Hannover

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Travel Guide Europe Germany Niedersachsen Hannover

Introduction

Neues Rathaus - Hannover

Hannover, also known as Hanover, is one of the most important cities in, and capital of, the federal state of Lower Saxony, Germany. The city was originally a small medieval village that slowly grew because of its important position on the Leine River. During the course of history the city changed hands several times between the Germans and the British. The city finally fell solidly into Prussian hands in 1866 after the Austro-Prussian war. Although the locals resisted the change it did help grow the city's economy because of free trade. Being a centre for heavy industry the city was target by allied bombers. Of the 150,000 homes in the city only 5% were left undamaged. After the war the Aegidienkirche was not rebuilt so it would be a memorial to the victims of war and tyranny.

Today Hannover has grown into a major German city. The city has many great sights to see and things to do. Take in some amazing gardens or go see a rock concert, there is something for anyone in Hannover.

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Sights and Activities

Herrenhauser Gardens - Hannover

The Herrenhausen Gardens (Herrenhäuser Gärten) are as series of five different gardens. The history of the gardens span several centuries and are the left overs of the Great Hannover Kings.
The Great Garden is a 50-hectare garden comprising of lawns, hedges, walkways and statues is truly amazing. The centre piece of the garden was the Herrenhausen Castle, which was destroyed during the war and the only remaining part is the old staircase leading up to the castle.
The Berggarten was originally created as a vegetable garden for the Great Garden in 1666. It was later turned into a garden for exotic plants and a conservatory was added in 1686. This conservatory conducted very successful experiments with foreign cash crops to make them survive in the German soil and climate. Most of the garden had to be rebuilt after the war.
The Welfengarten is now the home to the University of Hannover and the castle at the centre of the grounds is used as the university's main building.
The Georgengarten is an English style garden.

Old Town

Market Church
Old Town Hall
Leibniz House
Nolte House
Beguine Tower
Ballhofeins is a nice old theatre.
Market Hall
Leine Palace

Museums

The History Museum - Tracks the history of Hannover form the middle ages to the 19th century, with an emphasis on 1714 to 1834, when the Hannover kings were closely tied to the British.
Kestner Gesellschaft - More than 4,000 members make this the largest art society in Germany. This museum mainly shows classical modern art to contemporary art.
Kestner Museum - Has an amazing collection of ancient art from Egypt to Rome. There is also a good collection of coins.
KUBUS - A very nice contemporary art gallery, with a Hannover focus.
European Cheese Center -
Lower Saxony State Museum - The largest museum in Hannover and it has some very nice exhibits. It has everything ranging from 11th to 20th century European art to displays on the natural environment of Hannover.
Sprengel Museum - A 20th century art museum with works from German expressionism to graphics and modern media.
Theatre Museum - Dedicated to Hannover's theatre history from the 17th century to the present.
Wilhelm Busch Museum - A museum dedicated to caricatures and critical graphics. The permanent collection features Wilhelm Busch, plus there are several exhibitions of national and international artists every year.

Other Sights and Activities

Neues Rathaus (New City Hall) - although not that new anymore this city hall was opened in 1913 and costing a whopping 10 million Marks. This castle like buildings is at the southern edge of the inner city. The building itself and the surrounding park take up 10 hectare. The dome of the building is over 100 metres high and has a unique elevator that actually travels with the curve of the dome.
Hannover Zoo is one of the best zoos in the world and received the Parc Scout Award in 2008, making it the best zoo in Germany.
Waterloo Column is a monument to the battle of Waterloo.
Hiking and biking - with around 40 parks, forests and gardens, plus a few lakes, two rivers and one channel, Hannover is a great city to go hiking or rent a bike. Hannover has plenty of outdoor areas to explore by foot or by bicycle.

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Events and Festivals

Oktoberfest - Hannover has the second largest Octoberfest in the whole world, held every year in late September or early October for two weeks.

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Weather

Hannover has typical average weather for Germany, with mild summers and cool winters.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Avg Max	3.8 °C	4.7 °C	8.7 °C	13 °C	18.2 °C	20.6 °C	22.8 °C	22.9 °C	18.6 °C	13.4 °C	7.7 °C	4.9 °C
Avg Min	-1.3 °C	-1.4 °C	1.1 °C	3.2 °C	7.3 °C	10.5 °C	12.6 °C	12.2 °C	9.5 °C	5.9 °C	2.4 °C	0.2 °C
Rainfall	52.5 mm	36.1 mm	51.8 mm	43.6 mm	52.7 mm	71.2 mm	58.7 mm	60 mm	54 mm	48.8 mm	49.6 mm	62.2 mm
Rain Days	10.5	8.6	10.9	9.2	8.8	11	9.9	9.5	9.5	9.3	10.5	11.8

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Getting There

By Plane

Hannover-Langenhagen International Airport (HAJ) is a good sized airport only 11 kilometres north of the city centre. The airport has regular international flights to most cities in eastern and western Europe and some to to the Middle East. There are regular domestic flights to most cities in Germany.

In 2000 an S-Bahn connection was established between the airport and Hamelin via Hannover Central Station. Trains leave every 30 minutes for a 17-minute journey. This replaced the airport's shuttle bus service which ran every twenty minutes, more frequently than the S-Bahn, but took longer to reach the airport and railway station. The service was extended to Paderborn in 2003.

By Train

The city's central station, Hannover Hauptbahnhof, is a hub of the German high-speed ICE network. It is the starting point of the Hanover-Würzburg high-speed rail line and offers many international and national connections.

The high speed Inter City Express Trains (ICE trains) can take you all over Germany to places such as: Frankfurt, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Munich, Cologne, and Berlin. The trip to Hanover from Berlin takes 1:30, from Hamburg 1:20, from Frankfurt 2:20, and from Munich 4:30. Prices vary depending on time of travel and the ticket type such as an economy, freedom or comfort ticket, but a freedom ticket from Berlin to Hanover will cost you from €75.

By Car

Hannover lies at the crossroads of the the A2 and A7, with good connections to other German cities and beyond. Local autobahns are the A 352 (a short cut between A7 and the A2, passing the airport) and the A 37.

By Bus

Eurolines connects to several German cities, including regular trips to/from Hannover. The stop is at the Central Station, where you can also make reservations at the office of Deutsche Touring, Hamburger Allee 19, tel: 0511-329419. You can also make the reservations on internet.

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Getting Around

By Car

Unless you have limited time, lots of heavy baggage, or are traveling after public transport stops at night, you might want to think twice about using taxi, as it is very expensive. However, it could be cheaper if traveling in a big group: You can order a 7- or 9-seat taxi by phone and get more people in at the same price.

By Public Transport

Hanover has an extensive Stadtbahn (S-Bahn) system, operated by üstra Hannoversche Verkehrsbetriebe AG. If you plan to make more than two trips by tram, bus, or subway, a day ticket is your best bet, buying you unlimited travel on the public transport system. Day tickets are valid until the last connection of the day (which normally ends sometime after midnight). The public transportation adopts an honor system for tickets, but they do have ticket inspections once in a while (also late at nights and early mornings). The fine is quite high, so make sure you have a ticket all the time. Be aware that some tickets will need to be validated (stamped on the 'blue box'), and some not, depending on the machine.

By Foot

Pedestrian paths are also provided along every street and there is also a pedestrian area in front of Central Station to Kröpcke (allowed for bikes between 19.00 and 11.00).

By Bike

Bike paths are provided in almost every street that runs through the city. There is no law on using a helmet, but make sure that the bike has both front and rear lights if you don't want to get stopped by the police (Fine: €10). Always keep in mind that in pedestrian areas in general bicycle riding is not allowed unless otherwise stated.

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Drink

Try the local beer, Herrenhäuser Premium Pilsener.

Lüttje Lage is a typical alcoholic drink made of beer and korn (Schnapps) drank simultaneously from two separate glasses.

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Sleep

As Hanover frequently hosts big exhibitions, booking your room well in advance is highly recommended as hotels can easily get full and/or raise their rates during these times.

Upscale

You can use the form below to search for availability (Travellerspoint receives a commission for bookings made through the form)

Booking.com

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Learn

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Keep Connected

Internet

Internet cafes (rates €1.50 to €5 per hour) are starting to become less common due to widespread offers of free wifi by shops, restaurants or cafes. Sometimes it requires minimum consumption but usually it's free within the premises. Phone shops will often offer internet access, too. In general hotels offer internet access. In several cities, projects exist to provide free "community" hotspots for wireless networking. Passenger lounges at some airports and central railway stations also provide internet access to their customers.

Several pre-paid SIMs allow Internet access for a monthly flat fee, for example those available at Tchibo coffee stores (o2 network, €10/month limited to 500 MB, €20/month for 5 GB) or Aldi (E-Plus network). A regular O2 sim card, which can be used for calls and text messages, is €15 and another €15 buys 1GB of data valid for 1 month. Vodafone offers a prepaid sim card for €25 which includes €22.5 of credit, out of which you can get 300 MB of data for 2 days for €15 and be left with €7.5 of credit.

Phone

Post

Germany's postal system is very efficient, their logistics branch DHL is one of the best companies in this field world-wide, with domestic post or within a radius of 400 kilometres, send within a day. The website of Deutsche Post has an online calculator for postage fees as well as a post office finder. Stamps are available at post offices and sometimes at newsagents or shops selling postcards. Also stamp vending machines can be found at a lot of places around the cities. You can purchase every stamp you need from this machines. They are unique as they accept every coin from 1 cent to 2 euro but change is only given in stamps. It costs about €40 to send a small package to Australia and €1.70 to send an old-fashioned letter to any place in the world outside of Europe. Within Germany, sending postcards costs €0.45 and standard letters €0.55, within Europe it is €0.65 for a postcard, standard letters to places in Europe cost €0.75. Outside Europe, the prices for sending a postcard or standard letter are €1 and €1.70 respectively. Although you will find the old post offices (mainly in the city centre), most of the smaller neighbourhood post offices are part of a small tobacco shop or grocery store. For larger package, you might consider competitive private companies like UPS, DHL or TNT.

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