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City in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Photo: Marc Schuelper, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Gelsenkirchen is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. Gelsenkirchen, like neighbouring cities, is refining its image promoting its industrial culture. Old refineries have been remodelled into event halls and ice skating rinks. Beautiful bike paths now lie where old rail lines ran. Art from old machines are a source of artistic expression.
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Schloss Berge
Adenauerallee 103, Bus 302 (stop: "Berger See"). Built in 1264, and underwent major expansion between 1785 and 1788. There is a traditional summer festival at the end of July every year. Concerts and other events are hosted regularly in this historically preserved location.
Gelsenkirchen offers wonderful city parks with beautiful playgrounds, gardens, and ponds. The "Revierpark" and "Stadtgarten" are popular centrally located parks within the city.
First Schalke Stadium
First own stadium of football club FC Schalke 04, opened in 1928 and used as their home until 1974. Inside only accessible to public during local football matches.
Church of the Holy Cross
Impressive former church build 1927 in a mix of new objectivity and expressionism, deconsecrated in 2007 and now a cultural centre.
Art museum in Buer district.
Buer city hall
Build in 1910, this monumental building used to house both the city council of the old City of Buer, as well as the council of Gelsenkirchen until the 1960s after being annexed by it in 1928. Decorated by numerous artworks and topped by a clock tower, it stands as one of the landmarks of Buer and still serves as office for numerous branches of the city administration.
Halde Rungenberg
The Rungenberg mining tip is a 40 m tall tip created by dumping millions of tons of soil from coal mining. Since the end of mining, it has been landscaped and made accessible as viewpoint, by using the ramps or climbing a 300-step staircase straight to the top.
Propsteikirche St. Urbanus
Provost church build in the 1890s but with almost a millenium of history. The wide church tower has been missing its spire since World War II; plans to restore it are underway as of 2024.
Small exhibition inside of the Arena, dedicated to FC Schalke 04, who call it their home since 2001.
Modern interesting glass office building in a triangular shape. Constructed during a building exhibition on grounds of an old metal factory in 1996, it's now home to offices with a focus on sustainability, IT and healthcare.
Consolidation Mine
Old industrial buildings including headframe tower of former coal mine that closed in the early 1990s. Area is now also used for cultural events.
Zoo Gelsenkirchen
Gelsenkirchen's interactive zoo. Zoom offers a special zoo experience for children, families, and adults of all ages! The zoo is split into three sections or "worlds": Africa, Asia, and Alaska and offers a more natural atmosphere of the animal habitats.
A former industrial park offering many attractions including a bike/walking trails along a canal, an open air theater (which plays featured films in the summer time), rock climbing, a children's play land, and a colliery.
They were promoted in 2026 so they now play soccer in Bundesliga, the top tier. Their Veltins Arena (capacity 62,000) is 3 km north of the centre, or 2 km northeast of Gelsenkirchen Zoo railway station.
Trabrennbahn Gelsenkirchen
Large horse race track, regular horse races, also used for events like concerts.
An American-style cafe which offers coffee drinks as well as meals. Every morning they offer an all-you-can-eat buffet of eggs, bacon, fresh bread, and other delicious treats. Also cocktails are only €4 each in the evenings. This is a fun place to enjoy a typical European cafe with a slight American flair.
Cafe that sells cakes too.
Vietnamese restaurant, inside seating or take-away counter.
Turkish restaurant.
Arab restaurant, authentic cuisine.
Turkish kebab.
Bar and pub frequented by fans of Schalke 04 football club.
Cafe, bar, restaurant. Happy Hour from 20:00-23:00.
Traditional German Kneipe (pub).
Small, friendly hotel with 12 solo and 33 double rooms, right in Buer.
Connected to the main train station in the centre of the city. Also ask about free transportation passes for travel within and around Gelsenkirchen.
Modern large hotel next to the arena, with bar and restaurant, fitness and spa area, surface and underground parking spaces.
former Maritim Hotel
Hotel on west side of city centre inside a twin highrise block. Slightly dated but clean and friendly.
Basic hotel next to the central train station.
By plane
Nearest airports are located within 100 km from the city.
By train
The city can be easily reached using the German train network InterCity-Express (ICE)and InterCity (IC) trains offer high speed connections between cities throughout Germany and popular European…
Intercity transportation
The Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr Website offers a wonderful online planner in multiple languages for using the train and/ or bus in the Rhein-Ruhr area.
By car
Gelsenkirchen can be reached using the highway (Autobahn) A42, A2, A40, as well as the Bundesstraße B224/A52.
By car
Like the rest of the Ruhr Area, Gelsenkirchen is very spread out and thus people rely on cars more than the German average. Roads and highway are well-maintained but crowded.
By bike or electric scooter
Bike infrastructure is lacking but slowly being improved.
Choose an airport to see hotels, stations, taxi ranks and car rental desks around it.
Düsseldorf · International · DUS
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