Regions and Cities of Germany

North Rhine Westphalia, short form NW or NRW, is the economically most powerful state of Germany, as it contributes about 22% to Germany's gross domestic product. North Rhine Westphalia shares borders with Belgium and the Netherlands as well as with its fellow German states Lower Saxony, Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse.

The federal state of North Rhine Westphalia, an old coal and steel country, is the most densely populated state in Germany, with a population of approximately 18 million inhabitants. The state in the west of the country comprises an area of 34,083 km². Forty four of 100 leading German companies have their principal place of business in North Rhine Westphalia.

The Ruhr Area falls entirely within North Rhine Westphalia. From the 1960s, this region was strongly affected by a structural change away from coal mining and steel industry. Nevertheless, the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region is the largest agglomeration of cities in Germany. The capital city is Düsseldorf, and the largest city is Cologne (in German: Köln). Other major cities include Aachen, Bielefeld, Bonn, Bochum, Dortmund, Essen, Duisburg, Oberhausen, Mönchengladbach, Münster, Gelsenkirchen, Krefeld, Leverkusen, and Wuppertal.

Düsseldorf, the state's capital and cosmopolitan city offers uncountable attractions, such as the Königsallee, with scores of display windows showing off the very latest fashion tendencies. It is also a main venue for numerous trade fairs. One of Sprachcaffe's language schools is situated in Düsseldorf.

Cologne is one of the most original cities - not only due to its famous carnival and glorious cathedral. Given its two-thousand-year-old existence, this quaint city boasts Roman remains, Romanesque churches, medieval houses, bustling trading streets and lanes, ultra modern architecture, museums and galleries.