Leipzig

The music city of Bach and Mendelssohn, with the long traditions of St Thomas Church and the Gewandhaus Orchestra, birthplace of the 1989 Peaceful Revolution, and home to the hip Spinnerei arts quarter.

Leipzig lies in the northwest of Saxony in eastern Germany and, with a population of around 600,000, is the state's largest city. This is a city of music: Bach served as Thomaskantor at St Thomas Church for 27 years, Mendelssohn led the Gewandhaus Orchestra, and Schumann, Wagner and Mahler all had deep ties here. It is also a historic trade-fair and publishing city; Goethe studied here and wrote Auerbachs Keller into Faust. In 1989, the Monday Demonstrations that set out from St Nicholas Church helped drive East Germany's Peaceful Revolution. The city can be explored in three parts. First, the old town inside the ring road, where the Markt, the Old Town Hall, the two churches, the Bach Museum, the Stasi Museum and Mädler Passage are all within a 15-minute walk, and Augustusplatz is lined by the opera house, the Gewandhaus and the City-Hochhaus tower. Second, Plagwitz and Lindenau in the west, where the Spinnerei arts quarter and kayaking on the Karl Heine Canal show off Leipzig's trendy side. Third, the south, with the Monument to the Battle of the Nations, the Panometer, Karl-Liebknecht-Straße (the Karli) and the Leipzig New Lakeland, created from former lignite mines. The best time to visit is May–Sep; June brings the Bachfest, and in December the Markt hosts one of Germany's oldest Christmas markets. Winter is cold but the concert season is in full swing. Getting there: ICE trains run from Leipzig Hauptbahnhof direct to Berlin (about 1 hr 15 min), Dresden (about 1 hr 10 min) and Frankfurt, and the S-Bahn links Leipzig/Halle Airport to the city centre in about 15 minutes. The tram network is extensive, so a day ticket is a good idea. Plan on 2–3 days: one for the old town and music venues, one for the monument in the south and the arts district in the west. You can also take a 35-minute train to Wittenberg for sites of Luther's Reformation, or 30 minutes to Halle to visit the Handel House. Most shops are closed on Sundays, and tickets for popular concerts should be booked in advance on the official websites.

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