Map of Essen, Germany

Essen is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with a population of about 593,085. It lies at 51.4566°N, 7.0123°E. Essen is about 454 km (282 mi) west of Berlin, the capital. The nearest city on our map is Gelsenkirchen, 8 km to the northeast.

Essen at a glance

Where is Essen?

• The 8th largest city in Germany by recorded population.
• The 3rd largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia on this site.
• Located in the Northern and Eastern hemispheres.
• Daylight ranges from about 7 h 50 min on the shortest day to 16 h 38 min on the longest day (around 21 December and 21 June).

Cities near Essen

• Gelsenkirchen — 8 km northeast
• Bottrop — 9 km northwest
• Mülheim — 10 km west
• Oberhausen — 11 km west
• Gladbeck — 13 km north
• Hattingen — 14 km southeast
• Velbert — 14 km south
• Bochum — 14 km east
• Duisburg — 17 km west
• Herne — 17 km northeast

Largest cities in North Rhine-Westphalia

• Cologne — 1,024,621
• Düsseldorf — 618,685
• Dortmund — 588,462
• Duisburg — 504,358
• Bochum — 385,729
• Wuppertal — 360,797
• Bielefeld — 331,906
• Bonn — 330,579
• Münster — 308,258
• Gelsenkirchen — 270,028

Largest cities in Germany

• Berlin — 3,426,354
• Hamburg — 1,973,896
• Munich — 1,505,005
• Cologne — 1,024,621
• Frankfurt am Main — 650,000
• Düsseldorf — 618,685
• Stuttgart — 612,663
• Dortmund — 588,462
• Dresden — 564,904
• Bremen — 546,501

Map of Germany and all its cities →

Sources: place names, coordinates, populations and time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0, data retrieved October 2026). Population figures are the latest values recorded in GeoNames; depending on the country they refer to the city proper, a municipality or a wider urban area, so they can differ from census or metro-area figures. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.