3RIDES offers the opportunity to discover the picturesque region around Aachen on guided tours and explore the most beautiful attractions on a bike.
The sightseeing tours are aimed at all recreational cyclists who are interested in getting to know the city of Aachen better on guided tours and learning more about the imperial city. Start is at the festival area.
The details for 2024 are yet to be announced.
These were the tours 2023
Tour 1: Through the Limburg hills
- Starting point: Bicycle parking lot at the entrance to the hotel
- Start time: Friday, May 12, 4:45 p.m.
- Tour length: 37 km
- Average speed: 13 km/h
- Duration with breaks: About 3.5 hours
- Character: hilly, a stable basic condition is recommended
- Asphalted paths or paths with good surface quality
- Suitable for touring bike, pedelec, recumbent, mountain bike, tandem
- Registration takes place at the ADFC booth on the festival grounds
- gpx track for download
The south Limburg hill country offers - untypical for the Netherlands - a remarkable variety of landscapes in a small area. Fields, orchards and meadows alternate with each other in a small-scale structure. The tour leads through a gently rolling, graceful landscape with always beautiful, wide views.
Passing the Aachener Klinikum, we reach the Senserbach along the Schneeberg and thus the border to the Netherlands. Soon we pass the so-called Dutch "mountain village" Vijlen. From there to the Geul, which we follow for a bit. Finally, over a wide plateau via Bocholtz, past Richterich back to the Soers.
The number of participants is limited to a maximum of 20.
Tour 2: Sightseeing in Aachen
- Start time: Saturday, 13.05.2023, 11 a.m. from CHIO grounds
- Tour length: approx. 12 km
- Registration takes place at the ADFC booth on the festival grounds
- gpx track for download
From the festival grounds, we drive along the sneaky roads to the Passstraße, behind the Carolustherme we turn into the Aachener Stadtgarten and already find the first sights here with the new Kurhaus, Eurogress and Quellenhof. We cross the Monheimsallee and drive over small streets in the direction of St. Ursula Gymnasium, there we go downhill in the direction of Grabenring, we cross this and drive over the Neupforte to Pontstraße. Here we park our bikes and are already in the center of the celebration and strolling. On foot we go, in a tour to the sights of Aachen city center. We will visit the cathedral as the only building from the inside and let the very own atmosphere affect us.
The tour guides are not trained city guides, but offer you a very individual view of beautiful Aachen and can tell nice stories. Anyone can read the historical facts and dates on the Internet.
Back in Pontstraße we drive to Templergraben and here we are in the center of RWTH Aachen.
Since the time needed for a guided tour of the city is difficult to estimate, we offer an optional detour to the Pont Gate, one of the two preserved gates of the medieval city fortifications. Furthermore, we can still go to the Lousberg near the city, at the foot of which we park our bikes and climb up on foot via stairs. At the obelisk, from the time of Napoleon, we have a beautiful view over Aachen.
After that we return to the festival area.
The number of participants is limited to a maximum of 13.
Tour 3: The yesterday - today tour
- Start: Saturday, 13.05.2023, 16:30 h from CHIO grounds
- Tour length: approx, 25 km
- Registration takes place at the ADFC booth on the festival grounds
- gpx track for download
Since the Soers is closed around the festival area, we ride along the Tivoli in the direction of Passstraße, cross the Stadtgarten behind the Carolustherme, ride a bit along the beautiful new bike path on Ludwigsallee, and then ride sideways halfway up the Lousberg, through Laurensberg to the Richtericher Schloss Schönau (1732). Although we have only ridden a third of the tour, a break in the park is a good opportunity to talk to each other. There is a very tasty ice cream here.
Then we drive through residential areas, cross Roermonder Straße at Roderweg, use the railroad underpass and drive back to Laurensberg on the other side of Richterich, past Alt-Richterich. The path leads us past the old coal mine Carl Friedrich (1903-1927 in operation), a part of the administrative building is now used by the RWTH, among others. In Laurensberg we pass St. Laurentius and leave the town. Via Herzogweg, Schlangenweg and Rabentalweg (the area is as beautiful as the path names suggest) we reach the Melaten estate, with a view of the Aachen University Hospital. Today there is a small botanical garden here, until 1550 the manor housed a leprosy station. Our tour then takes us along the Campusboulevard, the new university area of RWTH Aachen University. The route continues past the Floriansdorf (North Fire Station) and back to Laurensberg. It is expected that the Soers will then be open to traffic again, so that we can drive through the Alte Soers back to the festival grounds. Along the way we pass several farmsteads, the old cloth factory (now the Textile Museum and the Tuchwerk cultural institution) and the Raphael Monastery (built in 1903).
The number of participants is limited to a maximum of 13.
Tour 4: Sightseeing Tour to Kornelimünster
- Start: Sunday, 14.05.2023, 11:00 a.m. from CHIO grounds
- Tour length: approx. 30 km
- Registration takes place at the ADFC booth on the festival grounds
- gpx track for download
We leave the festival area, cross Krefelder Straße and drive over a former railroad line in the direction of Grüner Weg, follow it and arrive in Haaren. Along the Haarbach, past the Welsche Mühle (a water mill first mentioned in the 15th century), we go to the Haarbach Valley Bridge, under which we pass through quiet streets and paths in the direction of Eilendorf. On the Eilendorf bike priority route we cross Eilendorf and reach the Vennbahnradweg, also a former railroad track. We follow this to Brand past the old train station and on to Kornelimünster. At the station vision we park our bikes and walk to the historic city center. The Imperial Abbey is not expected to be open yet after the devastating flood, while the Kunsthaus NRW in the old monastery complex (built 1721-1728) is open. Since admission is free, it is definitely worth taking a look inside the building.
For Kornelimünster we take 1 hour and everyone decides for himself whether he wants to stop.
For the return trip we use the Vennbahnweg again and ride from Brand along the bicycle priority route in the direction of the city center. At the Harscampstraße we leave the route and drive over the Suermondplatz, past Kugelbrunnen and the Aachen Synagogue to the Stadtgarten cross it and come back to the festival area.
The number of participants is limited to a maximum of 13.
