Tips for kids

Looking for 500 animals, loads of playgrounds, sports facilities, a botanical garden and an incredible amount of space to run around? You’ve come to the right place. Ponies, deer, goats, guinea pigs, eagle owls, parrots and flamingos are just some of the park’s residents waiting to welcome you. In between, you’ll find beach volleyball courts, trampolines and chess—or perhaps you’d rather climb in the low ropes course or have fun on the roller-skating rink. If you get hungry, there are always chips, waffles or ice cream. And at the end of the day, if you don’t feel like walking back to the exit, the Grugabahn will take you there.

www.grugapark.de

Would you like to enjoy a relaxing ride around Essen while learning lots about the city’s fascinating sights? Then the kids’ sightseeing tour is just right for you. You and your family will spend two hours touring the city in a big red open-top double-decker bus. You’ll visit the Zollverein UNESCO World Heritage Site, Villa Hügel, once home to the famous Krupp industrialist family, and Margarethenhöhe, with its many charming little houses and lovely places to live. Through your headphones (please bring your own), 11-year-old Charlotte from Essen will tell you fascinating and entertaining facts about the sights along the route. The grown-ups can listen to the recorded commentary played on the bus. You can get tickets for the sightseeing tour here:

reviertouristik.de/touren/erlebnisrundfahrt-essen/

There’s always something going on at Zollverein, and you can play soccer golf here from the Easter holidays through to the autumn holidays. It’s a mix of football and golf. A course with a total of nine goals leads from the mine to the coking plant, and you have to try to get the football through them in as few kicks as possible. It’s free to play; you just need to borrow the footballs and scorecards with a deposit. Games take place on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, as well as during school holidays, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

www.zollverein.de

Lake Baldeney and the Ruhr, the river that flows into the lake, are popular destinations for day trips in Essen. There’s lots to experience in and around the water. You can take a classic boat trip across the lake and enjoy the view, or set off on your own. There are many ways to do this—for example, by kayak or canoe, on an inflatable boat tour or a raft, by stand-up paddleboard, or in a pedal boat or dragon boat. There are lots of providers on the Ruhr and at the lake. You’ll find them here:

www.ruhrtouren.de | www.kanu-tour-ruhr.de | www.seaside-beach.de | www.ruhr-abenteuer.de | www.baldeneysee.com | www.bootsverleih-kettwig.de

You don’t have to travel far for a farm day out—there are three family farms in Essen that you can visit. At the farm on Mechtenberg in Kray, you can get close to the animals in the petting zoo, ride pedal tractors and play in various sandpits. At Bauer Brömse in Dellwiger Landscheune, you can even go pony riding by arrangement and celebrate your birthday. Both farms sell delicious, freshly made products in their farm shops. At the youth farm in Altenessen, you can meet the animals and learn how to care for them. There are also great afternoon activities here, including arts and crafts.

www.bauer-budde.de | www.brömses-landscheune.de | www.jh-essen.de

You don’t always have to go on a day trip to have fun. You can climb, go down slides, ride a zip line and build a lovely sandcastle in lots of places around Essen. Our interactive map makes it easy to see where you are and where the next great playground is. Essen has more than 400 playgrounds, and we’ve picked out the 30 best ones for you here. If you’re looking for more, take a look here:

www.essen.de

Think beaches are only for holidays and definitely not right in the middle of Essen? Think again: Seaside Beach Baldeney is a huge dream beach right on Lake Baldeney. You can build sandcastles and swim in the lake, as well as enjoy lots of other activities that you won’t find at every beach. There’s a climbing park and a mini-golf course, too. You can also learn archery or build a raft. Great holiday activities for children are offered here during the summer holidays. Please note: The swimming area isn’t always open, so be sure to check the website beforehand.

www.seaside-beach.de

Mini golf is a classic—and always great fun. On 18 holes, you try to putt the ball past obstacles and into the hole in as few strokes as possible. Whether it’s around a corner or through a loop, it can be quite tricky, so you’ll need a little patience and a steady hand. If you want to play mini golf outdoors in Essen, you can go to Miniaturgolf am Stadtwald near Heimliche Liebe, Bernis-Come-In in Volksgarten in Kray, or Minigolf am Kattenturm on the Ruhr. There’s another course at Seaside Beach Baldeney, right by the lake. For something a little more out there—but indoors—try blacklight mini golf.

www.bernis-come-in.de | www.restaurantkattenturm.de | www.miniaturgolf-am-stadtwald.de | www.seaside-beach.de | www.essen.schwarzlicht-semester.de

Fly through the air from a height of ten metres, ride the waves and slide down an elephant—all this is possible at Grugabad. With 58,000 square metres of space, there’s plenty of room for everything that’s fun. Four large pools are waiting for you: one with a slide, one with a huge diving platform featuring a 10-metre board, and one with a wave pool. The pool with the diving platform has glass panels at the bottom, so you can watch divers underwater. You can also play beach volleyball, and there’s a large playground, too. A kiosk offers a selection of food and drinks.

www.essen.de

With the virtual-reality time-travel experience “Aufwind”, you’ll journey back to the early days of aviation and experience Essen and the Ruhr region in 1912—a time when flying was still a great dream for people, especially women. With “Aufwind”, we’ve created a unique film experience in which you step into the shoes of Thea Rasche from Essen, one of the world’s first aerobatic pilots, who became internationally famous.

What makes “Aufwind” special is its blend of film and virtual world. You become part of the story, travel through Essen at the start of the 20th century and, at the end, even take off in an aircraft from the former Essen-Rotthausen Airport, thanks to virtual reality. A “Motion Seat” makes your virtual movements feel real. You’ll experience vibrations, wind, heat, cold and smells, immersing yourself completely in the story. You can even use the steering wheel on the “Motion Seat” to control the cars and aircraft yourself. It’s an unforgettable, interactive virtual-reality film experience you won’t want to miss.

Book your ticket now! aufwind.ticket.io

The Ruhr region depended on coal mining for a long time, and to this day you can see headframes and entire coal mines in many places. But what exactly is a coal mine, and how was coal extracted there? You’ll find out at the Mitmachzeche. Here, you’ll set off dressed as a real miner. There are different tours on various topics, and you can solve puzzles or learn how to reinforce a mine tunnel or empty a mine cart. Some activities are for younger children and others for older ones. If you’re between 5 and 17, you’ll find something here for you.

www.zollverein.de

Fly through the air and bounce straight back up on the XXL trampoline field—you can never get enough of it. 3,400 square metres of trampolines are waiting for you in the Ruhr region’s largest trampoline park. Here, you can jump until you’re dizzy, but you can also play basketball like a pro, because you fly so high that you can easily dunk the ball. You can pull off even cooler jumps into the foam pit, and if you need a break, there are snacks and drinks—and you can watch everyone else jumping.

www.jumphouse.de/essen

The Ruhr Museum explores nature—that is, the animals and plants of the Ruhr region—as well as the history of this area. It’s especially exciting for children if you take advantage of the activities on offer. For example, you can visit the museum as usual and borrow a museum bag. Equipped like an explorer with a handbook, magnifying glass and periscope, you can make your way through the exhibition and discover lots of great things. There are also special tours for children. If you have plenty of time, you can take part in one of the two- to three-hour workshops for children. You might learn to make tools as people did in the Stone Age or write with a quill, for example.

www.ruhrmuseum.de

Climbing isn’t just something you can do outdoors or in the mountains. You can also reach new heights in Essen—even when it’s raining. There are three places where you can “climb the walls”: at Kletterpütt and Neoliet Kletterzentrum, the routes go steeply upwards to heights of up to 16 metres. You don’t even need to be roped in, as you’ll land softly on a mat. It’s best to try them all and find out which one you enjoy most. Each centre has lots of different routes, so you can choose a new adventure every time.

www.neoliet.de/neoliet-easy-climb-essen | www.dav-essen.de

When it’s raining and miserable outside again, you can really let off steam at the two indoor playgrounds “Kids Country” and “Funiversum”. At “Kids Country”, you can play, climb, crawl, slide, jump, bounce and simply make some noise on the bouncy castles and trampolines, at the climbing wall, in the ball pit, on the wave slide or in the Ballshoot Arena. At “Funiversum”, you’ll find fantastic themed climbing worlds with interactive play features, a trampoline area with an interactive play zone, as well as Minicity play worlds for children, including a fire station, hospital, supermarket and more. Both indoor playgrounds have bistros and offer you the chance to celebrate a child’s birthday party there.

https://fun-iversum.de/

www.indoorspielplatz-im-ruhrgebiet.com

Fancy playing a game of table tennis with your friends, even when the weather’s miserable? Then head straight to “Ding Dong Ping Pong” in the heart of Rüttenscheid. You’ll play on professional tournament tables with high-quality bats and 3-star tournament balls—just like the pros. A live digital scoreboard means you don’t have to keep score yourselves. By the way, you can also celebrate your birthday at “Ding Dong Ping Pong”. If you’re expecting lots of guests, you can book the whole venue. Just talk to the team.

dingdongpingpong.club/locations/essen

Neon-coloured minigolf in all kinds of wild worlds, with obstacles that aren’t really there—or are they? Put on your 3D glasses and let the adventure begin. Everything glows, even your ball. Skillfully hit it through volcanic and underwater worlds, and see what amazing effects await you in the next room. Just like regular minigolf, you play across 18 holes until the winner of your game is decided. The only difference is that the weather doesn’t matter here, because it’s all indoors.

essen.schwarzlicht-semester.de

The Mineralien-Museum is all about fascinating things such as dinosaurs, comets, crystals and stars. You can visit the exhibition with your parents or join one of the children’s tours. The three-hour workshops on Saturdays, which cover a range of topics, are especially exciting. You can go on a dinosaur hunt and study fossils, or, for example, cut and polish stones until you have one that’s really shiny. In other workshops, you can make colourful crystals yourself or learn how to fake fossils. You can find all the activities and dates on the website.

www.ruhrmuseum.de

Follow the example of the watchful little rooster and save the city from the robbers. All you need to do is download the free app and select the riddles for your age group. There are versions for little heroes aged 8 to 10, for 10- to 12-year-olds, for ages 14 and up, and for adults. That means everyone can join in. You can also set off on an adventure without a smartphone: just pick up the treasure map at the Tourist Information Office and get started on the scavenger hunt.

Find out more here

With its steam locomotive and faithfully restored original carriages, the Hespertalbahn looks almost like something out of Harry Potter. 200 years ago, the railway carried iron ore and limestone from the mines and, later, the colliery. Today, its trains carry passengers through the Hespertal, along the southern shore of Baldeneysee. The 3.4-kilometre route from Alter Bahnhof Kupferdreh to Haus Scheppen is especially beautiful. At Christmas, St Nicholas even rides the train.

www.hespertalbahn.de

Watching a real sword being forged, with hammer blows and sparks flying, is quite an experience. You can do just that in a small half-timbered hut in the woods on Margarethenhöhe, where you can watch a real blacksmith at work. During the summer, Halbachhammer holds demonstrations on the first Sunday of every month from 2 to 6 pm. Visitors can then go inside the forge and watch as glowing-hot metal is shaped with great force and a large hammer.

www.ruhrmuseum.de

The cinema is always a great idea. And every Saturday at 1 pm, Eulenspiegel Kino shows especially good films for little ones. Each week, there’s a different hand-picked film just for children. You can find out what’s showing on the website and in the Filmspiegel, where you’ll find the programme for the whole month. If you don’t yet have the patience to sit still and watch a whole film, try Kinoeulen. These programmes last 45 minutes and consist of four to six short films. You can ask questions between the films and find out more about them. Kinoeulen screenings take place at Grend, Zeche Carl and the Essener Filmkunsttheater cinemas.

www.kinoeulen.de | www.filmspiegel-essen.de

Rutherhof is a paradise for quirky sports. Here, the whole family can try three action-packed and easy-going versions of golf. First, there’s Swin Golf. The rules are child’s play, and there’s plenty of room to swing on a huge meadow with 18 holes. In football golf, your aim is to kick the football into the target in as few shots as possible. The target might be a hole in the ground, a net or even an old tree trunk. At adventure golf, your ball zips over ramps, through loops and past fun obstacles. Best of all, each hole is modelled on a famous landmark from the Ruhr region. So you’ll take a little trip around the region while you play. And since all that fresh-air exercise works up an appetite, you can reward yourselves afterwards with a delicious meal at the Rutherhof restaurant.

www.rutherhof.de

The museum visit is sure to be anything but boring with the museum rally: you can set off on your own, discover paintings, solve tricky puzzles and do some drawing yourself. You can download the materials from the website and print them out. On Sundays at 3 pm, the museum hosts “Children Talk About Art”, with a different topic each time. Sometimes, for example, it’s about paintings that show people dancing; other times, it’s about sign language. You can find the current topic on the museum’s website.

www.museum-folkwang.de

Heissiwald is always worth a visit. High above Baldeneysee, there’s a large wildlife enclosure right in the middle of the forest. Wild boars, red deer, fallow deer and mouflon roam here. It’s especially lovely to see in spring, when the young animals are born. Beside the animal enclosure, there’s a forest nature trail with lots of information about the trees and shrubs that grow here. A large meadow opposite the enclosure is perfect for a picnic. There are lots of lovely walking trails winding through the forest, so the wildlife enclosure makes a great starting or finishing point for a forest outing.

www.wildgatter-heissiwald.de