I am heading off for a day in the Ruhrgebeit, does anyone know this area well? As you may expect my main destination is Zollverein, but I was wondering if there was anywhere in the area that would be worthy of a few hours. I have looked a little at Dusseldorf, but is there anything in the Ruhrgebeit proper that would be recommended. I am flying in and out of Weeze airport (near the Dutch border) so can't stray too far from that general area.

Does anyone have specific recommendations for Zollverein, as it is a pretty extensive complex?
NB. my German is not so great, I can get by but guided tours are often a little too much for it.

Just south of the official "Ruhrgebeit" but not far away if you have a car is Wuppertal - take in the world's oldest monorail (and start a new personal list of "Monorails of the World"!). Neanderthal isn't far away either but not a lot to see other than to have "been there"!

The monorail in Wuppertal looks pretty odd, I have never seen a hanging one before! May be worth a quick look.