Recklinghausen sits on the northern edge of the Ruhr area and has one genuinely unusual claim to fame: the Ikonen-Museum, home to the largest collection of Orthodox Christian icons outside the Eastern Orthodox world. Over a thousand icons from Russia, Greece, and the Balkans fill a converted church, and even if religious art is not normally your thing, the sheer concentration and quality of the collection is impressive. It is one of those niche museums that justifies a detour.
The old town is compact and pleasant, with a largely pedestrianized center that survived the war better than many Ruhr cities. The Ruhrfestspiele, held each May and June, is one of Germany's major theater festivals and draws performances from across Europe. It gives the city a cultural punch that surprises visitors expecting nothing more than another post-industrial Ruhr town.
Recklinghausen is not a destination you would plan a whole trip around, but it combines well with a broader tour of the Ruhr area. The Emscher Park cycle route passes nearby, and the transformation of the wider Ruhr region from heavy industry to cultural landscape is one of the more interesting urban stories in Europe.