Artland-Rad-Tour

The Artland-Rad-Tour is a signposted loop through the Artland in the northern Osnabrücker Land, Lower Saxony. It links Quakenbrück, Bersenbrück, Ankum, Fürstenau, Bippen, Berge, Menslage, Badbergen and Gehrde, passing through the three joint municipalities (Samtgemeinden) of Artland, Bersenbrück and Fürstenau. There is no fixed start: you can join the route in any town along the way, with rail stations in Quakenbrück and Bersenbrück.

The Artland is an old farming landscape on both sides of the Hase river. Over the centuries, wealthy farmers built half-timbered farmsteads with carved and painted façades, and hundreds of farm buildings are now listed monuments. A typical feature is the four-sided farmstead (Vierseithof), with buildings arranged at right angles around the yard. Along the way, fields and pastures alternate with oak avenues, woodland such as the Maiburg, and a stretch of moorland between Berge and Menslage. The route was revised and re-signposted in April 2022, and in 2024 the ADFC awarded it three stars as a certified quality cycle route (Qualitätsradroute).

Artland-Rad-Tour at a glance

• Route type: loop you can join at any town along the route
• Duration: 1–2 days; the Tourismusgesellschaft Osnabrücker Land puts the riding time for the full loop at around 6.5 hours
• Variants: a connecting link splits the loop into a west loop and an east loop
• Difficulty: easy
• Elevation profile: largely flat, gently rolling in the woodland around Ankum, Bippen and Berge and on the Ankumer Höhen
• Landscape: fields, pastures, hedgerows, woodland and riverside dykes
• Direction: signposted in both directions, no preferred direction
• Certification: ADFC quality cycle route with three stars (main route, 2024)
• E-bikes: charging stations along the route

How is the Artland-Rad-Tour signposted?

The Artland-Rad-Tour is signposted continuously in both directions with the route logo, a red gable. The connecting link between the west and east loops uses a green gable. At junctions where cycle routes cross, direction signs show place names and distances. Intermediate signs are placed wherever the route isn't obvious.

Since the April 2022 revision, parts of the route follow a different line than before. Maps printed before 2022 no longer show the current route. A folding map of the route is available from tourist information offices in the region. You can download the Artland-Rad-Tour GPX track directly in VeloPlanner and transfer it to your phone or GPS device.

Which direction should you ride the Artland-Rad-Tour?

Because the signs point both ways and the route is a loop, there is no recommended direction. In practice, your starting point usually decides it: if you arrive by train, start in Quakenbrück or Bersenbrück. Both stations sit right on the route.

West loop, east loop and full circuit

Besides the full loop, the tourism board describes two shorter loops that share a connecting link through Eggermühlen, Kettenkamp and Groß Mimmelage. This lets you explore the Artland in two stages: the west on one day, the east on the next.

Full loop: Bersenbrück – Ankum – Schwagstorf – Fürstenau – Bippen – Berge – Menslage – Groß Mimmelage – Quakenbrück – Badbergen – Gehrde
The full circuit connects every town in the region, from the monastery town of Bersenbrück via the castle island in Fürstenau to the half-timbered old town of Quakenbrück. With one overnight stop, it fits well into a weekend.

West loop: Fürstenau – Bippen – Berge – Menslage – Groß Mimmelage – Kettenkamp – Eggermühlen – Schwagstorf
The west is the more wooded half, with the Maiburg near Bippen, Stift Börstel near Berge and the moorland between Berge and Menslage. The route's highest points are also here.

East loop: Bersenbrück – Ankum – Eggermühlen – Kettenkamp – Groß Mimmelage – Quakenbrück – Badbergen – Gehrde
The east loop runs through Badbergen, with its listed four-sided farmsteads, and through Quakenbrück's old town. Both of the region's rail stations lie on this loop, which makes it practical for day trips by train.

Sights along the Artland-Rad-Tour

The route strings together half-timbered villages, churches, monasteries and mills. Many stops are right in the town centres, so you rarely need a detour.

Towns and village centres

• Quakenbrück: The old Burgmann and Hanseatic town has around 130 half-timbered houses. The "Poggenpad" town walk leads to 30 sights and starts at the neoclassical town hall of 1817/18.
• Hohe Pforte, Quakenbrück: the last of five original town gates, built in 1485, with a baroque bell tower and arrow slits on its north side
• Fürstenau: Schwedenstraße, with an almost intact streetscape of a farmer-burgher town, and the Hohes Tor gate, which received its tower in 1774
• Menslage and Gehrde: Houses stand tightly packed around the church, with only a few gateways into this church ring (Kirchring). In times of danger the gates were closed, and supplies could be defended as in a castle.
• Ankum: market arches set into the retaining wall between the market square and the churchyard, unique in the Osnabrücker Land

Churches, monasteries and castles

• Artländer Dom (St. Nikolaus), Ankum: landmark of the former cloth-trading town, standing on the Vogelberg above the market arches
• St. Sylvester's Church, Quakenbrück: three-aisled Westphalian hall church from 1235 with wall paintings and a 15th-century Palm Sunday donkey figure (Palmesel)
• St. George's Church, Badbergen: 13th-century Bentheim sandstone baptismal font, which was divided while both denominations shared the church
• Menslage church: founded in 1247 and built of bog iron ore; the tower was only added in 1579
• Former Cistercian convent, Bersenbrück: buildings from three centuries, housing the Museum im Kloster on regional history from 1231 to 1924
• Stift Börstel, Berge: former Cistercian convent with an early Gothic brick cloister, today a women's foundation (Damenstift) hosting concerts and talks
• Fürstenau Castle: castle island with a keep, built in the 14th century as a border fortress against the County of Tecklenburg and remodelled in Renaissance style in the 16th century
• Eggermühlen Castle: baroque complex with a castle chapel and orangery on a working estate

Mills and museums

• Everdings Mühle, Groß Mimmelage (Badbergen): windmill from 1785, moved twice and standing on this site since 1877; the mill and mill café open on request
• Wöstenesch watermill, Eggermühlen: first mentioned in 1594, now home to the local heritage society, with a new water wheel since 2001
• Telgkamps Mühle, Kettenkamp: watermill from 1850 on the Eggermühlenbach stream, with a stone bread oven
• Hof Elting, Badbergen: Artland horse-breeding museum
• Museum MeyerHaus, Berge: village history and the Hollandgang, the seasonal labour migration to the Netherlands
• Town museum and Hermann Bonnus birthplace, Quakenbrück: The reformer's birthplace is considered the oldest known small-town house in western Lower Saxony and shows everyday domestic life around 1500.
• HaiTec-Zentrum, Bippen: exhibition on the time 44 million years ago when sharks swam over the region; visitors can sieve for shark teeth themselves

Nature and prehistory

• Ankumer Höhen: megalithic tombs around 5,000 years old in the TERRA.vita Nature Park, built by people regarded as the first farmers of northwest Germany
• Maiburg: nature reserve with around 1,000 ha of forest between Bippen and Eggermühlen
• Rock ramp (Sohlengleite), Quakenbrück: where a weir once dammed the Hase, salmon and sea trout can now migrate upstream
• Ankumer See: lakeside meadows and a large playground, a few metres from the town centre
• Moorland between Berge and Menslage: woodland and moor, a good spot for a picnic break

Where to stay on the Artland-Rad-Tour

Some of the accommodation is on the listed farmsteads themselves: holiday flats under old oak beams, or a night in the hay. The route's official accommodation search covers Quakenbrück, Bersenbrück, Ankum, Fürstenau, Bippen, Berge, Menslage, Badbergen and Gehrde, among others.

• Farm stays and holiday flats: on Artland farmsteads, some with a farm shop
• Hay hotels: sleeping in the hay on individual farms
• Historic district jail, Fürstenau: bookable as a themed hotel
• Alfsee Ferien- und Erlebnispark, Rieste: holiday park with a swimming lake near Bersenbrück, which the operator also promotes as a base for cycling trips
• Package tours: Hasetal Touristik offers three-day cycling holidays on the Artland-Rad-Tour, in a version "for leisurely riders" and a version "for active riders" based in Ankum with daily rides.

Getting there and back

By train to the Artland-Rad-Tour

The NordWestBahn runs on the Osnabrück–Wilhelmshaven line and stops in Bersenbrück and Quakenbrück. Both stations are right on the route, so you can start riding straight from the platform.

Back to your starting point

On the full loop, you finish where you started. Since Bersenbrück and Quakenbrück are on the same rail line, you can also ride just part of the loop, for example from Quakenbrück via Badbergen and Gehrde to Bersenbrück, and take the train back.

Practical considerations

The Artland-Rad-Tour makes few technical demands. Planning matters more for breaks and opening hours, as many of the sights are small museums, mills and churches with limited opening times.

Diversions: The route operator publishes roadworks and closures on the official website under "Routenhinweise" (route notices). As of September 2026, the road "Zum Hasekamp" near Badbergen is closed long-term; a signposted diversion runs via "Im Buchen" and Dinklager Straße.

With children: The route has few climbs, and stops such as the HaiTec-Zentrum in Bippen or the playground at Ankumer See are designed with young visitors in mind. There is no official information on which sections share the road with cars, so plan family stages on the map in advance.

• Farm cafés, farm shops, ice cream parlours and beer gardens along the route
• E-bike charging stations in several towns, shown on a map on the official website
• Tourismus-Information Artland at Markt 4 in Quakenbrück, where you can also book town and Artland tours
• St. Sylvester's Church in Quakenbrück open to visitors in summer at set times
• Everdings Mühle only by prior arrangement with the Everding family

Tips for your ride

Stock up on supplies at a farm shop before heading west: between Berge and Menslage the route runs through woodland and moor, a good stretch for a picnic. In Quakenbrück, it's worth spending an hour off the bike on the Poggenpad.

If you want to spread the loop over two days, use the west and east loops as a guide, or open the route in the VeloPlanner planner and split it to your own pace, for example with an overnight stay on a farm in Menslage or Badbergen. Other themed routes are also signposted in the region, including the Hase-Ems-Tour and the Radroute der Megalithkultur.