Kevelaer

Kevelaer is a town in Lower Rhine in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Understand

Kevelaer is a city located in the Cleves district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is known as one of the largest pilgrimage sites in Northwestern Europe. Each year, over a million Christian pilgrims from Germany and the Netherlands visit this place to see the Virgin Mary at the Grace Church.

According to legend, a poor merchant named Hendrik Busman heard the voice of the Virgin Mary on Christmas Eve in 1641, requesting him to build a church. He heard this request three times, and the church he built, known as the Grace Church, became the focal point of the pilgrimage site.

Get in

By train

• 1 Kevelaer station, Am Bahnhof 55. Station on the Kleve-Düsseldorf railway, served by regional service RE10 every 30 minutes on weekdays, every 60 minutes on weekends. Hourly bus 73 to Weeze Airport ends here. Disabled access through ramps and lifts. Park-and-Ride spaces around the station.  

By plane

• 2 Weeze airport, Flughafen-Ring 1, 47652 Weeze, Germany (From Düsseldorf RE10 to Kevelaer, then Bus 73 daily 04:30-23:30, Car Autobahn A57 to Exit 4 Uedem), ☏ +49 2837-666111. Budget airport primarily used by Ryanair, 70 km (43 mi) from Düsseldorf, placed in the middle of nowhere right on the Dutch border. Limited facilities and no overnight stays permitted. (updated Sep 2023)

Get Around

There is some limited bus service to surrounding towns and Wesel, see NIAG or VRR for schedules.

See

• 1 Sankt Antonius Kirche (St. Antonius Church), Gelderner Str., 47624 Kevelaer (Ca. 750 m (2,460 ft) walk from station, cross railway on bridge, down Antoniusstr, right on Gelderner Str.), ☏ +49 2832 9752610. Pilgrimage cathedral (updated Jan 2019)
• 2 Niederrheinisches Museum für Volksskunde und Kulturgeschichte e.V., Hauptstraße 18, 47623 Kevelaer, ☏ +49 2832 95410. Tu-Su 10:00-17:00. (updated Jan 2019)
• Gnadenkapelle. Pilgrimage chapel (updated Jul 2024)

Do

• 1 Irrland Die Bauernhof-Erlebnisoase, Am Scheidweg 1, 47624 Kevelaer, ☏ +49 2832 976656. (updated Jan 2019)

Sleep

• 1 Hotel Klostergarten, Klostergarten 1, ☏ +49 2832 9250-100, info@hotel‑klostergarten.eu.