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Please call Kirsty or Stuart for advice and rates on 01903 832888. Alternatively you can email us, or click here to see rates online and request a vehicle.

Entertainment:

Culture:

Leipzig's city centre has been completely refurbished since German reunification and its magnificent historical buildings once again bask in their former splendour. A prime example is the Hauptbahnhof, an awesome turn-of-the-century construction which used to be Europe's largest train station, but which has now been transformed into a Mecca for shoppers. 130 shops and boutiques now compete for consumers' hard-earned Deutschmarks. In short, anyone who was familiar with Leipzig before 1989 would scarcely recognise the city today.

Museums:

Leipzig's art treasures, museums and collections have always played an important role in the city's history. They include collections begun by city institutions and the university as well as private collections or privately owned works of art given to the city's public.

• Museum of Fine Art
• The Bach Museum - opposite St Thomas' Church
• Mendelssohn House - is the only surviving residence of the composer Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, and the place where he died. Today, Mendelssohn House is a museum, where many exhibits including his original furniture are on display.
• Egyptology Museum - Schillerstrasse
• Natural History Museum
• Museum in the "Round Corner" (Stasi Museum)
• Camera & Photo Museum
• Grassi Museum Complex
• Museum of City History
• Schillerhaus - In this small farmhouse in Gohlis, a suburb about 20 minutes from the centre of Leipzig, Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805) wrote his "Ode to Joy" in 1785. Beethoven incorporated the poem into the great final movement of his Ninth Symphony.

The Gewandhaus Orchestra, and the Leipzig Gewandhaus:

The history of the Gewandhaus Orchestra began in 1743 with the "Great Concert". At the time it consisted of 16 musicians and was financed by 16 citizens of Leipzig. The world-famous ensemble of is also the Orchestra of the Leipzig Opera, it accompanies the cantatas at St Thomas's Church, and has already been on tour in four continents. Most renowned among the chamber music ensembles of the Orchestra is the Gewandhaus Quartet. Founded in 1809, it is the oldest string quartet in the world.

It is named after the concert hall in which it is based, the Gewandhaus (Cloth House). In the early 19th century, Felix Mendelssohn was the kapellmeister. In 1885, the orchestra moved into a new hall, which was destroyed in 1944. The present Gewandhaus is the third building of that name. It was opened in 1981. Later principal conductors included Arthur Nikisch, Wilhelm Furtwangler, Bruno Walter, Vaclav Neumann, and from 1970 to 1996 Kurt Masur.

Opera House:

The Leipzig Opera House looks back to a tradition of more than 300 years. It is the second oldest German Opera. Dedicated to the heritage of Richard Wagner, Leipzig Opera continues to surprise with staging events on a European scale.

The north side of the Augustusplatz is taken up by Leipzig Opera House. The New Opera House opened 1960 on the site of the New Theatre which was destroyed during the Second World War. The renowned Opera House boasts one of the best ballet companies in Europe, an opera choir, a children's choir and a ballet school. Musicals and operettas are performed in the historic Dreilinden House.

 
Shopping:

A shopping trip could start under the arcades of the Old Town Hall, where Leipzig souvenirs and literature on the city are available. Madler Passage, which leads on to Konigshaus- und Messehofpassage, has a selection of luxury shops and boutiques to warm any shopper's heart.

The shopping arcades in Specks Hof, the former trade-fair palace between Reichsstrasse and St Nicholas' Church square, and those in Barthels Hof have been extensively refurbished. There are new shopping arcades in Stadtisches Kaufhaus, Strohsack-Passage and in Petersbogen.

With its Hauptbahnhof-Promenaden, Leipzig's Central Station is one of the most modern shopping and service centres in Germany. Several well-known department stores have opened both in the city centre and in newly built shopping malls. But the pedestrian-oriented city centre remains the favourite destination for an interesting shopping trip for many Leipzig residents and visitors.

Nightlife:

A prime venue for Leipzig visitors looking for night time entertainment and in search of a little nostalgia is Moritzbastei, a youth and student club in the former city bastions extending three storeys underground. The former fortifications next to the University lecture halls were excavated between 1974 and 1976 by students from the University in their spare time and turned into a club. Today, the club comprises several vaults and rooms for a wide range of activities ranging from concerts to exhibitions. In the summer, even the roof is put to use used for theatre performances, concerts and open-air movie shows. Every autumn, Moritzbastei is used as a venue for the Leipzig Jazz Festival, which enjoys an outstanding reputation in the international jazz community. 

Food:

The number of restaurants, pubs and cafes has grown substantially in recent years. Today, Leipzig can offer its visitors a wide range of international cuisine as well as events restaurants of almost all kinds, combining the serving of food with exhibitions, music and dance, a unique atmosphere or interior design, or live performances.

Some suggested restaurants:

Auerbachs Keller
Grimmaischestrasse 2-4
Tel: 0341/216100
Tram: 4 or 6 
This is the famous restaurant and tavern where Goethe staged the debate between Faust and Mephistopheles in his play Faust. The cellar dates from 1530 and has a series of 16th-century murals representing the Faust legend. The chefs prepare mainly regional Saxon dishes, along with some international selections. Some of the most tempting offerings are filet of veal, beef, or saddle of lamb, prepared with special sauces and served with seasonal vegetables. The menu changes every 2 months. You can also order from a fine selection of wines and beers.

Apels Garten
Kolonnadenstrasse 2
Tel: 341 960 7777
Tram: 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, or 13
Its name commemorates the site of a 400-year-old garden, no longer in existence. Today, you'll find a modern mid-1980s building with a conservatively decorated street-level restaurant known for its home-style German food. Specialties include Leipzig-style onion soup or wild-duck soup with homemade noodles, roast goose with potatoes and vegetables, grilled wurst with potatoes and red cabbage, and sauerbraten with onions and red cabbage. The cuisine is more robust than refined; it's very filling.

Casa Loca
Riemannstrasse 40
Tel: 341 980 82 66
casa Loca serve up spicy Mexican classics, from burritos to chili. Mexican cuisine varies quite a lot, but ingredients such as chicken, avocados or tortillas tend to feature in most dishes. The custom seems to be to wash it down with a Corona beer, complete with a slice of lime or a negro modelo. And if that's not enough for you, try knocking back a tequila, of which they have many types.

Restaurant Villers
Furstenhof Hotel
Trondlinring 8, Innenstadt
Tel: 341 1400
The warm and sunny atmosphere of an 18th century salon is the perfect setting for the extraordinary culinary delights served at the Restaurant Villers. Chef de cuisine, Boris P. Weiland, is a fan of grand cuisine combined with regional specialities and has already received many awards for his creations. The sommelier is always on hand to recommend top wines from their comprehensive wine cellar.

Paulaner Palais
Klostergasse 3-5
Tel: 341 211 315
Tram: 4 or 6
This big restaurant is on the street level of a fine rococco 18th-century building. The largest section is decorated like a typical Bavarian inn. More seats are in a summer courtyard. Even with an excessive emphasis on boiled meats such as Tafelspitz (boiled beef with vegetables) and heavy sauces, the place is an enduring local favourite. Wiener schnitzel and braised veal shank are two of the chef's other specialties. Foaming mugs of only one kind of beer are served: Paulaner Bier, brewed in Munich, the hometown of the owner.

Sacharow
Barfussgasschen 12,
Tel: 341 211 17 90
Equisite Russian cuisine is created by Dimitri Sacharow in this stylish restaurant. Several smaller and larger speciality dishes are on the menu here at an affordable price. Sacharow is the place to be for good food and drink or even just a Schwarzbier (a dark regional brew).

Maredo
Nikolaistrasse 3, (Specks Hof),
Tel: 341 960 5203
With a clear conscience one can label Maredo a classic steakhouse, as you can get everything to do with steaks here. Whether it be very well done or medium, a guests request is almost always fulfilled in a friendly manner. The juicy yellow corn-on-the-cob and foil-wrapped baked potatoes which can be ordered to accompany a steak are particularly delicious. The huge salad buffet and the fajitas are the house specialities. You can sit outside in summer.

Weinstock
Markt 7
Tel:  341 140 60606
Weinstock is found in the heart of Leipzig looking out on to the old renaissance style town hall. This bar does not bear its name for nothing: choose from one of the most well organised wine selections in the city with no less than 150 varieties of wine. Among others, Wolfgang Dubs - who has in the meantime achieved the status of a 'star' chef - is one of those responsible for the great menu. A masterly combination of regional specialities and fresh, seasonal ingredients mean that the fare here is always high quality and interesting.

Ratskeller
Lotterstrasse 1, Neues Rathaus
Tel: 341 1234567
The Ratskeller, with its 500 seats, is one of the biggest restaurants in Leipzig. Here, in the new town hall, one can eat a good square meal: there is an extensive choice from small starters EUR 2.50 to Ratskeller specialities EUR 13.25. Very dark and natural, the Ratskeller received its first guests on 1st October 1904. In former FRD times this was a well frequented address and has remained so even today.
 

Drink:

Leipzigers are also known for their proverbial love of coffee, and the popularity of the hot drink from Arabia among the people here gave rise to the nickname "Kaffeesachse" ("Coffee-Saxon"). Hence it comes as no surprise to learn that coffee-houses were popular meeting places in the city as early as 1695. is the oldest surviving coffee-house and restaurant in Europe to have been continually in operation. The coffee-house tradition is still maintained in various historical cafes in the city and is also being revived in newly established coffee-houses.

Moreover, the city has several pub districts including the one known as "Drallewatsch", running from Brühl precinct along Fleischergasse to the New Town Hall.

Many pubs 'around the corner' have survived throughout the city, many of which serve good plain food. In addition, many of the allotment garden areas have their own garden pubs, whose beer gardens are especially popular in the summer. Among them is Schrebers Restaurant und Biergarten in the oldest allotment area in Germany.

A particular Leipzig speciality "Leipzig Gose", a top-fermented beer which is brewed once again in Leipzig and was almost forgotten until revived by an enterprising Leipzig landlord. To find out more about the origin and distribution of this once very popular alcoholic drink, and to sample it for yourself, visit the public house & Gose brewery Gasthaus- & Gosebrauerei Bayerischer Bahnhof or the Gose pub Gosenschenke Ohne Bedenken in Leipzig-Gohlis. 

Sport:

As a city of fair, Leipzig also has a long tradition and great success in sports. In addition to soccer and its two leading clubs, the FC Sachsen Leipzig and the 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig, swimming, cycling, athletic, volleyball, handball and hockey are the most favoured sports. Every Year, several national and international sport competitions are part of the city's specific attractions.

Many sporting events have taken place in the city over the past year, including: Athletics, the Leipzig Marathon, European Karate Championship, wrestling German Grand Prix, City Man triathlon, Fencing World Championship and the European Hockey Championships. As well as the FIFA World Cup in the summer the city will also host the Archery World Championship due to be held in 2007.

Stadium:

Zentralstadion:

Leipzig is one of the host cities for the FIFA Soccer World Cup 2006. Five World Cup matches will be played in the city where the German Soccer Federation (DFB) was founded in 1900. Leipzig's Central Stadium will be the venue for the matches. With a capacity of 45,000, the stadium was erected on the foundations of the former "Stadion der Hunderttausend" in the heart of the city. On 7th March 2004, 29,000 spectators celebrated the official opening of one of the most advanced soccer stadiums in Europe. Spectators, players, sponsors and the media can look forward to enjoying the highest standards here, in a stadium built to the strict FIFA regulations.  In December 2005, the football world and billions of people watching on TV will witness the final draw for the World Cup taking place in Leipzig.  

Plans for Leipzig's Central Stadium were presented as early as 1939 by architect Werner March who had also designed the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. World War II, however prevented the implementation of the design project.

In part based on these early plans, an athletics and soccer stadium and auxiliary facilities were built between 1954 and 1956. At the time it was the biggest stadium in Germany being able to hold 100,000 spectators. However, over the years it fell in to disuse and was costing the city too much to maintain. In 1997 the city of Leipzig decided to build a new stadium within the old stadium, a modern state of the art stadium only for football. The new stadium was built from December 2000 till March of 2004.

There are bridges built over the old stadium to connect with the new stadium. The roof has an integrated floodlight design and is designed to provide supierior acoustics. It has been integrated into the area surronding the stadium by large amounts of trees and other greenery. 

Stadium World Cup Schedule:

• 11th June 2006 Group C: Serbia & Montenegro - Netherlands 3pm
• 14th June 2006 Group H: Spain - Ukraine 3pm
• 18th June 2006 Group G: France - Korea 9pm
• 21st June 2006 Group D: Iran - Angola 4pm

Tourist Tips:

Most of Leipzig's major sights are easily accessible on foot, and are often interspersed by tree-lined parks and squares - making a stroll through the city centre a relaxing and enjoyable experience. Good public transport links also make excursions to the outlying areas a simple matter.

Old City Hall:

The Old City Hall was built 1556 by Hieronymus Lotter on basements of two Patrician houses. It is a beautiful Renaissance style building, 90 metres long with arcades (1906 - 09), six gables and a tower. In the 18th century the tower was enlarged and it got a Baroque spire.

Till 1904 the Old City Hall was home of the city administration. Then it became home of the city museum. The museum Contains the original of the only confirmed painting of Bach produced in his lifetime. Also contains interesting information regarding the public executions that previously took place in the market in front of the city hall. The most famous execution was that of Woyzeck later made famous by the Bruchner play and the opera of Alban Berg.
 

Monument to the Battle of the Nations:

This largest memorial complex in Europe, with a viewing platform 91 metres above ground, was erected to commemorate the Battle of the Nations of 1813.

Leipzig Zoo

Leipzig Zoo is one of the oldest and most varied zoos in the world, and it is one of the most popular destinations in the city. Visit "Pongoland", the world's largest zoo facility for anthropoids, "Makasi Simba", the lions' savannah, a sloth-bears' gorge, a Tiger's taiga, an African savannah, And much much more.

Suggestions for sightseeing:

• Belantis Amusement Park Leipzig
• Auenwald floodplain forest
• St Nicholas's Church
• St. Thomas Church
• Clara Zetkin Park
• Scheibenholz Racecourse
• Karl Heine Canal
• Botanical Gardens
• Monument to the Battle of Nations

History:

First documented in 1015, and endowed with city and market privileges in 1165, Leipzig has always been known as a place of commerce. The Leipzig Trade Fair became an event of international importance; especially as a point of contact to the East-European economic bloc (Comecon) of which East Germany was a member.

The foundation of the University of Leipzig in 1409 initiated the city's development into a centre of the publishing industry, and towards being a location of the German National Library (founded in 1912).

Johann Sebastian Bach worked in Leipzig from 1723 to 1750, at the St. Thomas church. Richard Wagner, the composer, was born in Leipzig in 1813. Later in the same year, the Leipzig region was the arena of the Battle of the Nations.

Having been a terminal of the first German long distance railroad (1838, to Dresden, the capital of Saxony), Leipzig became a hub of Central-European railroad traffic, with a renowned station building, now the largest passenger train station in Europe. Leipzig expanded rapidly towards one million inhabitants. Huge Grunderzeit areas were built, which survived, for the greater part, the War and after war demolitions. Nowadays these areas are unique in modern Germany. The decline of the number of inhabitants however remain a threat to these precious rich decorated remains of once Imperial Germany.

The first German labour party, the General German Workers' Association (in German Allgemeiner Deutscher Arbeiterverein, ADAV) was founded in Leipzig on 23 May 1863 by Ferdinand Lassalle; about 600 workers from across Germany travelled to it using the new railway line.

Nobel prize laureate Werner Heisenberg worked as a physics professor at Leipzig University from 1927 to 1942.

The city was heavily damaged by Allied bombing during World War II.  American troops of the 69th Infantry Division captured the city on April 20, 1945, Adolf Hitler's 56th and final birthday. The US later ceded the city to the Red Army, and it was one of the major cities of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany).

In 1989, after prayers for peace at the Nikolai Church (established in 1983 as part of the peace-movement), the Monday demonstrations started as the most prominent mass protest against the East German regime. The city became known as the Stadt der Helden (City of Heroes) for its leading role in the democratic revolution that eventually led to German reunification.

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