City guide

Leverkusen

Leverkusen is a working Rhineland town built around a single company, Bayer, whose chemical works and BayArena stadium define the skyline more than any old town does. Beyond the industry there are real green pockets — the Japanese Garden in Carl Duisberg Park, the riverside Neuland-Park, and the Rococo Schloss Morsbroich, which now houses a serious contemporary-art museum. It reads as a practical stopover or a matchday destination rather than a sightseeing city in its own right.