Discover Hövelhof: Trails, the Senne and culture

Explore Hövelhof on foot, by bike and through its cultural history. Trails lead through forests and along fields, alongside distinctive cycling routes and insights into the lives of Senne residents around 1900. For planning, choose from short hiking routes, longer cycling tours and day stages. This lets you tailor your stay to the activities you most want to focus on.

Hiking through forests, fields and nature reserves

Hövelhof maintains a hiking network approximately 79 kilometres long. Regular inspections and necessary repairs help keep the trails well marked. Hikes lead through dense forests, alongside fields and over gentle hills in the Moosheide nature reserve. The Hövelhof Mill Tour also crosses the Rixelbruch nature reserve, with its dunes. Forests, field edges and protected landscapes give the tours different points of interest.

The trail lengths and themes also vary: the four-kilometre Hövelhof Rally starts and finishes at Jagdschloss Hövelhof. The Local History Hiking Trail is approximately six kilometres long and explores the history of the Hövelhof forest; it starts and ends at the hiking car park on Von-der-Recke-Straße. When choosing a route, you can take both its theme and stated distance into account.

Cycling routes for short rides and longer stages

Hövelhof’s well-maintained, marked cycling routes are suitable for short exploratory rides as well as long-distance routes that cross borders, and serve as a starting point for cycling tours. The 60-kilometre Senne-Parcours Hövelhof is a circular cycling route that lets you experience the nature, landscape and culture of the Senne region. It starts right at Hövelhof railway station. The EmsRadweg starts at the Ems Information Centre and follows the Ems from there to Emden on the North Sea; you can ride it in day stages of varying lengths. This gives you a choice between a circular route and a route with different stage lengths.

Cultural sites and engaging insights

The former hunting lodge in Hövelhof is a listed building, often serves as a local landmark and is a popular photo backdrop. The Senne Heritage Centre in Hövelhof-Bentlake offers a different perspective on local history. Across five buildings and approximately 1,100 square metres, exhibits and talks provide information about the living conditions and way of life of Senne residents around 1900. On activity days, traditional workshops are put back into operation and bread baking is demonstrated.

At the Hövelhof Ems Information Centre, children can use various models to make the Ems spring from its source and guide a ship through the Ems barrier at Gandersum. Models and hands-on activities are the focus here; at the Heritage Centre, exhibits and talks convey what life was like around 1900. The experiences are different: one offers a model to try out, the other a historical insight across several buildings.

Tailor your stay to your interests

Your preferred activities can help guide your search for accommodation. If hiking is your main priority, consider the different routes, their themes and starting points. For a cycling holiday, the Senne-Parcours and the starting point of the EmsRadweg offer specific tour options; those interested in culture can include the hunting lodge and Heritage Centre as destinations in their own right. First decide whether hiking, cycling or culture will shape your stay, then look for accommodation in Hövelhof accordingly.

Nature experiences in the wider Paderborn destination

In the wider Paderborn destination, the Ems spring in the Moosheide nature reserve also offers a glimpse of natural water outflows. It is a seepage spring made up of numerous different outlets; a wooden walkway provides a close-up view of the spring. The Steinhorster Becken offers a different landscape: on both sides of the Ems, it forms a mosaic of shallow-water ponds, islands, reed beds and wet grassland. It provides undisturbed areas for migrating waders and waterbirds to rest and forage.

Discover more destinations: Salzkotten, Büren, Altenbeken, Herbram, Barkhausen, Paderborn, Bad Lippspringe, Lichtenau.

Back to the wider travel overview: Paderborn.