Discover Willich: Neersen Castle Park and Cycling

Willich between nature and culture

The listed historic Neersen Castle Park is a distinctive starting point for exploring Willich’s landscapes and culture. Old trees, extensive meadows, natural woodland areas and numerous ditches fed by the Cloer characterise the park. Open meadows, planted areas and ditches create contrasting features within the same grounds. This combination is worth considering when planning a trip that takes in both nature and culture. The park provides a specific point of reference within Willich.

The castle park also includes a rose garden and a sculpture park. The rose garden adds a horticultural touch, while the sculpture park adds an artistic one. If you are interested in roses and gardens, you can make the rose garden a focus of your visit; if you are interested in art, turn your attention to the sculpture park.

Southeast of Neersen Castle, the Eva Lorenz Environmental Education Centre is set amid greenery. It is a centre for extracurricular environmental education and adds an educational dimension to the park landscape. If you are interested in environmental education as well as nature while travelling, you can make the centre a focus of your visit. In Willich, the park landscape and an extracurricular learning centre offer different ways to explore the subject of nature.

Cycling routes by distance

Cycling options can also be distinguished by distance. The signposted Willich circular cycle route is easy and 40.9 kilometres long. Its circular layout, difficulty rating and length give you specific points of reference when planning to include cycling in your trip. Check current trail conditions before setting off, as they may change.

In the wider destination of Viersen, the BahnRadweg Kreis Viersen adds a considerably longer cycling route: it is 122.8 kilometres long. The route follows or runs parallel to disused railway lines, passes through open fields and quiet forests, and extends to the idyllic lake landscape of the Krickenbecker Seen. Compared with the 40.9-kilometre Willich loop, the routes differ both in length and in the landscapes described. Their length and the landscapes along them provide two different points of reference when choosing a tour. Together with its towns and municipalities and Schwalm-Nette Nature Park, Viersen district is an important part of the Lower Rhine tourism destination.

Seasonal highlights and finding accommodation

In summer, the orangery in the castle park is used as an ice cream café. If you are planning a café break there, check the current opening hours in advance. This seasonal use is a different aspect of a trip from the rose garden and sculpture park, and you can take it into account when choosing when to travel.

Will Willich, with Neersen Castle Park, environmental education and the 40.9-kilometre loop, be the deciding factor, or would you also like to consider the wider cycling options in the greater destination of Viersen? Start with the experiences you want your trip to centre on, then compare accommodation based on your own requirements.

Discover more destinations: Kempen, Schwalmtal, Brüggen, Grefrath, Niederkrüchten, Nettetal, Tönisvorst, Viersen.

Back to the overview of the wider destination: Viersen.