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Martin Kirchner

In Moers, artist Otto Piene’s sculpture ”Geleucht” is modeled on a miner’s lamp and sits atop a coal tip with views of the Rhine and industrial plants.

Grugapark in Essen features a botanic garden, a zoo, playgrounds, and outdoor sculptures.

Visitors can spend the night in a concrete sewage pipe at the pay-what-you-can Parkhotel in Berne Park in Bottrop.

A longtime family-run pub/restaurant in Essen, Ampütte serves hearty cuisine such as a spicy sausage with fries.

Part of a former gasworks, the Gasometer Oberhausen is the tallest exhibition hall in Europe. The exhibit ”The Call of the Mountains” features an upside-down replica of the Matterhorn.

A collection of medicine bottles fills a display at the ”Age of Coal,” a temporary exhibit at the Zollverein Coal Mine.

Staircases and escalators mimicking coal conveyors help visitors navigate the Ruhr Museum, which explores the history of the region.

The Red Dot Design Museum, located in the Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex, showcases award-winning product designs from around the world.

Herman Prigann’s concrete sculpture ”Stairway to Heaven” tops a mine dump in Gelsenkirchen.

Locals enjoy biking or walking along and across the Rhine-Herne Canal, which once served to transport coal through the Ruhr region.