Gelsenkirchen's nickname "the city of a thousand fires" dates from when it was Europe's largest coal-mining centre. During the second world war, its status as an industrial metropolis made it a target for Allied bombers and by May 1945, around three-quarters of the city's homes and public buildings had been destroyed. Following the war, as steel and coal production became less economical, the town switched its attention to the service sector and renewable power. The city's Solar Factory is now one of the biggest solar cell production sites in Europe. It is housed in a futuristic curved building coated in photovoltaic cells and has a visitor centre explaining the technology.

The city has created a number of tourist initiatives out of the embers of its industrial past. The once derelict site of Nordstern Colliery is now a sweeping landscape park with fields, a lake and bridges. You can even scale the mine's spoil heap thanks to a specially constructed climbing wall. And the park is just one of several points of interest on the Landmark Art and Industrial Heritage Trail, a walking route combining former industrial sites with sculpture and art installations. The many canals in the area, which served the old coal and iron industries, are currently being converted for leisure activities along similar lines to British Waterways.

More traditional tourist attractions include Germany's most notable Renaissance castle, Ruhr Zoo and the "Musiktheater im Revier", a centre for the arts, music, theatre and dance.