Bottrop

Tetraeder, Malakoff tower and the Albers squares in one loop

Bottrop needs only a day. See Josef Albers's nested squares at the Josef Albers Museum Quadrat in the Stadtgarten, climb the Halde Beckstraße to the Tetraeder for views across the Ruhr, then visit the Malakoff tower at the former Prosper II colliery and the indoor slope at the Alpincenter. Add Kirchhellen and Movie Park on day two.

Morning. Start in the Stadtgarten at the Josef Albers Museum Quadrat. The low glass building holds one of the largest collections of Albers's work anywhere, including many panels from the long series of nested coloured squares he painted in the United States. The same complex has a museum of local prehistory with Ice Age finds from the area, so allow two hours for both.

Midday. Walk through the pedestrian zone for lunch, then take a bus or walk south-west to the Halde Beckstraße. A path spirals up the grassed spoil heap to the Tetraeder, a four-sided pyramid of steel tubes. Stairs lead to platforms hung inside it, and from the top you can pick out the gasometer at Oberhausen and the towers of Essen on a clear day.

Afternoon. Head to the former Prosper II colliery to see its Malakoff tower, a fortress-like brick winding tower from the early mining years, then continue to the Alpincenter on the Prosperstraße heap if you fancy a run down the indoor slope. On a summer evening, return to the Tetraeder to see it lit after dark. With a second day, drive or ride north to Kirchhellen for the theme park or a walk in the heath and pine woods of the Kirchheller Heide.

Currywurst at the Bude and Kirchhellen asparagus

Bottrop eats Ruhr mining food. Order Currywurst with chips rot-weiß at a Bude or Imbiss, try Pfefferpotthast or Döppekuchen in older pubs, and from late April to midsummer buy white Spargel at Kirchhellen farm stalls, many with cafés serving it with ham or hollandaise. The centre has Turkish grills and pizzerias.

Mining towns ate cheaply and well, and Bottrop still does. The everyday standard is Currywurst with chips, ordered at an Imbiss or a Bude, the corner kiosks that are a Ruhr institution, selling beer, sweets and newspapers late into the evening. Ask for your chips rot-weiß and they come with ketchup and mayonnaise. Many Buden have a bench outside, and a cold Pils from a local Ruhr brewery belongs with it.

Hearty Westphalian dishes turn up in the older pubs: Pfefferpotthast, a beef stew sharp with pepper and bay, and Döppekuchen, a baked potato cake with bacon and onions eaten with apple sauce, traditionally on dark winter evenings. Portions are built for a shift underground, so one main course is plenty.

Kirchhellen is the place to go in late spring. Farms around the village put up roadside stalls for white Spargel from about late April until the season closes at midsummer, and many run cafes where you can eat it with ham, butter or hollandaise, followed by strawberry cake. In the centre of Bottrop the choice is wider and more international, with Turkish grills, pizzerias and bakeries around the pedestrian zone.