Oldenburg: An Evening Day Trip

15 years ago I visited the city of Oldenburg. This year, I took advantage of the nine Euro ticket to visit the northern city again. As before, my journey started in Hamburg.

Some train journeys in Germany are an adventure, doubly so during the three months of the nine Euro ticket. Hamburg-Bremen and Cologne-Düsseldorf are two trips I’ve done multiple times. Each time, it was a fight to get on the train, even when the train started in that city. The second leg of my train journey, from Bremen to Oldenburg, was more relaxed on the other hand.

Oldenburg station

At first glance, Oldenburg’s main station has a remarkable design. You have a long wooden roof with wood pillars fixed in large blocks of concrete. This is just temporary though. The station used to have a shed built with glass and iron. After it was discovered that the structure of the shed was slowly sinking into the ground, Deutsche Bahn planned to demolish it and build a simple butterfly roof.

Oldenburg decided to keep the classic roof though. As a temporary measure, Deutsche Bahn decided to construct the wooden roof to protect passengers. Meanwhile, the train shed is restored piece by piece. This work won’t be finished before 2027.

Oldenburger Computer Museum

A museum that didn’t exist when I last visited the city is the Oldenburger Computer Museum (OCM). The OCM is located in an postal service building next to the main station. It’s a hands-on museum, i.e. you can play with a lot of classic computers, video games and some arcade machines. There are some rare or uncommon items in possession of the museum, including an Apple Lisa, NeXT Cube and Station. Entrance is just two Euro. The only caveat: The OCM is only open on Tuesdays from 6pm to 9pm.

Besides the OCM, notable museums include the Edith-Russ-Haus (media art) and the Horst Janssen Museum (dedicated to the artist Horst Janssen).

City history

Schloss Oldenburg is a palace in the central part of the city and has been used as a museum (art and cultural history) since the last one hundred years. Near the palace is the Pulverturm, the last remaining part of the city wall, and the palace garden, which is Oldenburg’s central park. On the north of the central city is the Lappan, a historic bell tower and landmark of Oldenburg.

There are also some murals in Oldenburg. I visited “Bohlens richtige Söhne” which can probably only be appreciated if you grew up in Oldenburg. It shows music producer Dieter Bohlen – known for highly commercial music – and six artists of the BRS Crew, who are decidedly less commercial. Bohlen spend much of his childhood in Oldenburg.

More temporary is the art installation Ahrbnb, reminding people of the flood in the Ahr valley.

Eating out in Oldenburg

There are plenty of choices in the central part of town. I picked Áro, which offers bowls (also take-out). It’s mostly vegan and they offer kimchi as an option, which earns bonus points from me.

Getting there & around

Oldenburg has good train connections to Bremen. Most of the sights are in the central (inner) city, with less car traffic. From the train station, it’s just a short walk to the central part.

More info about Oldenburg