Magdeburg is 1,200 years of European history. Magdeburg is green. Magdeburg is the Elbe. Saxony-Anhalt’s cultural and state capital stands for unique time-outs with a view of the river. Campers will find a place here directly on the banks of the Elbe with a view of Germany’s first Gothic cathedral. Modern rooms await hotel guests behind medieval walls.

Old and new merge in Magdeburg to create a unique cityscape. In the midst of historic fortifications rises the most modern architecture. The magnificent Magdeburg Cathedral, the Green Citadel – all in pink – by Friedensreich Hundertwasser and 1,000-year-old monastery walls filled with contemporary art are lined up here. Anyone who visits Magdeburg embarks on a journey through time. Where Otto the Great once built his favourite palace, visitors can now expect a modern cultural metropolis.

A look into the Middle Ages

The towers of Magdeburg Cathedral tower above everything. The first German Emperor Otto the Great founded a new archbishopric in Magdeburg and had a magnificent cathedral built. Around the cathedral, archaeologists have discovered spectacular evidence of this time. These unique finds can be seen in the new Ottonianum Cathedral Museum. If you want to know how a real love story took place in the Middle Ages – namely that of Emperor Otto and his wife Editha – this is the right place for you.

Magdeburg’s most important sights meander along the Elbe. On the riverbank rises an impressive silhouette of fortress walls, modern architecture and church spires. One of the most beautiful views of it is at dusk from the lift bridge. The former railway bridge is one of the largest and oldest in Germany.

Unique: In the darkness, the red and blue glowing lettering of the artist Maurizio Nannucci shines on the defining building of the Magdeburg skyline. In the direction of the source of the Elbe, the motto is: From so far to here.” And in the direction of the mouth of the Elbe: “From here much further.”

Green, greener, Magdeburg

Today, only pedestrians and cyclists cross the historic building. The lift bridge offers the perfect connection between the city centre and the Rotehorn city park. The largest park in the city stretches out on a 200-hectare Elbe island. Here, the Adolf-Mittag-See invites you to take a boat trip and the large playgrounds with skater track to romp around. Beer garden and beach bar provide a delicious break.

Numerous impressive parks meander along the Elbe in Magdeburg. The state capital of Saxony-Anhalt is one of the greenest cities in Germany. The green landscapes are excellently connected via the Elbe Cycle Path. The well-developed cycle route runs through the entire city for 21 kilometres.

In addition to the historic Herrenkrugpark, the Klosterbergegarten is one of the green highlights. Here, visitors should definitely plan a detour to the greenhouses and the Gesellschaftshaus. In the stately concert halls, performances are regularly performed here in honour of the Magdeburg composer Georg Philipp Telemann – one of the most important Baroque musicians of his time.

Off to adventure

The most adventurous is in the Elbauenpark Magdeburg. The Millennium Tower towers above the almost 100-hectare amusement park. At 60 meters, the wooden tower is the tallest structure of its kind. In the tower, the secrets of 6,000 years of human history are revealed, and the exhibition invites you to touch and try things out. From the highest level there is a spectacular view. It gets even more exciting when Magdeburg visitors race down from here on the giant ElbauenZip zip line.

If you dare, you’ll end up at the climbing park. Here it can continue action-packed. And that’s not all: In the immediate vicinity, the 18-metre-high slide tower awaits brave visitors. Meanwhile, slide and adventure golf games await guests at Magdeburg Zoo. Between more than 1,000 animals, exciting insights are guaranteed. Unique in Germany: Children up to 15 years of age have free admission here.

It quickly becomes clear that there is a large selection of adventures in Magdeburg. Whether it’s a Segway excursion on park paths or a stand-up paddle tour on the arms of the Elbe: In the sports city, famous for its handball players from SC Magdeburg and the footballers of 1.

Discover new shores

A tip for all those who don’t want to paddle down the Elbe themselves: Simply change to a passenger ship of the White Fleet! If the water level is right, the ships depart daily from the Petriförder jetty. From a short city tour to a four-hour exploration trip, the captains have the right route for everyone in their program.

A very special destination is the boat trip to the waterway crossing. The Mittelland Canal flows through Europe’s largest steel structure here. In the midst of ancient floodplain forests, mighty locks and lifts were built so that the most important North German waterways can cross. The Mittelland Canal flows through the world’s longest trough bridge over the Elbe.

From the water, you can marvel at Magdeburg’s development from a mechanical engineering city to a modern metropolis. Where factory buildings and transshipment points for rail and water once lined the shore, modern districts are now being built. In the Elbbahnhof boarding station, restaurants and cafés invite you to linger. In the urban district of Buckau, artisans and designers have opened their studios. Innovative companies and research institutions are settling in the Science Port between historic cranes.

Technical masterpieces

Magdeburg has always stood for technical innovations. The best example is Otto von Guericke, one of the city’s most famous sons and a scientist. With his world-famous hemisphere experiment, he proved the existence of vacuum and the power of air pressure.

If you want to learn much more exciting background information about Magdeburg, you should not miss a city tour in the big red double-decker bus. From April to October, up to four times a day, a one-hour round trip with the best view leads through the historic cathedral district, along the green banks of the Elbe to the Elbauenpark with the extraordinary millennium tower. Via audio guide, you can learn all kinds of surprising anecdotes from 1,200 years of Magdeburg. There is even an extra Magdeburg radio play for all young passengers.

Fun for the whole family is also guaranteed on the various costume tours or a tour with the night watchman. Visitors get to know the most exciting corners of the city in a completely new way, suddenly Emperor Otto the Great or physicist Otto von Guericke himself are at their side.

Sparkling world of lights

Magdeburg is a unique destination in many respects. Here is a very special tip: Throughout the winter, the city is transformed into an extraordinary sea of lights. More than 1.2 million lights and hundreds of kilometers of fairy lights immerse the city in a winter wonderland. Larger-than-life light sculptures line the streets and squares. The Magdeburg Virgin glitters on her city gate, the Magdeburg Horseman sits enthroned on his golden shining horse and fountains are entwined with light steles.

Visitors will find the highlight on the cathedral square: Here, eight horses, formed from fairy lights, gallop across the square and show Otto von Guericke’s hemisphere experiment. All around, picture frames shine and walk-in Christmas tree baubles provide incomparable souvenir photos. Good to know: Always about the opening of the Magdeburg Christmas Market (Monday before the 1st Advent) until 2 February, the World of Lights is freely accessible.

Impressions from Magdeburg

Contact and booking requests:

Tourist Information Magdeburg
Breiter Weg 22, 39104 Magdeburg
0391 63601-402
info@visitmagdeburg.de
www.visitmagdeburg.de
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With the kind support of the Tourist Information Magdeburg

Pforzheim is the gateway to the northern Black Forest. However, the Gold City, as it is called because of its jewellery and watch industry, is more of a beauty at second sight. On February 23, 1945, 98 percent of the city center was destroyed by an Allied air raid within just 20 minutes. In the decades that followed, numerous architects tried their hand at the city and built revolutionary buildings at the time. The city is therefore an open-air museum for architecture from the 1950s to the 70s.

Green Gold

The city of three rivers has much more to offer: Pforzheim is one of the greenest cities in Germany with 83.5 percent green space. Over 100 kilometres of hiking trails invite you to enjoy nature within the city area. The hiking trails lead past Roman walls, mystical castle ruins and the three rivers Enz, Nagold and Würm. Even the oldest long-distance hiking trails in the Black Forest, West, East and Middle Path, start at the city’s Golden Gate and lead to Basel.

Bicycle lovers will also get their money’s worth here: no less than eight long-distance cycle paths crisscross the city area, such as the popular Enztal Cycle Path, the Nagold Valley Cycle Path or the Black Forest Panorama Cycle Path.

The animal highlight of Pforzheim is the wildlife park. Admission is free, and some animals can even be fed by the guests. The forest climbing garden provides fun at high altitudes.

The City of Gold

From the 18th century onwards, girls and boys from the local orphanage received training in the production of jewellery. The foundation stone for the jewellery and watch industry was laid. In its heyday, 90 percent of German jewellery was produced in the gold city. Today, the figure is still 75 percent.

The Jewellery Museum in the Reuchlinhaus is a globally unique museum on the history of jewellery. Around 2,000 exhibits show jewellery art from five millennia, from antiquity to the present day.

In the Technical Museum , the history of the traditional industries comes to life. Many work steps will be demonstrated on historic machines, and there will also be insights into the cultural context of the jewelry and watch industry on site.

In the Schütt gemstone exhibition , guests can marvel at the fascinating world of gemstones and crystals and discover a lot of interesting facts.

In Europe’s largest jewellery and watch house, the Schmuckwelten, jewellery can be admired and purchased. Right next door is the award-winning permanent exhibition “Gold.Money.Society”, which reveals mysteries about gold.

Gasometer Pforzheim

With the gigantic 360° panorama “GREAT BARRIER REEF – Coral Reef Wonderland” by artist Yadegar Asisi, a highlight for the whole family can be seen in the Gasometer. The panorama makes the beauty and the enormous biodiversity of the famous coral reef tangible. From the 15-metre-high visitor tower, you have a breathtaking view of the panorama, which will be on display until at least mid-2021. Information about a possible new panorama can be found on the homepage www.gasometer-pforzheim.de.

Pforzheim is diversity

Eleven museums show exciting facts from the Roman era, about the city’s most famous son, Johannis Reuchlin, or from the GDR. In the city museum there is even a replica of the first automobile with which Bertha Benz drove from Mannheim to her hometown of Pforzheim in 1888 and laid the foundation for the success story of the car. The Pforzheim Theatre offers a three-genre range of music, drama and dance. And the city’s varied gastronomy offers delights from all over the world, for example from Korea, Venezuela, India, but also the delicious Maultauschen and Spätzle can be found here.

By the way, Pforzheim is a perfect destination, especially for groups. City and themed tours, whether digital or on-site, allow you to discover the city in a relaxed way. The team at the tourist information office on the Schlossberg (tourist-info@ws-pforzheim.de; https://www.stadt-land-enz.de, 07231 39 3700).

with the kind support of the city of Pforzheim

In their creative work, the glassblowers in the Bavarian Forest are apparently growing wings. The products of this very old craft can be seen in the workshops on the edge of the Glass Road. And it is 250 kilometres long and a holiday route between Waldsassen on its northern periphery and Passau on the Danube. In the meantime, the Glass Road has become a tourist highlight in the Bavarian Forest and has also secured a permanent place in the advertising of tourism managers in this region. It is a playground of the imagination, and anyone who stops by the glassworks will be thrilled by the diversity of this art and the creative power of these artists.

Glass is closely linked to the history of mankind. This material already existed in the Stone Age, and around 3000 BC, objects were demonstrably made of glass in Egypt and in the high culture of Mesopotamia. Scientists discovered the recipe on a clay tablet from Babylonia that still inspires glassblowers. Quartz sand, lime, potash and soda are the basic elements that the craftsmen in the Bavarian Forest used as early as the 14th century. At that time, the so-called “itinerant glassworks” were built there for the purpose of operating for a short time wherever there was no shortage of wood to make the glass glow in the smelting furnaces.

The glassblowers still feel committed to this ancient tradition, and the products from their glassworks in the Bavarian Forest have found sympathisers all over the world for generations. The Glass Road leads through a fascinating landscape and invites you to watch the craftsmen at work or to enjoy their products in the shops at numerous stations. This holiday route was designed in 1997 by three men who felt connected to the region. It was then opened by the then Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl. A total of 48 municipalities and eight districts in eastern Bavaria are members of the Glasstraße working group, which was founded at the time.

The glassworks can not only be reached by car, but also stations on interesting hikes on the edge of the Goldsteig, the Gläserner Steig, the Glasschleiferweg and the popular Glashüttenwanderweg. Everywhere the fragile beauties can be admired – and of course also purchased. Frauenau has earned the reputation of being the “Glass Heart” of the Bavarian Forest. There are several manufactories here. Among them is the oldest glassworks in Germany, the family business of Benedikt Freiherr von Poschinger. For fifteen generations now, the company has been dedicated to glass production, and the foundation of the glassblowing workshop dates back to 1568. At that time, historical writings provided instructions for the production of everyday objects in the form of glasses and bottles. In the meantime, the Poschingers’ works of art can even be found in airplanes and as interiors on expensive yachts.

If you want to learn more about the history of this craft, you should go to the Bavarian Forest State Glass Museum in Frauenau and thus go on a journey of discovery through the centuries. The Czech champion Petr Novotny greets visitors there with a glass tree. You should take your time for a walk through the Glass Gardens of Frauenau, because the path is three kilometres long.

There are apparently no limits to the imagination of the glassblowers. And so another hike leads through a forest of glass. In the small village of Regen and at the foot of the Weißenstein castle ruins, the artist Rudolf Schmid created a total of thirty trees made of flat glass. They are up to eight meters high. Their leaves do not rustle, but they produce unique light effects. It is also worth visiting here after dark, when several floor washlights illuminate this unusual glass forest.

The craft of glassblowing is timeless and cannot be replaced by any modern machine. A stay in Bodenmais also promises moments of happiness. Not only because of the natural beauty of the surroundings and the hospitable people who live here, but also because of the products from the think tank of the JOKA Glass Paradise. Among other things, the largest wine beer glass in the world was created in this glassblowing workshop. It was an extraordinary challenge to produce the drinking vessel, which is over one meter high. Several glassblowers had to roll up their sleeves to transport the glowing glass ball out of the melting furnace. The largest hand-blown Christmas bauble ever formed can also be seen there. It has a diameter of sixty centimeters.

All glassblowing workshops along the Glass Route in the Bavarian Forest have their own character. For example, the artists in the glass village of Arnbruck attach particular importance to the harmony between glass and nature, while in the Herrmann Gallery in Drachselsried about 150 international artists from thirty nations present their objects. The town of Zwiesel has always been closely linked to the craftsmanship of glassblowing. The factory outlet of Kristallglas AG is still an attraction for many visitors. The traditional company donated a pyramid of exactly 93,665 glasses to the city of Zwiesel. That was also a world record. In May 2003, a glass chapel with a glass bell and a glass tower was built in this village. Without a doubt, this is also one of the many highlights on the path of the glassblowers. Colourful, timelessly beautiful and now and then also afflicted with a pinch of cheekiness are the glass pictures from the studio oven of the Köck family in Riedlhütte.

In the glassblowing workshops, visitors not only have the opportunity to watch the artistically talented craftsmen at work. Every now and then they are even asked to try to make balls themselves from a fiery, liquid mass

In the southeastern part of the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , the Mecklenburg Lake District ends with the beautiful Tollensesee. The Tollensesee stretches 25 km not far from the Müritzsee and has an area of almost 18 square meters in a gently rolling moraine landscape shaped by the Ice Age. The river that gives it its name is the Tollense, which flows into the lake of the same name in Neubrandenburg.

The district town of Neubrandenburg, also known as the city of the four gates, is located on the northeastern shore of the lake, it is the regional centre of the region with a catchment area of about 420,000 inhabitants and offers all the amenities of a city with about 65,000 inhabitants, such as a varied international gastronomy, hotels and guesthouses, exciting cultural and entertainment offers as well as a wide range of sports and recreation opportunities.

The lake can be reached from Berlin within about 90 minutes by car; Hamburg needs a little more sitting: a good 400 km separate the Hanseatic city from Lake Tollense.

Activities at Lake Tollensesee

Holidaymakers or day tourists have the choice between the wide range of experiences and activities offered on or on the lake:

Excursion boat trip

To get to know the lake in its entire extent of 10 km long and a good 2 km wide, a trip on a passenger ship of the so-called “White Fleet” is recommended. The “sea voyages” last between one and a half and two and a half hours; you can get on and off at various piers around the lake. A restaurant will take care of the physical well-being on board. In addition, bicycles are also transported. What could be more obvious than circumnavigating the lake by bike or on foot and driving parts of the way by boat?

Cycling

Directly on the lake and mainly with a view of the wide lake area, the attractive, well-signposted 34 km long cycle route, which begins in Neubrandenburg, leads around the lake. The route is easily passable and signposted in both directions. Pedal knights are rewarded with inviting rest areas and magnificent views as well as tranquil villages that invite you to linger.

Hiking and Nordic Walking

Hiking trails and Nordic walking routes in the lake region are laid out on attractive routes. Hikers should not miss the Behmshöhe observation tower on the eastern shore of the lake, built in 1905 for tourist reasons. The tower with a height of 34 m stands on a boulder and allows a view from a height of 42 m to Neubrandenburg and across the lake to the west shore.

Aquatics

Leisure captains will definitely get their money’s worth around Lake Tollense: Watercraft á la Couleur are available for hire – even for several days: from canoes to pedal boats, rowing boats or sailing boats to motorboats and hydrobikes, there is something for every taste. A water ski slope in Neubrandenburg attracts with attractive offers for the whole family.

Angling

Petri disciples should already provide a floating vessel to go on a fishing trip, because there are few suitable fishing spots directly from the shore. The small, cosy harbours or jetties in the villages are more suitable. Day fishing permits can be purchased – for a longer period of time.

Beach life

The lidos on the west and east banks invite you to relax with attractive sunbathing lawns, playgrounds and gastronomic establishments. Fans of naturism will find suitable bathing spots on the west bank near the campsite. Whether with swimwear or without clothing, this is what unites the lidos on the lake: without exception, they have been awarded the “Blue European Flag” for outstanding environmental management.

Overnight stay in the Tollensesee region

Accommodation for every budget, such as in a holiday home, with private providers, in guesthouses or in a 4-star hotel, is available in Neubrandenburg and the lake area. The only campsite on the lake is located on the west shore and is characterized by a particularly quiet, idyllic location.

Culinary

The region of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is known for its hearty and down-to-earth cuisine, which is very maritime near the coast.

The Tollensesee, which is rich in fish, provides a wide range of edible fish such as carp, pike, zander, whitefish and perch. They can be found delicately and expertly prepared on the plates of the restaurants on Lake Tolense. Other regional and seasonal specialties from the countryside and the lake round off the international food offer.

Art and culture

A special event highlight are the art and culture weeks “Mecklenburgische Seenplattte Tollensee”, which take place in the first weeks of September each year. Guided tours, concerts, theatre, readings, exhibitions, markets and much more are on the colourful programme. A visit to the city centre of Neubrandenburg with its old fortifications and ramparts and the Museum of Shipping and the Regional Museum with an exhibition on the history of the city and the region are worthwhile all year round.

Excursions in the Tollensesee region

Although the region on and around the Tollensee has something to offer for every taste, a trip to the Baltic Sea coast, e.g. to Germany’s largest Island of Rügen with the chalk cliffs worth seeing, to the imperial baths on the filigree Usedom Peninsula or to the Hanseatic cities Rostock and Stralsund. If you like it maritime, pay a visit to the seaside resort of Warnemünde. From the banks of the Warnow, not only huge cruise ships, but also impressive seagoing ships calling at the port of Rostock can be observed