Hamm is an industrial city in eastern Westphalia that most travelers pass through without stopping, but it has a couple of genuinely unusual attractions that make it worth a detour. The Sri Kamadchi Ampal Temple is the largest Hindu temple in Europe, built by the city's Sri Lankan Tamil community and consecrated in 2002. Its colourful gopuram tower, covered in hundreds of carved and painted deities, looks startlingly out of place against the grey North Rhine-Westphalian sky. The temple is open to visitors and hosts a major chariot festival each summer that draws tens of thousands of Hindu pilgrims from across Europe.
The other curiosity is the Glaselefant — a giant glass elephant that sits in the Maximilianpark, a former coal mine turned landscaped garden. You can ride an elevator up inside the elephant for views over the park and the city. The park itself is well maintained and pleasant, with a butterfly house and tropical garden inside the old mine buildings. The Gustav Lübcke Museum covers regional archaeology and history for those who want a third stop. Beyond these highlights, Hamm is a working city without much tourist infrastructure, but if you are in the Ruhr area and looking for something different, these stops deliver.