Bad Westernkotten: Brine, Nature and History

Bad Westernkotten combines brine bathing, walking trails in the spa gardens and surrounding countryside, and reminders of its salt and local history. If you’re looking for a hotel in Bad Westernkotten, you can plan your stay around these interests: the thermal baths offer a different focus from the walking routes and technical monuments.

Brine and Spa Gardens

The Hellweg-Sole-Thermen offer bathing in natural brine from Bad Westernkotten at 32 to 34 °C. The water area covers more than 1,300 m²; the 1,200 m² sauna area includes six textile-free themed saunas. This makes it possible to enjoy brine bathing and a visit to the saunas as separate parts of a thermal bath experience.

The spa gardens also have several facilities for outdoor activities. The Kneipp facility has foot and arm pools, which are filled with brine from Bad Westernkotten from April to October. The barefoot trail has eight sections with different natural materials, including one area with original Bad Westernkotten bathing peat. The fitness trail has nine stations presenting a range of sporting challenges.

Circular Routes with Different Themes

The route lengths make for an easy comparison: the Historic Landwehr Circular Route is about 3 km long, the Muckenbruch March about 6 km, and the Lobetag Procession Route about 7 km. They also differ considerably in what they cover: one follows a preserved section of the Landwehr, another leads into the Muckenbruch area, and the third connects a church with four named lime trees.

The Muckenbruch March passes through the spa gardens and along Forellenweg. Cross the bridge over the Gieseler to reach the Muckenbruch nature and peat-extraction area. The return route runs through the town centre and along the spa promenade to the fountain in front of the Hellweg-Sole-Thermen. This route thus connects the park, town centre and countryside in one walk.

On the Historic Landwehr Circular Route, you’ll follow a preserved section of the Landwehr, built around Westernkotten in 1506. The Lobetag Procession Route begins at St. John the Evangelist Church and leads to the four Lobetag lime trees: the Josefslinde, Friedhofslinde, Antoniuslinde and Franziskuslinde. The different route themes can help you choose a walk based on what you’re interested in, not just its length.

Muckenbruch and Local History

The Muckenbruch nature reserve is located east of Bad Westernkotten, nearby. It covers 92 ha between Westernkotten and Bökenförde in former floodplains of the Gieseler, Pöppelsche and Flachsröte rivers. The area includes a small calcareous fen and embedded spring areas; this combination of habitats is very rare across the region. This landscape provides a distinct contrast with the spa garden facilities and the historic themes of the walking routes.

Local history can also be seen in specific buildings and places. The two salt evaporation towers in Bad Westernkotten were added to the City of Erwitte’s list of historic monuments at the end of 1984 and are considered monuments of cultural history and engineering. Schäferkämper Water Mill is a technical heritage site with two overshot water wheels. Königssood was originally a royal salt-boiling site and remained Westernkotten’s economic centre until 1845.

You can discover more at the Wunderkammer in the Kurhalle, whose exhibits cover nature, history, technology and art, and at the granary. This two-storey half-timbered granary was built at the end of the 17th century and originally came from the historic Weringhof in Bad Westernkotten. Together, these places show different aspects of local history: salt production, engineering structures and older half-timbered architecture.

For an overview of the wider area: Erwitte.