Wapelbad, A light and air bath on the Wapel in the Kattenstroth district of Gütersloh.

The Wapelbad is a riverside recreation area on the Wapel in Gütersloh-Kattenstroth, opened in 1925 as an outdoor pool. Bathing ended in 1967; the site now has a 5,300-square-metre sunbathing lawn, a paddling pool fed by well water, a café, and two sandy beach volleyball courts.

The Wapelbad was founded in 1925 and initially served as a meeting place for local residents to swim during warmer months. In the 1930s, the site was expanded with planted trees and a shallow children's pool added to serve more visitors.

The Wapelbad is a meeting place where neighbors and friends gather for picnics and days spent together. Its importance in local life shows in how families have visited it across generations and how regular events like art markets and reading nights bring the community together.

The Wapelbad lies on the Wapel in the Kattenstroth district of Gütersloh. The café operates from April to November, and the site can be rented in summer for school parties, club celebrations and children's birthdays. Beach volleyball at the sandy riverbank is free, and other indoor and outdoor games can be borrowed from the café.

The Wapelstern, a star-shaped pastry baked to a secret recipe, was introduced by kiosk tenants Maria Brummert and Resi Schürmann, who ran the site from 1977 to 1992. It became known as a Gütersloh speciality and still appears on the Wapelbad café menu.