Discover Diepholz: Moor, Water and Culture

Explore the Diepholz district through a range of travel interests: water and sailing on Lake Dümmer, insights into moorland ecology, and museums covering nature and everyday history. It encompasses two tourism regions and two nature parks. At Lake Dümmer, water sports and the lake’s ecology take centre stage; in the moor, a trail, moor railway and Moorwelten offer different ways to experience nature. There are also museums and routes for cycling and canoeing.

Lake Dümmer: Water and Stone Age insights

At the Dümmer Museum in Lembruch, the “Life in Water” research station explains the ecology of the Lake Dümmer ecosystem in detail. The museum also presents the lake’s nature, landscape and culture in the past, present and future. Its Stone Age collection includes original artefacts from 4,000 to 2,000 BC, as well as reconstructions.

A two-hour discovery tour explores life in the waters of Lake Dümmer using a hand net, plankton net, thermometer, questionnaire and microscope. It is intended for families and smaller groups of fewer than 15 people, school classes, and groups of up to 25 people. Lake Dümmer also offers plenty of leisure activities for sailors and surfers. The lake’s attractions therefore range from natural history and Stone Age exhibits to activities on the water.

Museums exploring everyday life and the moor

The Syke District Museum, with the Gesseler Gold Hoard Forum, is the Diepholz district’s museum of cultural and everyday history. It presents everyday life from the Stone Age to the threshold of the present day. The museums have distinct thematic focuses: Lembruch explores, among other things, Lake Dümmer’s ecology and the Stone Age, while Syke offers perspectives on cultural and everyday history.

A moorland discovery trail around two kilometres long, with ten informative stations, leads through the Diepholz moor. It brings the moor ecosystem to life in every season. In Wagenfeld, Moorwelten explores the themes of moor and climate in a multimedia experience. The moor railway stops right at Moorwelten and takes visitors to the “Moorpadd” nature trail and the walking routes in the Neustädter Moor. In the wider region, countless cranes can be observed in the Diepholz Moor Depression during the autumn months; the timing varies from year to year.

Explore by bike or canoe

A cycling route guidance system helps recreational cyclists find their way along around 1,700 kilometres of routes in the Diepholz district. Separate from this is the 137-kilometre Hunte River Cycle Path, which runs from Elsfleth to Lake Dümmer. The Hunte has been developed in the district as an attractive area for nature tourism and canoeing. It is navigable by canoe for around 105 kilometres, from the Osnabrück region to Oldenburg.

There are specific places to visit at the end of the Hunte River Cycle Path, too: its final stage passes through Goldenstedt to Dümmer Nature Park, home to the 16-square-kilometre Lake Dümmer. The Hüde Nature Conservation Station and the Dümmer Museum in Lembruch welcome visitors there. Cycling and paddling offer different ways to experience the Hunte; the routes mentioned have their own distances and endpoints.

Choose the right base

The places to visit and activities mentioned here offer different points of reference, without making all the experiences part of the same itinerary. Focus your search on what matters most to you, then choose accommodation in Diepholz as the base for your trip.

Discover more destinations

Syke, Stuhr, Asendorf, Sudwalde, Wagenfeld, Stemshorn, Lemförde, Sulingen, Heiligenrode, Campen, Kirchdorf, Bruchhausen-Vilsen, Bassum, Neubruchhausen, Lembruch, Hüde, Freistatt, Weyhe, Diepholz, Süstedt, Mellinghausen, Varrel

For the main travel overview: Lower Saxony.