4.8
(17)
58
riders
Westfälische Salzroute
05:21
89.8km
310m
Cycling
The almost 90-kilometer-long Westphalian Salt Route, with its many salt-themed highlights, is your perfect touring bike tip in the north of the Sauerland. Salt production and the salt trade have left a large number of cultural and industrial historical testimonies in the Hellweg region. The three spas Bad Sassendorf, Bad Waldliesborn and Bad Westernkotten provide an extra portion of relaxation. With its few inclines, the Westphalian Salt Route is also an easy route that primarily leads along paved side roads or cycle paths.
The starting point is the Unna-Königsborn train station. Only a few meters away you have already reached the beautiful spa park, where you can admire the wind pump of the former salt works. Passing the old town you cycle eastwards on a bike path. It goes through wide fields and small towns, where numerous restaurants invite you to stop. A colorful spa park with an impressive graduation house is also waiting for you in Werl.
After you have breathed in the salty air, you continue through the colorful cultural landscape, which is peppered with churches, courtyards and half-timbered houses. You can reach Bad Sassendorf via Soest - make sure to visit the Westphalian Salt Worlds there. In a gentle up and down you cycle via Bad Westernkotten and Geseke to Salzkotten, the destination of the Westphalian Salt Route. Here, too, you can visit a spa park with a graduation house before you start your journey home by train.
Last updated: September 1, 2024
Tips
Includes a segment in which cycling is not permitted
After 40.1 km for 105 m
Waypoints
Start point
Train Station
Get Directions
753 m
Windpump Tower Friedrichsborn (Königsborn)
Highlight • Monument
Translated by Google •
Tip by
19.6 km
Werl Graduation Tower in Kurpark
Highlight • Monument
Translated by Google •
Tip by
45.4 km
Westphalian salt mines
Highlight • Monument
Translated by Google •
Tip by
89.0 km
Salzkotten Graduation Tower
Highlight • Monument
The plant is fed with the brine of the nearby spring »Neuer Sprudel«. The brine is pumped into a large gutter on the graduation tower, which in turn feeds the gutters on the long sides above the thorn hedge.
From the notches and taps of these grooves, the brine trickles into the thorns. The falling drops are crushed (aerosols) so that they can be used for therapeutic inhalation inhalation. Grading means gradually increasing the brine content of the water by draining it several times.

Source "New Sprudel"
The former graduation mill, planned and built by Rev. Philipp Korte, had a length of almost 600 meters and was shut down with the advent of rock salt in 1908. The entire complex was demolished in 1920/21.
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Tip by
89.8 km
End point
Train Station
Way Types & Surfaces
Way Types
29.2 km
27.3 km
18.7 km
12.0 km
2.35 km
124 m
< 100 m
Surfaces
68.0 km
9.94 km
7.41 km
2.04 km
1.93 km
395 m
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Elevation
Highest point (120 m)
Lowest point (70 m)
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Weather
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Sunday 10 May
10°C
5°C
83 %
Additional weather tips
Max wind speed: 19.0 km/h
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This route was planned by komoot.
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Trail Reviews
Hello cycling community, For all those who want to drive in a relaxed way and enjoy the time, I recommend an overnight stay in Soest. The old town is worth it. Of course, everyone can also drive the entire route in one day.
The Westphalian Salt Route begins in Unna-Königsborn and ends in Bad Salzkotten. The tour begins in Kamen because of the better rail connection. From there it is only a few kilometers to Königsborn. The park there is, not surprisingly, all about salt. A windmill is evidence of salt production. As the tour continues, you will repeatedly come across graduation towers in the relevant spa towns. Salt brine runs over bundles of branches and evaporates. Not only does the immediate surroundings get cooled, the air is, as intended, salty. The paths are asphalted throughout and well marked. There is car traffic on the through roads and on the little-used country roads. Otherwise you drive on farm roads - almost always with a wide view of the landscape. To the south you can see the Sauerland, to the north in the distance the Wiehen Mountains and the Teutoburg Forest. Somehow you mostly drive as if you were on a ridge. The tour ends in Bad Salzkotten at a graduation tower. Overall, despite the length, it was a relaxed ride with few climbs. I would particularly recommend the spa parks in Werl and Bad Westernkotten. The spa park in Bad Sassendorf is also a great facility, although it was completely overcrowded.
I was actually planning a trip from Arnhem to Venlo, but if there were any problems with the German railway, I'd have trouble getting home. So I just retraced my first 100+ route. Westphalia is beautiful, too 😃🚴♂️
Weather: clear 27 degrees, weak wind from SW The plan for today was actually a trip by train to Winterberg to take the Ruhr Valley Cycle Path back to Dortmund from there. The strike of the platoon leaders, however, put an end to it. So it was rescheduled at short notice and a tour to the east was found to be good. Advantage: the railways used from east to west do not belong to Deutsche Bahn and were therefore not on strike. Surprisingly, my friend Daniel agreed to participate in the tour. However, he doesn't have a bike with an electric drive. In solidarity as I am, I decided not to switch on my engine and so it was a first for me: over 100 km without electrical support. The tour went very straight from west to east through the cities of Unna, Werl, Soest, Bad Sassendorf, Erwitte, Bad Westernkotten, Bad Salzkotten to Paderborn. Big compliments to Daniel for making the first 100 km tour ever. He held out bravely and strong. It was a really nice tour with perfect bike weather, nice and warm and not exclusively sunny. In addition, there was the first Federweiß of the season on the way. However, it was still very sweet and hardly had any alcohol content. Fortunately, the train arrived very punctually in Paderborn and brought us back to Dortmund in no time at all. You start to worry if you drive in one direction for 7 hours and sweat and the whole thing is rewound within less than 1 hour. Conclusion: a very nice ride, which has proven to me that I can go far without motor assistance 🤗😁💪🏻
Hello, as the title says, I left Paderborn just before 10 a.m. this morning at a pleasant 18°C to make my way to Jülich. My destination today is Dortmund, my hostel is the a & o Hotel🏨, it's cheap, has enough sockets in the room so I can get my equipment ready for tomorrow. Actually, I had planned to cycle the Hellweg route, but somehow I always got lost, but it doesn't matter, the path is the goal. So tomorrow morning, after breakfast, it's off across the Ruhr area to Hilden. The route is shorter so that I can also do some 📷 sightseeing. With this in mind, we read each other 😉
Comments
May 12, 2023
The almost 90-kilometer-long Westphalian Salt Route, with its many salt-themed highlights, is your perfect touring bike tip in the north of the Sauerland. Salt production and the salt trade have left a large number of cultural and industrial historical testimonies in the Hellweg region. The three spas
Translated by Google •
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