Explore Herten: Palace Park, spoil tips and industrial heritage

Herten Palace Park, Ewald Lake and the spoil-tip landscape each offer something different: Baroque garden design, habitats by the water, trails for a range of activities and traces of mining. You can plan your stay around nature, exercise or industrial heritage, rather than planning every outing the same way.

Gardens, woodland and water

Herten Palace Park combines Baroque garden design with the character of an English landscape garden. With more than 200 tree species, the park is also botanically interesting: a walk through the gardens also takes in the variety of trees. The paths through Herten Palace Park and the palace woodland are used for jogging, cycling and walking.

The palace woodland covers 179 hectares and has a nine-kilometre network of walking and cycling paths. The 49.8-hectare Telgenbusch nature reserve has routes for cycling, hiking and horse riding. The size and trail network on the one hand, and the different activities on the other, give you various points of reference for planning your day.

Ewald Lake provides a habitat for many plants and animals, including tufted ducks and great crested grebes. Two circular trails start at the south end of the lake. If you want to include nature and a circular walk in your plans, you will find both here as specific options, without a particular route length being specified.

Trails and views from the spoil tips

Hoppenbruch spoil tip has winding trails for hiking and mountain biking. Options range from easy routes to challenging trails with jumps. Trail conditions and operating arrangements may change, so check both before setting out.

Hoheward and Hoppenbruch spoil tips together form a 220-hectare spoil-tip landscape, described as Europe’s largest. Hoheward Landscape Park combines a former colliery site with extensive green spaces, art installations and views across the region. The many paths there are suitable for hiking and cycling.

The Horizon Observatory uses sighting markers and two monumental arches to observe the sun, the solstices and the seasons. As of August 2026, the observatory cannot be entered; completion of the planned renovation is expected by the end of 2027. The sundial on Hoheward, by contrast, is freely accessible on foot.

Industrial heritage and tour planning

The architecture of Ewald Colliery reflects three eras of mining. Its features include the Malakow tower, Shaft 2 and the headframe of Shaft 7. The Ewald Colliery complex is a listed monument and can be explored along the Ewald Promenade or on a guided tour. The RVR Hoheward Visitor Centre at Ewald Colliery houses the interactive exhibition “New Horizons – In the Footsteps of Time”.

A free QR code rally is described as a digital scavenger hunt. It includes twelve stops and is estimated to take about one to one and a half hours. The starting point is at the entrance to the Lohn- und Lichthalle, which houses the visitor centre. Check the offer details before your visit.

For a bike ride, the Allee des Wandels follows a former colliery railway line through Herten towards Westerholt. It starts at the RVR Hoheward Visitor Centre and is approximately 31 kilometres long. Radknoten 43 of radrevier.ruhr leads directly to the Ewald Colliery site. Unlike the two circular trails at Ewald Lake, the Allee des Wandels is a cycling route.

Ewald Colliery is also served by bus routes SB27 and 210 via the Bergwerk Ewald 1/2 and Gelsenkirchener Str. stops. Check public transport information before travelling.

Discover more destinations: Oer-Erkenschwick, Gladbeck, Haltern Am See, Recklinghausen, Marl, Datteln, Waltrop, Castrop-Rauxel.

Back to the main travel overview: Recklinghausen.