Ruhr area: Essen radial tour

Look forward to Essen and use the first afternoon to visit the Folkwang Museum, see the cathedral and its treasury, or visit the synagogue just next door.

Today you cycle to the Nordsternpark in Gelsenkirchen. Here, many things are reminiscent of the former coal mine that used to stand here. Numerous colliery buildings have been integrated into the park, which hosted the Federal Garden Show in 1997. The 18 meter high 'Hercules of Gelsenkirchen' towers above this park. The Hercules of Gelsenkirchen is a monumental statue that stands on a former winding tower of the former Nordstern colliery. It is considered a landmark of industrial and regional structural change in the Ruhr region. The circular tour takes you over two other slagheaps, which also feature modern sculptures. Enjoy the exciting and beautiful view of the surroundings from the heights of the slagheaps.

One of the world's most extraordinary exhibition halls awaits your visit today and is the first stop on your round trip. Look forward to the Gasometer in Oberhausen. The Gasometer Oberhausen is an industrial monument and at the same time the highest exhibition and event hall in Europe! The Gasometer is located directly on the Rhine-Herne Canal. With a storage volume of 347,000 m³, 117 meters high and almost 68 meters in diameter, it was Europe's largest operating disc gasometer until 1988. After the renovation, the first exhibition in the gasometer will show the beauty of nature and the influence of man on his environment. After a worthwhile visit, you will cycle leisurely along the Rhine-Herne Canal to the Duisburg-Nord Landscape Park, where another industrial-cultural highlight awaits you. Since 1994, a disused steel mill has been transformed step by step into what is now a metropolitan oasis with an average of one million visitors a year. Former factory halls have been converted for corporate and cultural events, Europe's largest artificial diving center has been created in an old gasometer, former ore storage bunkers have been transformed into an alpine climbing garden, a high ropes course has been set up in a casting hall and an extinct blast furnace has been converted into an observation tower. Leisure, recreation and sports are emphasized on the 180-hectare site. You can wander through the landscape park on foot or explore it by bicycle or join an interesting public guided tour. With surely great impressions you cycle back to the hotel afterwards.

You will cycle quickly to Mülheim via the cycle path. Now you follow the well signposted Ruhr cycle path past the worth seeing Saarn monastery with herb garden and nice café. Then you cycle to the much-used Baldeneysee, which is a wonderful local recreation destination. On its banks rises the imposing castle-like Villa Hügel, the former home of the Krupp family of entrepreneurs (1873 - 1945). With its 269 rooms in the middle of a 28-hectare park, it is far more than just the former residence of a well-known business family. It is a symbol of the age of industrialization in Germany. Numerous historic rooms as well as the Krupp Historical Exhibition can be visited. Afterwards, you can take a break in one of the numerous beer gardens at Lake Baldeney or along the Ruhr River before cycling back to your hotel in Essen.

This tour is all about mining. You cycle to Bochum, where you can enter a coal mine underground. Afterwards you will cycle along the ore railway line to the Zollverein coal mine, probably the most beautiful coal mine in the world and also a UNESCO World Heritage Site! Discover industrial history at a place that stands for superlatives like no other: Get to know the once largest and most powerful coal mine in the world and the largest central coking plant in Europe. Every day, a variety of activities on the 100-hectare site invite you to experience the world of coal, coke, art and culture in the heart of the Ruhr region.

After breakfast your surely beautiful and also instructive star bike tour ends in Essen. We would be happy to book you additional nights to get to know this interesting region even better.