Quedlinburg
Travel Guide Europe Germany Saxony-Anhalt Quedlinburg
Introduction
Historic Quedlinburg
© Utrecht
Quedlinburg is a little town that has rightly been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Never destroyed by war, the city managed to retain its medieval looks and beauty. It is one little wood-timbered house next to the other, all overlooked by the castle and church.
Sights and Activities
The whole city is a sight in itself, but the highlight for any art and history freak has got to be the treasury kept in the Stiftskirche.
Getting There
By Train
Quedlinburg is served by two types of trains:
- The regular Deutsche Bahn service with hourly or twice-hourly connections to Magdeburg and Halle (and thus the rest of the world)
- The trains of the HSB, the Harz narrowgauge railway system
Most tourists will arrive on the regular train service, but for getting around in the Harz mountains the HSB trains form a nice alternative. Travelling time from Berlin to Quedlinburg by regular train via Magdeburg is approximately 3 hours.
By Bus
There are some long-distance buses from and to Berlin via Magdeburg run by the company BerlinLinienExpress. But the service is limited to 2-3 arrivals per week. Moreover departures back to Berlin are immediately after arrival, so it is not a good option if you want to make a day trip from Berlin. The only reason to take the bus would be because it is cheaper than the train.
Alternatively there are also local buses that connect Quedlinburg with some other small villages and towns in the region. The company that runs most of them is called QBus, they also operate the city buses in Quedlinburg. You can get the full schedule for all QBus buses for €2 from the drivers.
Getting Around
Quedlinburg is relatively small with many pedestrian-only sections, so foot and bicycle are generally the best options of getting around in the city. A city bus serves those unwilling or unable to walk.
Eat
There are a number of small restaurants catering to tourists and locals alike in the pedestrian area of the town.
Supermarkets can be found in the industrial area near the Harzweg on the way from the castle to the train station.
Sleep
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
See also: International Telephone Calls
The international call prefix in Germany is 00. To dial out of Germany, dial 00, followed by country code, area code, and the telephone number (for example 00 44 1234 567890). If you're using a mobile phone, simply add the plus sign "+" before the country code to call out of Germany (for example +44 1234 567890). The general emergency number is 112 and the additional number for less emergent issues for police is 110.
Mobile phone coverage on the four networks (T-Mobile, Vodafone, E-Plus and o2) is excellent across the whole country. UMTS (3G data and HSDPA) and EDGE is also available. UMTS is still somewhat limited to urban areas. All mobile providers use GSM technology on the 900 and 1800 MHz frequency ranges. If you stay for a longer period of time, consider buying a prepaid phone card from one of the mobile phone companies; you won't have trouble finding a T-Mobile (in a "T-Punkt"), Vodafone, E-Plus or O2 store in any major shopping area. In most supermarket chains (for example ALDI), there are prepaid SIM cards from their own virtual providers available. These are normally quite cheap to buy, but expensive for international calls (around €1–2/min), but incoming calls are always free and SMS cost around €0.09–0.19. They are available at: Aldi, Lidl, Penny, Netto, Tchibo, Rewe, toom. A registration via Internet or (expensive) phone call is necessary after buying to activate the SIM card.
The cheapest way to call abroad from Germany is to use the internet cafés run by immigrants. They sell special calling cards that give the best rate to certain countries as well as offer cheap international calls from phone booths. It is also the cheapest way to call landlines in Germany.
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.
External Links
Accommodation in Quedlinburg
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