A district with a research institute along the border with the Netherlands
The Vaalserquartier is an upscale residential area extending west of Aachen all the way to the Dutch border, where it neighbors the lovely town of Vaals, Netherlands. There you will find Dutch supermarkets and shops with a product assortment differing from those in Germany, restaurants, and interesting cultural offerings, as well as a weekly market selling fresh regional groceries. Just south of the neighborhood, you can take a walk through meadows and the forest to the nearby Dreiländereck, the three-frontiers point of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, a favorite destination for many locals. Situated towards the north, Campus Melaten is home to some of the cutting-edge institutes of the RWTH as well as the prestigious Uniklinikum Hospital which, even though its architecture is somewhat of an acquired taste, is actually Germany’s only university hospital declared a cultural heritage site.
