Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia)

Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia) is the most populous federal state / Bundesland in Germany with a huge metropolitan area. Remnants of the coal and steel industry of the Ruhr region can still be found here.

Regions

Münsterland

The Münsterland is the rural Part of NRW it consists mainly of small towns, villages and farmland.

Highlights of the Region

Castle Nordkirchen This Castle is also called the Versailes of westphalia and it is a real gem of this region.
100 Castles Route

Websites

Münsterland (german)

Ruhrgebiet / Ruhr Area

The Ruhr Area, is the former industrial heart of germany, with a lot of industrial history and a history of coal, steel and beer. Today a lot of the old industrial plants are closed and some are turned into museums or entertainment facilities. The region is on the way to reinvent itself, it wants to be a region of culture, high tech and other kinds of business, while trying to keep the industrial parts, that are still succesfull.

Many Visitors are surprised, that this former industrial region, that was dominated by the smoking chimneys of furnaces and coal dust , has also a lot of nice green places to offer.

Some Highlights of the Region:

World Heritage, Zollverein in Essen
Landscape Park Duisburg Nord
Castle of Work Zollern in Dortmund
Ruhrtalbahn (A trip wih old historic trains through the ruhr area, every first sunday of the month, from April to october, an old steam train runs trough the ruhr area. There is also another nostalgic train. Sadly the website is german only, but google translate may help.)
Industrial Heritage Trail (german)