3 Reasons to love Leipzig
A few hours southwest of Berlin, Leipzig is a great alternative to the capital and a nice change if you want to experience a quieter side of Germany, with plenty to see and do. The city, which is rich in history and culture, was previously home to numerous composers, including Bach, Schumann, and Mendelssohn. It’s a fantastic blend of old and modern, with stylish galleries, cafés, and restaurants sprouting out of its previous industrialised zones. In Leipzig, you’ll discover a new generation of artists and cultural provocateurs moulding this city into one of Germany’s most dynamic and welcoming destinations.
Here are our top reasons to love Leipzig, Germany.
Leipzig is one of the greenest cities in Germany!
German cities are among the greenest in Europe, and Leipzig stands out as one of the greenest in Germany. It rates well for air quality, water, waste and land use, and energy sustainability. Therefore, you can only imagine how enjoyable, natural, and pure living may be in Leipzig. There are various parks to enjoy on a leisurely Saturday (Clara Zetkin Park is a great place for a picnic, or relaxing stroll) and many rivers where you can go canoeing to wind down.
The inner green ring is a 65-kilometer cycling route that entirely surrounds the city. It’s simple to hire a bike for the day and ride wherever the route leads you. Renting a canoe or booking a trip (€50) to paddle along the Karl-Heine Kanal is another activity inside the city (albeit ideally suited for summer).
The outer green ring allows you to rapidly depart the city on one of 165 km of bike cycle tracks. Elster- und Pleiße- Auwald is a natural park featuring streams for kayaking and kilometres of woodland pathways. At the Wildpark Leipzig, you can see animals from all throughout Central Europe. As is customary in landlocked areas, on a hot summer day, you can travel to the New Lake District to cool down in one of the many lakes; Cospudener See and Markkleeberger See are two local favourites.
A hub for creativity and innovation
As one of Germany’s fastest-growing business locations, the Leipzig region has a wide variety of business sectors with a rich, ever-increasing treasure trove of attractive companies. Particularly in strongly innovation-driven sectors such as IT, the life sciences or energy and environmental technology, forward-looking companies receive active support from science through complementary top-level research on site. Three Max Planck Institutes, two Fraunhofer Institutes, two Helmholtz Centres, five Leibniz Institutes, three ZUSE Institutes and the German Biomass Research Centre, and numerous other universities, non-university and state institutions, are among the driving forces and future partners of the local business landscape. These internationally respected research institutions not only support local companies in the development of new applications and products of tomorrow but also serve time and again as incubators for further growth.
A culture rich region
It seems that every space in Leipzig has a cultural purpose. It’s the city where Bach spent his final decades. Universität Leipzig sits in the centre of the city and ensures a steady supply of young and educated citizens. Every space seems to double as a music venue or an artist studio, and there are many museums and art galleries in Leipzig.
The Museum of Fine Arts and Gallery of Contemporary Art feature some of East Germany’s biggest artists. But perhaps more interesting to many people, are the hundreds of unofficial galleries scattered across the city. Some of the best art can be found on the street Eisenbahnstraße or at the Spinnerei that now serves as studios, gallery spaces, art shops, and artist housing.