Discover Bocholt: textile history, architecture and leisure

Bocholt combines a rich textile industrial history with distinctive architecture and a range of leisure activities. When planning a visit, it is worth exploring these different highlights: the Textile Museum traces the city’s textile history, squares and churches offer insights into its architectural heritage, while Lake Aasee and the city forest provide additional destinations.

Textile history and getting here

The LWL Textile Museum Bocholt comprises a weaving mill and a spinning mill, linked by a bridge over the Aa. The two sections belong to one museum but are located at separate sites. This distinction is also useful when planning your journey: the spinning mill is about 200 m from the railway station, and the weaving mill about 900 m away. Bocholt can be reached by bus from Münster and the Netherlands, and by bus and train from Wesel. Check current connections before setting off so you can plan your journey to suit your visit.

The Textile Museum is also the starting and finishing point for a digital cycling tour exploring Bocholt’s textile history. You choose the time and duration. This means the tour combines a themed focus with a flexible schedule. While the two museum sites are shaped by their locations and the bridge over the Aa, you can plan the cycling tour to fit your own schedule.

Church, city model and architecture

St. George’s Church is Bocholt’s first parish church and is considered one of the oldest and most significant church buildings in Westphalia. A bronze city model stands on St. George’s Square, between the church and the Historic Town Hall. It depicts Bocholt as it appeared around 1822, including its outline and distinctive buildings. The model has stood there since the city’s 800th anniversary in 2022. The two dates therefore have different meanings: 2022 marks the anniversary, while the model looks back at the city as it was around 1822.

Another more recent building is the New Town Hall on Berliner Platz. Built in the 1970s, it houses a cultural centre and a theatre. The historic steam engine “Fuckepott”, near the Shopping Arkaden, offers another perspective on the city’s industrial history. It is one of the few steam engines in Germany whose horizontal core section is still preserved. In Bocholt, religious architecture, a historic view of the city, a town hall built in the 1970s and a piece of industrial heritage stand side by side.

Outdoor leisure activities

The Lake Aasee leisure complex offers a range of facilities: a mountain bike and skateboarding course, a bouldering wall, a mini pitch for handball, basketball and football, mini golf, a boules court, a low-ropes course and an adventure playground. The options range from courses and climbing to ball games and mini golf. If you would like to include the complex in your plans, you can choose from the activities that interest you.

Bocholt city forest has three signposted trails measuring about 2.6, 3.9 and 10 km. The 2.6 km trail is popular with joggers, and exercise equipment is available along the route. The trail lengths provide a useful comparison if you are choosing between a shorter and a longer loop. Along with the digital cycling tour at the Textile Museum, they offer a different kind of experience: the city forest has signposted routes with stated distances, while you choose the time and duration of the cycling tour yourself.

Discover more destinations: Ahaus, Velen, Südlohn, Borken, Gronau, Heiden, Isselburg, Reken.

Back to the main travel overview: Borken.