The area, which is around 80 by 30 kilometers in size and stretches from Düren in Germany via Heerlen in Dutch Limburg to Beringen in Belgium, was once one of the largest coalfields in Europe. The relics of mining - slag heaps, shafts and residential areas for miners - are still visible in many places.

More than 70 sights - moated castles and national parks, natural and industrial monuments - can be found along the winding green route. In the Indeland region between Düren and Jülich, for example, you can observe a "landscape in motion": The valleys of the local open-cast lignite mine are to be gradually flooded to create a lake landscape. The panoramic plateau on the Carl Alexander spoil tip can be reached via a footbridge. The reward for your efforts is a wide view over the region.

You follow this landscape across the border - and enter the Dutch section of the Green Route. Miners' settlements, old castles and museums pass by here in rapid succession - and time and again you come across former collieries that are now relaxing parkland. Near Genk in Belgium, you will find one of the oldest and most important coal mines in the country with its imposing, restored winding towers. The end of the tour in Belgium is again dominated by flora and fauna: the Japanese Garden in Hasselt, a 1,000-pond landscape or hikes across former mining slag heaps on the way to Beringen provide natural tranquillity.

Highlights along the route

• Leopold Hoesch Museum in Düren,
• Bridgehead Park Jülich,
• Inden open-cast mine,
• Blausteinsee lake in Eschweiler,
• Zinkhütter Hof Museum,
• Old town and castle in Stolberg,
• Cathedral, Carolus Thermen and old town in Aachen,
• Horse country park, Rode Castle in Herzogenrath,
• Carl Alexander Park spoil tip in Baesweiler,
• Millicher Halde Hückelhoven,
• Selfkantbahn Geilenkirchen,
• Explorion science center
• Dutch Mining Museum in Heerlen
• Kasteel Hoensbroek
• SnowWorld in Landgraaf,
• GaiaPark Zoo in Kerkrade,
• Hoge Kempen National Park near Genk and Maasmechelen,
• National Jenever Museum in Hasselt,
• De Weijers water landscape,
• De Weijers hiking area near Hasselt and Genk