MovelerMom

Events

Pretty cool festival to visit is WGT – Wave-Gotik-Treffen in May. It is the largest gothic festival on the planet. You’ll have fun and will be impressed even if you are not gothic. I loved the Victorian picnic in Klara Zetkin park on Friday.
If you want to bet then visit Horse Race. 1st of May is the season’s opening. You can dress up and go spend some money.
Lichtfest (Light festival) in October is another important event in Leipzig as it commemorates reunification of Eastern and Western Germany in 1989.
Christmas market is outstanding in Leipzig.

Local Tips

Getting to Leipzig is very easy by ICE trains in Germany
If you need to get Groceries or go shopping on Sunday, Leipzig Hauptbahnhof is your place, it’s open and works as a shopping mall
Fancy an opera, ballet or classical music? check out the tickets in Leipzig Opera, Gewandhaus and / or Musik Kömedie
If you feel like a movie in English, usually on Wednesdays and Sundays they run OV (original version) movies at Cinestar Leipzig
Soccer fan – the Red Bull arena is waiting for you with Die Roten Bullen Leipzig especially now they are leading the Bundesliga! (2016). Tickets are sold out pretty fast but if you check their webpage when they sell it for regular fans and be there on time, you have chances to purchase them. www.dierotenbullen.com
Spring/summer time is beautiful at the lakes in Leipzig. Canoe, swimming, beach-volley, kite-surfing, biking, roller-skating – all possible there.

Leipzig - exploring Eastern Germany..

Welcome to Leipzig!! The new Berlin…….

Leipzig becomes very trendy and develops rapidly for a city in Eastern Germany. It becomes more and more popular for tourists to visit. This city surprised me with the music touch and amount of events; beautiful summer landscape including the artificial lakes, parks, river; being so baby-friendly and its Christmas market.

I would recommend you staying in the city center so that you are able to walk around and enjoy the city anytime. To find a place in the city center is very easy as the city is not big and local hotels are still relatively cheap compared to other big German or European cities.

http://www.leipzig.travel/en/Service/Download_Centre_2166.html

Sightseeing & Culture

As I mentioned above Leipzig has two main cultural sites: Eastern Germany and Music.

Starting at Marktplatz go in the direction of Augustusplatz passing by Nikolaikirche in the city center. This is so-to-say the important point of Unity of Eastern and Western Germany. www.nikolaikirche.de

On the way at the Grimmaische strasse you can stop by Zeitgeschichtliches Forum Leipzig to see the exhibition of German myths since 1945. After the Second World War, Germany's myths were very different in the West and the East. The exhibition is free of charge,

Opposite the Forum you’ll see former Stock Exchange and the monument to Goethe.

At Augustusplatz you will see several points of sightseeing: Leipzig Opera, Gewandhaus (concert hall) and the Leipzig University.

Visit the Thomaskirche in the city center nearby Marktplatz. Bach was working there most of his life and currently is buried there. Try to get there on Friday at 18.00 or Saturday at 15.00 and enjoy a Motette just for 2 euros. www.thomaskirche.org Also nearby you will find the Bach museum, definitely worth a visit.

You can follow a music trail in Leipzig and learn all the interesting points of music and its history in Leipzig. Bach, Mendelssohn, Strauss, Wagner, Grieg… Phone App is also available. http://notenspur.de/en.html

Panorama tower – you can check the city view from the top and the restaurant on top is pretty nice. http://www.panorama-leipzig.de/de/home

Very nice park in the city center is the Klara Zetkin park, you must visit it in summer. You can bike through, walk through, have a picnic/BBQ. You can even rent a canoe and paddle on the river.

Völkerschlachtdenkmal – from the city center go by bike or by tram. It is worth to go all the way up and take an audio guide inside the monument. It is pretty impressive building and the view from the top is nice. http://www.voelkerschlachtdenkmal.eu/

If you are interested in Orthodox religion or you are orthodox, Russian Orthodox Church can be of interest.

When visiting the city with kids Zoo is a popular place to come over.

Wine&Dine

There are many nice places in Leipzig to wine&dine. Most of the places are located in the city center.

You must visit the Auerbach’s Keller Leipzig, mentioned in Goethe’s Faust. It is a historical place and food is pretty good, Typical German and Eastern German food. For Friday/Saturday make a reservation.

For more typical German food you can visit Bayerischer Bahnhof.

For a weekend brunch or late cocktails Sol y Mar is very nice and relaxing place where you can book a table with sofas. Perfect for babies on the weekend or during the week

For a good burger you need to get out of the city center and go to Subztanz. They also have a nice Biergarten. Take your time there since you shall wait up to 60 min for the Burger to be ready……

A bit posh and nice place for a dinner with cocktails is B10. Great selection of Gin & Wine, the personal speaks perfect English ( The owner is Australian and a famous cook).

For coffee lovers Ganos Kaffee is a must. Also the sweets they offer are delicious.

For a quick bite the classic places in Leipzig are Alex, Vapiano and Hans im Gluck.

There are plenty of restaurants and bars on Karli (Karl-Liebknecht-Straße).