Leisure, Sports, Fitness and Spa

Grugapark visitors can not only enjoy the flora and fauna but can also get some exercise. When the Park was redesigned in 1965 for the Federal Garden Show its premises more or less doubled. The newly created area was deliberately built as a games and sports facility. After a few years the spa area was also added.

Graduation House

The structure of the Graduation House to the right of the Gruga Tower is reminiscent of a wooden cathedral. A walkway around the ten metre high “Graduation Tower” makes it possible to inhale the salt enriched air. Water with a salt concentration of 25% runs continually through a wall filled with brushwood. The numerous benches allow breaks for recuperation to be taken, with beneficial effects for health. Regular use stabilises the immune system and increases mental and physical capabilities.

Locate the Graduation House on the interactive map (in German) ...

Table Tennis, Tennis, Badminton

The Grugapark invites you to play a match shaded by the trees: in the “Games and Sports” part of the Park south of the Lührmannstraße there are table tennis tables available next to the volleyball courts, by the Children’s Theatre and in the Swimming Garden. There is a tennis court near the entrance to the Rollerblade Track. You can register for the tennis court in advance in the Info-Centre in the Orangerie on Tel: +49 (0)201 88 83 106. The badminton courts are between the Pony Yard and the Boules Court.

Locate the Table Tennis, Tennis and Badminton courts on the interactive map (in German) ...

Volleyball, Beach Volleyball, Streetball

Near the “Landhaus” anyone longing for activity can play volleyball, streetball or beach volleyball. Over 700 tonnes of the finest quartz sand have been used for the four new beach volleyball courts. Several clubs practice here at set times. However, the courts can be hired by the hour or for the whole season.

Locate the Volleyball, Beach Volleyball and Streetball courts on the interactive map (in German) ...

Boule

Boule can be played at the square under the linden, near the linden circle in the Botanical Garden.

Locate the Boule court on the interactive map (in German) ...

Rollerblade Track

From Easter to autumn the Grugapark is a popular meeting place for rollerbladers, both large and small. The Roll- und Eissportverein GRUGA e.V. Essen (Essen Roller and Ice Sport Association) looks after their own rollerblade track here. Anyone interested can practice every day on an area reserved for visitors. Further information is available under http://www.revgruga.de

Locate the Rollerblade Track on the interactive map (in German) ...

Low Rope Course

The Low Rope Course attracts small climbers with its ingenious rope landscape and is directly opposite the “Jungle Fever” playground in the Animal Park.

Locate the Low Rope Course on the interactive map (in German) ...

Chess

There are giant chessboards at the Music Pavilion, the Gruga Tower and the Children’s Theatre.

Locate the giant chessboard on the interactive map (in German) ...

Model Truck Track

The Modell-Truck-Freunde-Essen e.V. (Essen Model Truck Friends Club) has set up a course between the Rollerblade Track entrance and the Grugabad (Gruga Pool) entrance. Children in particular can drive the club’s trucks for a small fee. Visitors who have their own trucks, as well as guest drivers from other clubs, are welcome. The Model Truck Friends build completely functional model trucks and construction vehicles in a scale of 1:16.

Locate the Model Truck Track on the interactive map (in German) ...

Park Spa

The Grugapark’s health centre for fitness and spa facilities is called the Kurhaus (Park Spa). The range on offer includes physiotherapy, fitness training and a variety of courses such as exercises for the back, Qi Gong, ambulant heart exercise, meditative archery and much more.

The Grugapark Hot Spring in its spacious sauna environment offers a coloured light sauna (at 55 °C), a light and fragrance sauna, saunas with aromatic fragrances and a large Japanese sauna, as well as a starry sky steam bath. Aqua sports courses are offered in the swimming pools inside. A generously proportioned relaxation room with an open fire and comfortable loungers, including restaurant service, promises pleasant recuperation.

The adjoining outdoors area continues the Asian ambience in that it has been laid out as a Japanese garden. A Far East landscape extends around the foot of the Gruga Tower with plants, geological formations, bridges, water courses and a pagoda temple.

In the outdoor brine pool the beneficial effect of the warm water with its high salt content is strengthened still further by various trace elements.

A visit to this tastefully designed spa facility perfectly combines health, fitness, spa activities and relaxation.

For further information about the range on offer please call +49 (0)201 / 85 61 00 or check the Park Spa’s website.

Link to the Park Spa’s website ...

Locate the Park Spa on the interactive map (in German) ...

Evening Runs

Every evening the Grugapark offers the possibility to go jogging on safe paths away from exhaust fumes, after official opening times until 9.30 pm and without an entrance fee! The main 2.3 km route is signposted by a runner symbol and is illuminated by the park lighting after dark. You can start from the Model Garden, Orangerie and Main Entrances (starting after the relevant ticket office closing time: info Tel.: +49 (0) 201 / 88 83 106).