Planning a trip in August with my brother who lived here about 10 years ago. He lived in Dortmund, Altena, Iserlohn, Dusseldorf, Köln, Ludenscheid and would like to see some of those areas again. We live in South-Eastern Germany so my experience there is limited...
Any recommendations of places to see or family friendly places to stay? He'd like to catch a few festivals if possible and we have a small son that we'll be taking along.
You might want to visit Lake Möhnesee. Great walks and some WW2 history. Schloss Dyck Castle would also be an option (www.schuerrle.com/dyck). As to festivals: August 8th -11th is Bierbörse on a green island in the Wupper river by Leverkusen Opladen (separate exit from A3). It's an open air beer festival around 1,000 different kinds of beer from 75 countries in the world! www.bierboerse.com
Around the first week of September, I visited the Bonnfest. It was a lot of fun. I will definitely go back when I have the chance.
