In central Essen, the Hotel Essener Hof, Sure Hotel Collection by Best Western, Essen, Germany, is a comfortable hotel with restful rooms, free high-speed Wi-Fi and Sky TV, a flat-screen television, a safe and tea-and-coffee facilities, plus accessible and family rooms and a wellness corner with a steam sauna. An evening restaurant serves international and regional dishes a la carte, a relaxed cocktail bar pours late into the night, and the day opens with a generous breakfast buffet. Event rooms handle gatherings from a handful of people up to 160. Essen is the green heart of the Ruhr, a former coal-and-steel city remade into a place of parks, lakes and culture. The shops and squares of the centre are close by, the Baldeneysee lake draws sailors and lakeside cyclists to the leafy south, and a grand villa and art museums trace the region's industrial wealth. Riverside trails link old collieries turned cultural landmarks.