from heaven or a chunk from hell. One thing that's undeniably splendifferous about it, is that the union includes a long list of big cities, as well as towns, little villages and utterly uninhabitated spots (oh well, maybe not as utterly uninhabitated as in Australia for example, but pretty remote and calm for a region that's basically seen as one BIG city).Another nice feature is that you can even use the Schönes Wochenende-Ticket (or shorter: WE-Ticket) on busses and tubes in the VRR - this is not necessarily possible in all of Germany. Usually you can only use it on the regional trains (S-Bahn, RB, RE and some more). It costs 21 Euro per day (28 from April 1st... *grrrrr@the Deutsche Bahn*), is valid either on a Saturday or Sunday and can carry up to five people (no matter what age) or a family with dozens of kids (not a school class, you should maybe try to make it look like they're all yours ;oP).On weekdays, you can use some new variation of the WE-Ticket. I saw an advertisement somewhere... this one costs 25 Euro, also carries up to 5 people or a family, but is only valid after 9 a.m. in NRW (that's the federal state North-Rhine Westphalia). And this is what you have to ask for: SchönerTag-TicketNRW = beautiful day ticket NRW... If you're alone and staying for more than one day, you should consider buying a 7-day-ticket. Prices go from around 14 Euro up to 26 Euro, with the latter allowing you to go all around in the VRR.There're loads of other possibilities and tickets and special offers, some including entry fees to the Ruhrpott's sights and stuff.It'd probably be a good idea to ask someone who is supposed to know about such things professionally. It is not a guarantee that this person really knows what he or she is supposed to know, but it's worth a try.