Top 25 Must-See Attractions in Hanover, Germany

Lower Saxony’s capital is a university city and economic centre that was once the seat of an Imperial Electorate. The royal line, the House of Hanover, produced three monarchs for the United Kingdom and bestowed upon this city remarkable landmarks such as the Herrenhäuser Gardens. This intricate collection of regal parks and palaces continues to be Hanover’s prominent historical attraction.

1. Herrenhäuser Gardens

The pride of Hanover is a series of gardens originating from the era of the Imperial Electors and Kings of Hanover.

The highlight is the Great Garden, designed in a Baroque French style by Electress Sophia of Hanover in the 17th century.

Spanning 50 hectares, the garden is complemented by a palace and adorned with sculptures, fountains, a box-hedge maze, an orangery, and intricate plantings.

The orangery serves as an elegant venue for classical concerts, while Sophia’s garden theatre hosts plays and musical performances during the summer months.

This palace, nearly destroyed during the war, has undergone restoration in recent years.

Since 2013, it has housed three exhibition rooms for the Hanover Historical Museum, featuring displays about the garden’s design and notable figures from Hanover’s history, such as Wilhelm Leibniz.

2. Berggarten

This section of the Herrenhäuser Gardens, known as the Berggarten (Mountain Garden), merits its own discussion.

Initially established as a herb and kitchen garden for the palace, Electress Sophia designated the Berggarten for the cultivation of exotic plants.

An early greenhouse was constructed in 1686, supporting the growth of crops such as tobacco and mulberry trees.

Today, the park stands as one of the premier botanical gardens globally, housing 20,000 plants across 3,000 species.

It features four greenhouses, dedicated to tropical plants, cacti, and the subtropical flora of the Canary Islands.

However, the main attraction is the Orchid House, which boasts Europe’s largest orchid collection, encompassing up to 800 plants from 300 species, blooming amidst lush tropical greenery.

3. Georgengarten

In the 1810s, King George III acquired an estate to the east of the Great Garden.

The property was renamed from the Wallmodenschloss to the Georgenpalais, subsequently giving its name to the Georgengarten.

On a long, narrow expanse, the gardens are designed in the English style, featuring rolling lawns and groves of mature trees.

Running axially through the park is the Herrenhäuser Allee, an elegant two-kilometre avenue lined with lime trees.

Visitors can also find the temple erected in honor of the polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, constructed in the late 1780s and originally located at Hanover’s parade grounds, now Waterlooplatz, before relocation to the Georgengarten.

Today, the splendid Georgenpalais houses the Wilhelm Busch museum, which will be addressed later.

4. Lower Saxony State Museum

This museum comprises four distinct departments dedicated to fine arts, archaeology, natural history, and ethnology, effectively offering a diverse range of exhibits.

The Renaissance and Baroque galleries feature works by renowned artists such as Albrecht Dürer, Rubens, and Rembrandt, alongside a remarkable collection of 19th-century art by Romantics like Caspar David Friedrich and Impressionists such as Max Liebermann.

Visitors should also explore the other departments, where they will encounter Bronze Age jewelry and mummified remains from Lower Saxony’s moorlands in the archaeology section.

The natural history department showcases models of dinosaurs and an aquarium, whereas the ethnology department features approximately 20,000 pieces of traditional art drawn from Oceania, Africa, America, and across Asia.

5. Sprengel Museum

Exhibiting an impressive array of modern German art, the Sprengel Museum stands as a significant cultural asset that merits inclusion in your itinerary.

The museum was established in 1979, a decade after chocolate manufacturer Bernhard Sprengel generously donated his modern art collection to the city.

This collection has since expanded through the inclusion of Lower Saxony’s own art collections and subsequent private donations, transforming it into a world-class showcase of 20th-century art.

It features works from Expressionist movements such as Die Brücke and Der Blaue Reiter, alongside pieces by Picasso, Paul Klee, Max Ernst, Max Beckmann, Emil Nolde, and Fernand Léger.

The museum also documents major art trends post-1945, including pieces by kinetic sculptor Alexander Calder, Andy Warhol, and Capitalist Realist artists such as Gerhard Richter and Sigmar Polke.

6. New Town Hall (Neues Rathaus)

Hanover’s magnificent New Town Hall was constructed at the beginning of the 20th century, showcasing a theatrical Historicist style.

With its towering dome and location adjacent to the Maschteich pond, the New Town Hall resembles a palace more than a municipal building.

A significant portion of the interior is open to the public for guided tours.

Under the dome, four scale models depicting Hanover at various historical stages invite curiosity.

The model illustrating the destruction caused during the Second World War is particularly enlightening.

Guests are guided through the halls, with the Hodler Hall featuring a remarkable mural by the Swiss Symbolist Ferdinand Hodler that captures Hanover’s transformation during the Reformation.

An elevator following the dome’s curvature brings visitors to an observation platform nearly 100 metres above street level.

7. Old Town Hall (Altes Rathaus)

Situated in Marktplatz, the Old Town Hall is Hanover’s oldest civil building, with its origins dating back to the early 15th century.

This notable structure is distinguished by its intricate gables and serves as the southernmost example of the Northern German Brick Gothic architectural style.

The oldest section is located on the east side, along Schmiedestraße, while the western side on Köbelinger Straße, which previously housed the Town Hall’s pharmacy, has been updated with a Neo-Romanesque design from the 19th century.

The facade on Schmiedestraße features coats of arms and portraits of Electors and princes, as well as a depiction of Luderziehen, an antiquated game akin to tug-of-war but involving interlocking little fingers rather than a rope.

8. Maschsee

The 78-hectare artificially created lake, located near the New Town Hall, was conceived as a response to the Great Depression.

Hanover had long faced the challenge of spring flooding, and to address this issue, the city initiated the construction of the lake in the floodplain of the River Leine in 1934 as a measure to mitigate flooding and alleviate mass unemployment at the time. An intriguing fact about the lake is that it loses up to a centimetre of water daily, necessitating replenishment through a pump station and a network of ponds on the southern shore.

For visitors, the Maschsee offers summertime watersport activities and scenic walks along its verdant shoreline, adorned with public artworks by renowned artists including Alexander Calder, Georg Kolbe, and Arno Breker.

9. Marktkirche

The skyline of Hanover would be incomplete without the 14th-century Marktkirche, centrally located in the Altstadt.

The tower, characterized by its four pointed gables, is its defining feature.

According to lore, the tower was initially intended to be taller; however, due to financial constraints stemming from the Black Death in the 1360s, a steeple was simply added to what had already been completed.

Despite suffering damage from bombs during the Second World War, much of the church’s art remains intact.

Visitors should take the time to appreciate the three eastern stained glass windows in the chancel, dating back to 1370, as well as the winged high altar from 1480, featuring sculptural panels depicting scenes from the Passion, all embellished with gold leaf.

10. Aegidienkirche

The easternmost of Hanover’s ancient churches has a history tracing back to 1163, though it was severely impacted by bombings during the war.

The nave and chancel are preserved in their roofless, damaged state as a memorial dedicated to the victims of wars and violence.

The current configuration hails from the 14th century, designed in the Gothic style, while the tower, which remains intact, received a Baroque façade in the early 18th century.

Inside, a peace bell was presented by Hanover’s sister city, Hiroshima, and each 6 August, a ceremony is held in the church where the bell tolls every hour throughout the day until 18:00.

11. Historisches Museum

Hanover’s historical museum is situated on “Am Hohen Ufer,” an embankment bordering the Leine River on the west side of the Altstadt.

This site marks the founding location of Hanover, lying along the route from Bremen to Hildesheim.

The Beginenturm, Hanover’s last fully preserved city tower, has been incorporated into the museum, along with remnants of the 17th-century ducal arsenal.

The museum offers insights into Hanover’s complex history, tracing its evolution from the Middle Ages and the Welf Duchy through to the Principality of Calenburg and the royal House of Hanover.

Visitors will witness Hanover’s transformation from a medieval market town into an urban center over the span of 750 years, alongside how rural life underwent change in Lower Saxony between the 1600s and 1900s.

12. Eilenriede

Encompassing an area twice the size of New York’s Central Park, Eilenriede is a city forest positioned almost at the heart of Hanover.

The western entrance is located just a ten-minute walk from the Hauptbahnhof.

As one of Europe’s largest contiguous urban forests, it is characterized by extensive patches of oak and beech woodlands interspersed with lawns, water features, and playgrounds.

For 600 years, the park served as a managed forest, providing timber before opening to the public in the 19th century.

A few cafes are situated within the park, along with informational posts detailing the deer, hares, bats, and martens that inhabit the area.

13. Luftfahrtmuseum Hanover-Laatzen

Accessible via a U-Bahn ride to Laatzen, situated south of Hanover, is an engaging museum focused on the history of aviation.

This remarkable institution is founded on the collection of aviation enthusiast and businessman Günter Leonhardt, who salvaged several Junkers Ju 52s from a Norwegian lake in the Arctic Circle.

The museum’s display encompasses 36 aircraft, along with 30 piston and jet engines and nearly 700 models.

Among its rarer items are an intact Junkers Jumo 004 turbojet engine, a Focke-Wulf Fw 190, a Spitfire, Messerschmitt Bf 109, and a section of a Ju 52 that visitors can enter.

Additionally, from the post-war period, the museum features a Lockheed F-104 Starfighter and a MiG-15.

14. Wilhelm Busch Museum

Located in the Georgenpalais, this museum boasts the world’s largest collection dedicated to the esteemed 19th-century humorist and illustrator Wilhelm Busch.

Visitors can view paintings, drawings, and original manuscripts of works such as his satirical illustrated story Max and Moritz.

The museum has also curated thousands of exhibits from artists of the same era or those sharing Busch’s satirical perspective.

Included are English satirists like William Hogarth and George Cruickshank, as well as Francisco Goya, J. J. Grandville, and Walter Trier, alongside approximately 700 period caricatures of Napoleon.

Exhibitions also feature contemporary satirical cartoonists like Steve Bell, Jean-Jacques Sempé, and Tomi Ungerer.

15. Leibnizhaus

The philosopher, mathematician, diplomat, and historian Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz spent 40 years of his life in Hanover and died at this Renaissance townhouse in 1716. In fact, it is important to note that the current structure is a reconstruction from the 1980s, utilizing the original facade but situated in a different location due to the original Leibnizhaus being destroyed in the war.

The reliefs around the mullioned windows on this facade are worthy of admiration.

While the interior is used for various events, it also features an exhibition space showcasing artifacts from Leibniz’s life.

Notably, visitors will find his Rechenmaschine (adding machine), which advanced Pascal’s calculator and employs the binary number system, laying the groundwork for modern computing.

16. Hanover Tiergarten

Located just beyond Hanover’s eastern outskirts, the Tiergarten spans 112 hectares and formerly served as a hunting ground for the Electors and Kings of Hanover.

The immense age of the Tiergarten is evident upon encountering the 650-year-old oak tree at the entrance and the many 400-500-year-old oaks within the park’s expansive woodlands.

The Tiergarten remains a game reserve where up to 150 roe, fallow, and red deer roam freely, complemented by large enclosures designated for wild boar.

Additionally, several bat species, owls, hawks, falcons, foxes, badgers, and Egyptian geese thrive within the park.

17. Museum August Kestner

Inaugurated in 1889, Hanover’s oldest museum boasts an extensive array of collections, encompassing ancient artifacts from Egypt, Greece, and Rome, along with several centuries’ worth of European applied art.

The architectural venue is noteworthy for its Neo-Renaissance design within a cubic superstructure punctuated by 5,000 small windows.

Antiquarians will find delight in exploring Etruscan art, Greek vases, mummies, reliefs, papyri, and sculptures from Ancient Egypt situated within the museum.

Visitors can also expect to encounter medieval manuscripts alongside precious textiles, enamelwork, and ivory and bronze decorative items culminating in the Renaissance.

The collection is further enhanced by the largest coin collection in Northern Germany, featuring 120,000 pieces spanning 2,500 years.

18. Ernst-August-Denkmal

Positioned at Ernst-August-Platz, directly in front of the main entrance to the Hauptbahnhof, this monument honors the King of Hanover, Ernest Augustus.

His reign lasted from 1837 to 1851, and he is historically significant as the fifth son of King George III and the uncle of Queen Victoria.

Ernest-Augustus is portrayed on horseback in the full attire of a hussar.

The bronze statue was cast in 1861, resting atop a granite pedestal inscribed with the phrase, “Dem Landesvater / Sein treues Volk,” translating roughly to “Dedicated to the father of the country, by his faithful people.”

19. Kröpcke-Uhr

Similar to the statue of Ernst-August, this clock serves as a traditional meeting point in Hanover.

Situated within a pedestrian zone at the intersection of Georgstraße and Bahnhofstraße, it represents a rare example of classical design within a modern urban landscape, having been commissioned in 1885 and named after the Café Kröpcke located behind it.

Today, the café has been replaced by a large 1970s structure operated by Mövenpick.

The current clock is an exact replica of the original, and its glass panels display announcements for major events and exhibitions occurring in Hanover.

20. Marienburg Castle

If you are considering a day trip from Hanover, this Neo-Gothic palace located approximately 20 kilometers south of the city is highly recommended.

Perched on Marienburg Hill, the palace was commissioned in 1857 by King George V of Hanover as a birthday present for his wife, Marie of Saxe-Altenburg.

Notably, Marienburg Castle stands out since it remained uninhabited after the couple’s exile following Hanover’s annexation by Prussia in 1860, thus preserving its original condition until after the Second World War.

Audio tours are available for non-German speakers, guiding visitors to the summit of the 44-meter main tower, as well as to lavish halls adorned with period furnishings from the Royal House of Hanover’s collection.

21. Hannover 96

Hanover was one of the chosen cities for the World Cup in 2006, resulting in extensive renovations to the HDI Arena (Niedersachsenstadion).

Now a modern sports facility, this arena accommodates nearly 50,000 fans during Hannover 96’s home games.

Although the team has experienced some challenging seasons, as of the 2017-18 season, it competes at the highest level in the Bundesliga.

Despite having not claimed the league championship since 1954, packed stadiums are common, and the atmosphere is invariably electrifying.

Furthermore, it is one of the few stadiums in Europe located within walking distance of the city center, just to the west of the Maschsee.

The HDI Arena operates as a cashless venue; therefore, attendees must load funds onto a club card for purchasing food and beverages during matches.

22. Lüttje Lage

If you wish to blend in at a bar in Hanover, a Lüttje Lage is the drink to try, if you are daring enough.

When you place your order, you will receive two small glasses—one filled with traditional top-fermented beer and the other containing clear Kornbrand (grain brandy) with a minimum alcohol content of 37.5%.

There are several ways to consume your Lüttje Lage.

The traditional method involves pouring the liquor onto your tongue and rinsing it down with the beer.

Alternatively, to showcase your skills, you may grasp the beer between your thumb and index finger, position the Kornbrand between your middle and ring fingers, and attempt to down both in one swift action.

23. International Fireworks Competition

Extended stays in Hanover will reveal the city’s passion for pyrotechnics.

Fireworks displays occur throughout the summer, commencing with the Frühlingsfest (Spring Festival) in April and continuing until the Oktoberfest in autumn.

Among these events, the International Fireworks Competition takes place over five nights each summer at the Herrenhäuser Gardens within the Great Garden.

Before the countdown begins, attendees can enjoy live music, street performances, and various entertainment activities.

This culminates in a spectacular pyrotechnic display, synchronized with music and crafted by top professionals in the field.

24. Maschseefest

For 19 days in August, a vibrant outdoor festival occurs along the banks of the Maschsee, attracting around two million attendees.

The Maschseefest celebrates music and gastronomy, featuring numerous smaller events and family-friendly activities.

Evenings transform into lively occasions, particularly on weekends, with tribute concerts showcasing the music of iconic bands such as U2, ABBA, AC/DC, and the Beatles.

Along the northern shore of the lake, a diverse array of food and beverage stalls presents delicious options from Brazil, Spain, Vietnam, Canada, Japan, and South Africa, alongside traditional German dishes like Currywurst.