Tipps for having a good time in my hometown...
Sightseeing
*The centre of Bonn is relatively small, just like The Hague's, so once you arrive at central station, you can just start walking around, you will very hardly get lost.
Beautiful parts of Bonn are the "Südstadt" and the "Altstadt", where you find 18th and 19th century houses and many nice cafes and little bars. Südstadt is a little more posh, Altstadt is a bit more indie. Also "Poppelsdorf" is nice, you can walk from the centre to the castle, former residency of the elector.
* You should definitely try the "Haus der Geschichte" (House of History), the entry is free, and it is a very interactive, cool spot, that I drag all my visitors to. They collect "real" items of German history from 1945 until today. Especially for US Americans, this is super-interesting as it all starts with the Berlin airlift. Their shop sells funny stuff, like the American soldier's manual for Germany which nowadays really makes you laugh ;)
http://www.hdg.de/index.php?id=1&L=1&cHash=d1f02bd227
*"Path of Democracy": walking along this "path" leads you along the most significant spots for German contemporary history, and it is beautiful as well, along the river, passing by the UN building, the former parliament, Petersberg (Afghanistan conference), Palais Schaumburg, etc.
http://www.wegderdemokratie.de/tour/index.html
*Beethoven House: Beethoven was born in Bonn, and you can visit his birthplace. It is right in the city centre.
http://www.beethoven-haus-bonn.de/sixcms/detail.php//portal_en
*The university castle...you cannot miss it. Right in the centre.
Bars & Restaurants
*The sleezy hole-like bar of Bonn is undoubtedly the "Blow up", which used to be a brothel-nightclub-thing while the town was still the captial of Germany. Now it is a popular spot that is open the longest, until 5 am or now maybe even longer. It fills up after 10 pm, and the music is sometimes a bit weird, but it is always fun to go :) (Rathausgasse 10)
*Good food is available at Giacomo, Pathos, the Tapas Bar Take Two, Cafe Extro, to name a few.
An all-time students' favourite place is the Cafe Blau (Franziskanerstr. 9), which by day is a restaurant with good, not too pricy food, and a bar in the evenings. Especially when the weather is good, it's nice to sit outside, as it is directly next to the main university builiding, a former castle.
*Alter Zoll: this is an open-air bar, a "Biergarten" as we call it, right on the spot where the trade ships used to dock at the Rhine. In the summer, you can have beer, coffee and food there, and if there's no free spot, you can buy stuff and sit on the grass or even on the big lawn in front of the Uni castle (called "Hofgarten") (http://www.wegderdemokratie.de/tour/index.html)
*3RaumWohnung, a bar/small disco thing in the centre. (Am Böselagerhof 15)
Leisure :)
*Go to the Rheinauen park. It is really beautiful and huge. You can walk along the Rhine there or take the metro no. 66, stop Rheinaue. Lawns, small ponds, always a 60s-icecream-truck and the post-tower, Bonn's most controversial building. Every first Saturday of the month, they have one of Germany's best fleamarkets there, if you're early, you can get great stuff.
*Take the boat from the "Alter Zoll" if you need to go to the other side of the Rhine. 70 cents!! Much nicer than going by metro ;)
*As you're used to biking in The Hague, go rent bikes and get around by bike. It is what most people do, and takes you everywhere...
For clubbing, well, you have to go to Cologne :)
Which, btw, is only a 20 minute-trainride away, trains run all night from Friday-Sunday, and quite late during the week as well.
PS: If you book your ticket at least a week in advance, it's 19 Euros from DH Centraal to Cologne. Even without discount card.
Addition: A tavola con Rossini is a great little Italian restaurant in Cologne near the train station. If you leave the main exit of the train station, you will see the cathedral on your left and in front of you is the Rolex building. Follow the street that is straight ahead of you, to the left of the Rolex Building. Take your first right, at the circle. Continue on that street for a little while, under a bridge and past the gate (looks like an arch) to the old city. The gate is beautiful at night, by the way. Just past the gate, on the left, is the restaurant. Very good Italian food, and the waiters are very nice. They don't speak a lot of English, but if you speak a little Italian you'll be good to go. Otherwise, just pick something that looks great and point!
Sightseeing
*The centre of Bonn is relatively small, just like The Hague's, so once you arrive at central station, you can just start walking around, you will very hardly get lost.
Beautiful parts of Bonn are the "Südstadt" and the "Altstadt", where you find 18th and 19th century houses and many nice cafes and little bars. Südstadt is a little more posh, Altstadt is a bit more indie. Also "Poppelsdorf" is nice, you can walk from the centre to the castle, former residency of the elector.
* You should definitely try the "Haus der Geschichte" (House of History), the entry is free, and it is a very interactive, cool spot, that I drag all my visitors to. They collect "real" items of German history from 1945 until today. Especially for US Americans, this is super-interesting as it all starts with the Berlin airlift. Their shop sells funny stuff, like the American soldier's manual for Germany which nowadays really makes you laugh ;)
http://www.hdg.de/index.php?id=1&L=1&cHash=d1f02bd227
*"Path of Democracy": walking along this "path" leads you along the most significant spots for German contemporary history, and it is beautiful as well, along the river, passing by the UN building, the former parliament, Petersberg (Afghanistan conference), Palais Schaumburg, etc.
http://www.wegderdemokratie.de/tour/index.html
*Beethoven House: Beethoven was born in Bonn, and you can visit his birthplace. It is right in the city centre.
http://www.beethoven-haus-bonn.de/sixcms/detail.php//portal_en
*The university castle...you cannot miss it. Right in the centre.
Bars & Restaurants
*The sleezy hole-like bar of Bonn is undoubtedly the "Blow up", which used to be a brothel-nightclub-thing while the town was still the captial of Germany. Now it is a popular spot that is open the longest, until 5 am or now maybe even longer. It fills up after 10 pm, and the music is sometimes a bit weird, but it is always fun to go :) (Rathausgasse 10)
*Good food is available at Giacomo, Pathos, the Tapas Bar Take Two, Cafe Extro, to name a few.
An all-time students' favourite place is the Cafe Blau (Franziskanerstr. 9), which by day is a restaurant with good, not too pricy food, and a bar in the evenings. Especially when the weather is good, it's nice to sit outside, as it is directly next to the main university builiding, a former castle.
*Alter Zoll: this is an open-air bar, a "Biergarten" as we call it, right on the spot where the trade ships used to dock at the Rhine. In the summer, you can have beer, coffee and food there, and if there's no free spot, you can buy stuff and sit on the grass or even on the big lawn in front of the Uni castle (called "Hofgarten") (http://www.wegderdemokratie.de/tour/index.html)
*3RaumWohnung, a bar/small disco thing in the centre. (Am Böselagerhof 15)
Leisure :)
*Go to the Rheinauen park. It is really beautiful and huge. You can walk along the Rhine there or take the metro no. 66, stop Rheinaue. Lawns, small ponds, always a 60s-icecream-truck and the post-tower, Bonn's most controversial building. Every first Saturday of the month, they have one of Germany's best fleamarkets there, if you're early, you can get great stuff.
*Take the boat from the "Alter Zoll" if you need to go to the other side of the Rhine. 70 cents!! Much nicer than going by metro ;)
*As you're used to biking in The Hague, go rent bikes and get around by bike. It is what most people do, and takes you everywhere...
For clubbing, well, you have to go to Cologne :)
Which, btw, is only a 20 minute-trainride away, trains run all night from Friday-Sunday, and quite late during the week as well.
PS: If you book your ticket at least a week in advance, it's 19 Euros from DH Centraal to Cologne. Even without discount card.
Addition: A tavola con Rossini is a great little Italian restaurant in Cologne near the train station. If you leave the main exit of the train station, you will see the cathedral on your left and in front of you is the Rolex building. Follow the street that is straight ahead of you, to the left of the Rolex Building. Take your first right, at the circle. Continue on that street for a little while, under a bridge and past the gate (looks like an arch) to the old city. The gate is beautiful at night, by the way. Just past the gate, on the left, is the restaurant. Very good Italian food, and the waiters are very nice. They don't speak a lot of English, but if you speak a little Italian you'll be good to go. Otherwise, just pick something that looks great and point!
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