Essen to Dortmund bus
Buses from Essen to Dortmund start at $23.24.
Check dates and fares
Fares and seats move by the day. Price Essen to Dortmund on the date you actually want, rather than on the date this page was built.
The Buses from Essen to Dortmund starts at $23.24, run by 2 operators over 197 km. Fares bottom out about 90 days before departure.
- 5h 23mDoor to door
- 3h 3mMoving
- $24.45 to $54.19From
- 6.6 kgCO2
5h 23m
3h 3m
$24.45 to $54.19
6.6 kg$24.45 to $54.19 for one passenger across the 14 departure dates priced here. The low end is one day, not every day. Typical for this corridor. The operator sets the price on the day.
12Go issues the ticket, and you book it here on Orlero.
Buying this trip
Pick a departure for Essen to Dortmund and pay on tickets.orlero.com, our booking site.
The price is the one 12Go sets, with every fee shown before you pay.
Fares by date
What this journey usually costs, by departure date. It shows which days run dearer.
Typical fares
- about $54.19Thu8
- about $47.52Fri9
- about $41.45Sat10
- about $36.60Sun11
- about $35.38Mon12
- about $32.35Tue13
- about $26.27Wed14
- about $35.99Thu15
- about $27.48Fri16
- about $29.92Sat17
- about $34.78Sun18
- about $24.45Mon19
- about $29.30Tue20
- about $26.88Wed21
Based on what this route has cost recently. The live fare is confirmed when you book.
Bus operators
| Operator | Typical speed | Flexibility | On board |
|---|---|---|---|
 BlaBlaCar | 72 km/h | Changeable | Power outlets, Restrooms, Wi-Fi |
 DB Fernverkehr | 140 km/h | Refundable | Power outlets, Wi-Fi |
The bus gets you into Dortmund. These two partners take it from there, and the bed is theirs to book.
A room in Dortmund for the night the bus gets in
Sort by distance from Dortmund Hauptbahnhof and you can see which places are ten minutes on foot and which are not.
Search Dortmund on Booking.comOr compare on Expedia
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When to book Essen to Dortmund
The same search run across the whole booking window, so the shape of the curve is visible rather than described.
- $22.0290 days
- $27.0660 days
- $24.0245 days
- $24.0230 days
- $24.0121 days
- $24.0214 days
- $25.857 days
- $39.803 days
- $53.151 days
- Cheapest lead time
- Fares bottom out around 90 days ahead, at $22.02.
- How much it moves
- The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time is 141 percent. The most expensive point is $53.15, 1 days out.
- What that means
- Today sits inside the cheap window, which closes about 90 days before departure. Waiting from here has usually cost money on this corridor rather than saved it.
Which departure day costs least
Median cheapest fare for each weekday, taken across the next three weeks of real prices.
- $29.50Sun
- $24.02Mon
- $27.06Tue
- $24.02Wed
- $29.50Thu
- $28.27Fri
- $28.89Sat
Where you leave from and where you arrive
Essen
Bus- Essen Freiheit
- Essen Hbf
Dortmund
- Dortmund ZOB
- DO-Lütgendortmund
What the journey looks like
- Direct or connecting
- 0% of the services we sell on this corridor run through without a change. The remaining 100% involve one connection.
- How far it really runs
- The route covers 197 km against 32 km in a straight line, a detour of 450 percent. Track and road geometry account for the difference.
- Where the change is
- Connections are made at Münster, Bielefeld, Köln, Bonn. The gap between arriving and leaving is 62 minutes, of which about 5 is walking.
- If the connection is missed
- The tightest connection we sell here has a 15 percent chance of not being made on the timetable alone. Part of this journey is a self transfer between separate tickets, so leave more time than the minimum and expect to check in again.
Buses against the other ways to make this journey
| Mode | Door to door | Moving | At the ends | From | CO2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Train | 2h 54m | 1h 8m | 1h 46m | $24.01 | 5.6 kg |
| Coach | 5h 23m | 3h 3m | 2h 20m | $23.24 | 6.6 kg |
Questions about Essen to Dortmund
The questions people actually ask about this trip, answered from the same prices and times the page above is built on rather than written once and left to go stale.
How long does the Coach from Essen to Dortmund take?
The Coach from Essen to Dortmund covers 197 km. Each operator's own departure and arrival times for the date you pick are in the search at the top of this page, beside the total price.
How much does the Coach from Essen to Dortmund cost?
The Coach from Essen to Dortmund starts at $23.24 for one passenger, as of October 7, 2026. A typical fare is $23.24. Both are the total including taxes, supplier fees and our service fee, so the price here is the price at checkout.
Who runs the Coach from Essen to Dortmund?
2 operators run the Coach from Essen to Dortmund: BlaBlaCar, DB Fernverkehr. The operator table on this page sets out fare, journey time, cruising speed, fare conditions and what is provided on board.
Which terminal does the Coach from Essen to Dortmund use?
The Coach from Essen to Dortmund leaves from Essen Freiheit and arrives at Dortmund Hbf. Allow about 44m for reaching the departure terminal and leaving the arrival one. That time is already inside every door to door figure quoted on this page.
Is the Coach the best way from Essen to Dortmund?
The Coach is the cheapest way from Essen to Dortmund, at $23.24, against 1 other modes that also run the corridor. The comparison table on this page shows every mode side by side.
When should I book the Coach from Essen to Dortmund?
Fares for the Coach from Essen to Dortmund bottom out around 90 days ahead, at $22.02. The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time across the window is 141 percent, measured on October 7, 2026. Booking inside the final week has consistently cost more.
How much CO2 does the Coach from Essen to Dortmund produce?
The Coach from Essen to Dortmund produces about 6.6 kg of CO2 per passenger over 197 km, which works out at roughly 33 grams per passenger kilometer. That figure is for the whole journey and for one traveler, not for the vehicle.
What is provided on board the Coach from Essen to Dortmund?
Operators on the Coach from Essen to Dortmund publish Power outlets, Restrooms, Wi-Fi. That is what 2 carriers on this corridor state about their own fleets. Where a carrier publishes nothing, this page lists nothing for it.
Where these numbers come from
Places, coordinates, operators, which operator serves which pair, and every distance on this page are real and come from open data. Where a corridor has a filed timetable the departure times are real too, and ferry fares are the prices the operators publish themselves.
Observed service A carrier record names this operator on this pair, carried through unchanged.
Prices come from the supplier wherever we hold a live quote. Elsewhere we show an indicative price built from the real distance, the real operator and a fare curve over lead time, day of the week and season. Those are labeled Estimated fare and cannot be booked.
Defined in full at Door to door, Fares, The booking window, Carbon
Related journeys
The bus is the simple part. What you do once you are in Dortmund is somebody else's catalog.
Day trips out of Dortmund and across Germany
Day trips that leave Dortmund in the morning and cover a good part of Germany by evening.
See Dortmund on GetYourGuideOr browse Viator
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