museum
Zollverein Coal Mine
A Bauhaus-styled colliery and UNESCO icon of the Ruhr, now a striking park of red walkways, museums and a winter ice rink.
12 km · about 25 min drive
EuropeGermanyNorth Rhine-Westphalia
Bochum
North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany · Europe
About Bochum
Bochum is worth a stop: 10 minutes from Laer, 12km from Zollverein Coal Mine.
Bochum is in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with about 390,000 people. You drive on the right here. The nearest town is Laer, about 4 km away.
Bochum (, BOHKH-uum; US: -əm; German: [ˈboːxʊm] ; Westphalian: Baukem) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 372,348 (April 2023), it is the sixth-largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) in North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous German federal state, and theRead more
16th-largest city in Germany. On the Ruhr Heights (Ruhrhöhen) hill chain, between the rivers Ruhr to the south and Emscher to the north (tributaries of the Rhine), it is the second largest city of Westphalia after Dortmund, and the fourth largest city of the Ruhr after Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg. It lies at the centre of the Ruhr, Germany's largest urban area, in the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Region, the second biggest metropolitan region by GDP in the European Union, and belongs to the region of Arnsberg. There are nine institutions of higher education in the city, most notably the Ruhr University Bochum (Ruhr-Universität Bochum), one of the ten largest universities in Germany, and the Bochum University of Applied Sciences (Hochschule Bochum).
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is there to see near Bochum?
Within an hour or so of Bochum: Zollverein Coal Mine (12 km), Wuppertal Schwebebahn (25 km), Classic Remise Düsseldorf (42 km).
Where is Bochum?
Bochum is in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, about 4 km from Laer.
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Quick Information
- Population
- 385,729
- Continent
- Europe
- Country
- Germany
- Region
- North Rhine-Westphalia
- Timezone
- Europe/Berlin
- Coordinates
- 51.4817, 7.2165
Emergency & Services
Essential numbers in Germany
ADAC roadside assistance: +49 89 22 22 22. No general speed limit on some autobahn sections but advisory 130 km/h.
Full driving guide for GermanyTags
Worth the detour from Bochum
3 notable places within an hour's drive.
landmark
Wuppertal Schwebebahn
The world's oldest electric suspension railway glides above the Wupper River, a 1901 engineering marvel still in daily use.
25 km · about 30 min drive
landmark
Classic Remise Düsseldorf
A magnificent classic car centre in a restored locomotive roundhouse filled with rare vehicles, workshops, and automotive lifestyle shops.
42 km · about 50 min drive
Driving in Germany
- Drives on
- the right
- Petrol
- ~€1.78/litre
- Motorway tolls
- None
When to drive here
April to October
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