Map of Gelsenkirchen, Germany

Gelsenkirchen is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with a population of about 270,028. It lies at 51.5051°N, 7.0965°E. Gelsenkirchen is about 447 km (277 mi) west of Berlin, the capital. The nearest city on our map is Essen, 8 km to the southwest.

Gelsenkirchen at a glance

Where is Gelsenkirchen?

• The 25th largest city in Germany by recorded population.
• The 11th largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia on this site.
• Located in the Northern and Eastern hemispheres.
• Daylight ranges from about 7 h 49 min on the shortest day to 16 h 38 min on the longest day (around 21 December and 21 June).

Cities near Gelsenkirchen

• Essen — 8 km southwest
• Bochum — 9 km east
• Herne — 10 km northeast
• Gladbeck — 11 km northwest
• Herten — 11 km north
• Bottrop — 12 km west
• Hattingen — 13 km southeast
• Recklinghausen — 14 km northeast
• Castrop-Rauxel — 16 km east
• Oberhausen — 16 km west

Largest cities in North Rhine-Westphalia

• Cologne — 1,024,621
• Düsseldorf — 618,685
• Essen — 593,085
• Dortmund — 588,462
• Duisburg — 504,358
• Bochum — 385,729
• Wuppertal — 360,797
• Bielefeld — 331,906
• Bonn — 330,579
• Münster — 308,258

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
• Essen — 593,085
• Dortmund — 588,462
• Dresden — 564,904

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.