Cloppenburg Museum Village

The Cloppenburg Museum Village (Museumsdorf Cloppenburg) is Lower Saxony's open-air museum and one of the oldest and largest of its kind in Germany. On about 20 hectares it shows more than 50 original buildings from the 16th to the early 20th century, including farmsteads, windmills, a manor house, a half-timbered church and a school. Each was moved here from its original site in Lower Saxony. It is a good family day out and a window into rural life in northwest Germany.

Why visit

The museum grew out of a local history museum founded in 1922. Heinrich Ottenjann developed the open-air concept and became its first director. The conversion into an open-air museum took place in 1934, with the official opening in 1936. Today the non-profit museum documents rural buildings and collects rural crafts. It had around 280,000 visitors in 2019 and again in 2023. A fire at an off-site storage building in July 2021 destroyed a large part of the postwar collection kept there.

What to see

Look for the large farmsteads such as the Quatmannshof and the Wehlburg, built from brick, timber frame and thatch. There are three types of windmill, a post mill, a smock mill and a Kokerwindmühle, plus a horse-powered mill. You will also find a half-timbered church, a village school and a manor house. A disco building named "Sonnenstein" has been part of the site since July 2021. The village inn, Dorfkrug, offers food and drink.

Tickets and opening hours

As of October 2026, summer hours apply: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. from March to October. From November to February the museum closes at 4:30 p.m. Adults pay 12 euros (reduced 8 euros), and children and teens aged 6 to 18 pay 4 euros. A family day ticket for two adults with children costs 25 euros, and a smaller family ticket for one adult with children is 13 euros. An annual pass costs 40 euros. Groups of 15 or more pay 10 euros per adult.

Getting there

The address is Bether Straße 6, 49661 Cloppenburg. By train, take the NordWestBahn from Oldenburg or Osnabrück and follow the walking route from the station, which the museum offers as a PDF. By car, leave the A1 at the Cloppenburg exit and follow the B72 and the signs for Cloppenburg-Bethen, or use the A29 exit Ahlhorn from the north. The museum states that there is enough parking but does not list fees. Plan connections with Deutsche Bahn.

Practical tips

Dogs are welcome on a leash. Some exhibits and historic buildings are not wheelchair accessible, but a step-free entrance is near the parking lot on Bether Straße. Private photography is allowed. Plan several hours, and in winter remember the earlier closing time. Christmas markets run on two weekends in late November and early December.