Cycling Holiday in Westphalia and Lower Saxony

The town founded by Charlemagne is the starting point of your cycling holiday in Westphalia and Lower Saxony. The old town is characterized by the many church towers, beautiful houses from the Rococo and Classicism periods dominate the picture. Just like in Münster, the Peace of Westphalia, the treaty that ended the Thirty Years' War, was sealed in the town hall. Booked rental bikes are available at the hotel.

Follow the course of the Hase around the foothills of the Teutoburg Forest to Bramsche. The Varus Battle probably took place here, and a museum provides information about it as well as the history of the cloth makers. Past the Alfsee Lake, a reservoir on the Hase, you reach Bersenbrück, which emerged from a Cistercian monastery.

Today's stage of the cycling holiday in Westphalia and Lower Saxony takes you through Artland, which is known for its big farms. The old border fortress of Quakenbrück is the next stop with its many lovingly restored half-timbered houses. Then you cycle on through the Hase valley to Löningen with the largest pillarless hall church in Germany.

Soon after the start, you will pass the border between the Kingdom of Hanover and the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, as evidenced by some boundary stones near Düenkamp. Haselünne is known for its large juniper meadow, which not only led to the establishment of grain distilleries, but is also used today for the back-breeding of Tarpan horses. You reach the Ems in Meppen, where the Dortmund-Ems Canal flows into Germany's smallest river.

The cycling holiday in Westphalia and Lower Saxony takes you up the Ems through former moorland. In Hesepe, you can learn about the living conditions of earlier times in the Moor Museum. Your destination for the day, Lingen, also has a Dutch history and was a fortress in the wars between the Spanish Habsburgs and the Dutch Oraniers.

Today's stage is also very rural. Rye is still ground for pumpernickel in the Holländermühle mill in Emsbüren. Salzbergen is probably the oldest town in Emsland and has an interesting fire department museum. There is still a salt works on your way in Bentlage. Incidentally, the Ems here was once the border between Franconia and Saxony, and your destination for the day, Rheine, used to be a border post for the Prince-Bishopric of Münster.

For the last stage of the cycling holiday in Westphalia and Lower Saxony, you now leave the Ems and cycle through the gently undulating Tecklenburger Land. The region has an independent history and its inhabitants still like to distinguish themselves from the Münsterland region. Ibbenbüren has been a mining town since the Peace of Westphalia and coal was mined here. You will have reached your starting point again in Osnabrück.

After breakfast, the cycling holiday in Westphalia and Lower Saxony ends with the individual journey home. We are also happy to extend your stay in Osnabrück.