More About Leipzig

Introduction for Part 2
Welcome to Part 2 of our two-part Leipzig City Guide. In this section we cover more topics related to getting the most out of your Leipzig visit – from Culinary Leipzig to Walkable Leipzig. Please use the Topic links below to jump to a particular subject – or just read along. As you please.

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JUMP TO:
Getting to Leipzig | Top Attractions | Arts & Culture
Culinary Leipzig (below) | Architectural Leipzig
More Leipzig Sights | Walkable Leipzig

Culinary Leipzig

Since its earliest days Leipzig has been known for its hospitality – as in food, drink, and lodging. Tradesmen coming to Leipzig in the 16th century for trade fairs praised its food and drink, notably coffee (the Coffe Baum was first documented in 1556) and Leipziger Allerlei, a vegetable-based dish typically made with young carrots, asparagus, kohlrabi, cauliflower and peas, and served with crayfish tails and bread dumplings in a creamy sauce.

Though known in particular for their love of coffee, Saxons and Leipziger also enjoy beer, favoring the local top-fermented “Gose” variety. Gose is brewed with salt and spiced with coriander (cilantro and coriander come from the same plant; coriander spice uses the seeds, cilantro the stem and leaves), giving it a medium sourness and a mild, fruity finish.

In addition to local food favorites, Leipzig restaurants also offer a good variety of international cuisine, ranging from Korean to Spanish (not Mexican!), plus the usual Italian and Greek dining spots common in Germany. If it’s a panoramic view restaurant you’re longing for, the Plate of Art restaurant offers views from the 26th and 27th floors of the Panorama Tower. (See “Augustusplatz” in Part 1 for more.)

TRAVEL TIP: See our Spanish cuisine recommendation: Leipzig’s Restaurant Cafe Madrid (below).

Coffe Baum
This historic and popular café at Kleine Fleischergasse 4 has been serving coffee in Leipzig at the same location for over 300 years. That is, until 2018 when it closed for renovation, a project that did not even get underway for another three years, in 2021! Currently the café/restaurant and the upstairs museum remain closed, but the latest info (spring 2024) now sets the reopening for spring 2025. First mentioned as “Zum Arabischen Coffe Baum” in 1556, the “Arabic coffee tree” establishment has served many famous guests in its long history at its current location since 1711, including Johann S. Bach, Napoleon Bonaparte, Bill Clinton, Franz Liszt, Erich Kästner, Liza Minelli – just to name a few. The Coffe Baum building is a protected landmark and is the oldest surviving coffee house and restaurant in Germany to have been continually in operation. (The business and its coffee museum have only been shut down temporarily at various times for renovation, most recently from 2018 to the present at a cost of 3 million euros.) Saxons and Leipziger are known for their love of coffee, and that beverage has been served in the city for several centuries. The café got its name from the sculpture relief on its facade above the entrance – a coffee tree (Kaffeebaum). Check for its reopening – now scheduled for spring 2025.
WEB: Zum Arabischen Coffe Baum (Closed) from leipzig.travel, in English
WEB: Sehenswürdigkeit mit 300 Jahren Geschichte from leipzig.de (in German)

Starbucks in Leipzig
Okay, just another US fast food brand, but… one of the two Starbucks in Leipzig is notable for its location and atmosphere. Leipzig’s Promenaden-Hauptbahnhof (main rail station + shopping mall) is worth a visit on its own if you didn’t arrive by train. The Starbucks there is in the former first-class lounge, a large hall complete with chandeliers and the classic atmosphere of the days when rail travel was more Orient Express than Inter-City Express. The second Starbucks is located in Leipzig’s old city center, just down the street (Grimmaische Straße) from Auerbachs Keller, and not far from Augustusplatz. Free Wi-Fi. Tip: Don’t toss your receipt. It has the code for accessing the restroom.

The Mädlerpassage and Auerbachs Keller
Just south of the Old City Hall is the Grimmaische Straße and the entrance to a classic indoor shopping arcade, the Mädlerpassage. Just inside the entrance is another historic pub and dining spot: Auerbachs Keller (Auerbach’s Cellar). Two sets of stairs, next to two bronze sculptures related to Goethe’s Faust drama, lead you down into this historic pub and restaurant, where Martin Luther, Goethe, and other notable Germans were once patrons. In 2025 Auerbachs Keller will celebrate its 500th anniversary! If you walk farther along the Passage, you will find connections to two newer postwar arcades lined with shops, cafes, and dining establishments: the Königshofpassage and the Messehofpassage.

The “KarLi”
Another booming area for the youth scene in Leipzig is the Karl-Liebknecht-Straße, aka the “KarLi”. Its young, creative vibe attracts swarms of young people to its bars, restaurants, eccentric shops, and unusual factory lofts.

Our Restaurant Tip for Leipzig
We have no financial or other agreement with this establishment, but we have dined there in person and had a very good experience. We stumbled upon the Madrid while walking around in Leipzig’s Altstadt center, just north of the Thomaskirche on the Klostergasse.
Cafe Madrid – Restaurant – Tapas – Bar
Klostergasse 3-5 • 04109 Leipzig
Facebook: Cafe Madrid in Leipzig
Note: The website is in German, but you can select English when using the site’s online “Tischreservation” interface.
The Cafe Madrid is a large restaurant with seating for 260 persons, but it doesn’t seem that large because it’s divided into several different dining areas or rooms and three outdoor terraces (in season). The decor and menu are authentically Spanish (NOT Mexican!), with tapas, meat and seafood dishes, plus a good selection of Spanish wines. Credit cards are accepted, even American Express! (Here’s a PDF version of the menu/Speisekarte.)

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Architectural Leipzig: Old and New

In recent decades Leipzig has made progress architecturally. Largely destroyed in World War II, Leipzig also suffered at the hands of the hasty postwar rebuilding with Plattenbau prefab concrete buildings constructed by the communist regime. But some historical architecture has survived and been restored. We’ll point you to those below.

The modern City-Hochhaus Leipzig skyscraper, built in 1972, is the tallest building in former East Germany at 153 meters. Also known as the Panorama Tower, it was briefly (1972-1973) the tallest building in East and West Germany. What is now the Westin Leipzig, also built in 1972, is still the city’s tallest hotel, located near Leipzig’s central train station. Its rooms offer good views of the city and its surrounding area.

Commerzbank Building
The Leipzig headquarters of Commerzbank, at Thomaskirchhof 22, are located in a former department store, the Kaufhaus Franz Ebert. The beautiful Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) building was designed by the architectural firm of Schmidt & Johlige as a department store owned by Franz Ebert, which opened in 1906. After that several other stores under other names were housed there. During the Second World War the two large metal decorative allegory sculptures seen today were removed for their metal. (They were never clad in gold as originally planned in 1906.) The building managed to survive the war, but surviving the GDR was another story. In 1990 former East German businesses were privatized, and Commerzbank moved in. Extensive renovations took place in 1995 and 2007. In the banking crisis of 2008, the Commerzbank itself had to be rescued by the German government. That event also became the rescue of the wonderful Art Nouveau building in the center of Leipzig. The two allegorical gold sculptures depict two of the “seven deadly sins”: Eitelkeit (pride; photo above) and Genusssucht (lust).
WEB: Kaufhaus Ebert – Commerzbank

Kaffeehaus Riquet
This architectural gem at Schuhmachergässchen 1 is one of the few remaining local coffeehouses in Leipzig’s city center. A survivor of war bombs, the postwar and the GDR eras, the Riquet was lovingly restored in 1996 with an interesting blend of Asian and Art Nouveau architecture. A pair of life-size metal elephant heads can be seen above the main entrance. Founded nearby in 1745 by the French Huguenot Jean George Riquet (1713–1791) as an import firm for coffee, tea and chocolate, in 1909 Riquet & Co. added a café at the current location. Today the interior of the Kaffeehaus Riquet is as charming as the exterior. Besides coffee, the Riquet serves breakfast and brunch, plus an assortment of pastries including the Leipziger Lerche (“Leipzig lark”), a shortbread tartlet that’s a popular local treat.

New City Hall (Neues Rathaus) and Tower
Constructed between 1899 and 1905, the New City Hall replaced the former inadequate Old City Hall that still stands on the Market Square, now as a museum. The massive newer structure features the highest city hall tower in Germany, and is one of Leipzig’s best-known landmarks and a popular viewing platform. At a height of 115 meters (377 ft.), the tower rises imposingly over the entire city, and happens to be eight feet taller than Hamburg’s city hall tower. Designed in the style of “historicism” (copying earlier classic styles) and made of light-gray, Main-Franconian shelly limestone, the building complex forms an irregular pentagon. Tower tours take place Monday through Friday starting at 2:00 pm. Visitors can climb the 250 steps from the building’s fifth floor to the highest tower level, which offers an impressive view of the city. Adult: €3.00; Children, students: €1.50.
WEB: Leipzig’s New City Hall

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More Leipzig Sights

Villa Baedeker: Karl Baedeker Verlag (Karl Baedeker Publishing House)
The former Villa Baedeker residence in Leipzig’s Bach district is almost the only trace that remains of the German publishing family. (The landmark-protected building is now a private surgical clinic.) The renowned German publisher of travel guide books founded by Karl Baedeker in Koblenz in 1827 was taken over by his son Ernst following his father’s death in 1859. The first English edition, The Rhine, appeared in 1861. That same year, following Ernst’s death at the tender age of 28, brothers Karl (1837-1911) and Fritz Baedeker (1844–1925), became the new owners. In 1870 they sold off the original bookstore in Koblenz. Two years later they moved the publishing business to Leipzig, then Germany’s book publishing capital. Baedeker’s travel guides became very successful under Fritz’s leadership. He helped perfect the concise “Baedeker style” of writing. Heinrich Ritter, who had first joined Baedeker in 1853, helped with managing the business. But the First World War and its aftermath seriously hurt the company’s sales. Fritz died in 1925 and is buried in Leipzig’s Südfriedhof (South Cemetery). His sons continued the enterprise under difficult circumstances, but when 1939 brought yet another world war, the Baedeker headquarters on Nürnberger Straße, along with other publishing firms, were completely destroyed by Allied bombing in December 1943, forcing the operation to operate from the family’s Villa Baedeker mansion. In 1948, Karl Friedrich Baedeker (1910–1979), the founder’s great grandson, established a new Baedeker firm, based first in Malente, a small town in Schleswig-Holstein, and after 1956 in Freiburg i.B. in Baden-Württemberg. Since 1997, the Mairs Geographischer Verlag (MairDumont since 2005) has owned the Karl Baedeker brand. Following the death of Karl Friedrich Baedeker, and his son shortly thereafter, no Baedekers are involved.

Plagwitz Quarter
This charming, scenic, “in” industrial district to the west of central Leipzig along Karl-Heine-Straße is a blend of old factories and new pubs. Affordable studios and office space has attracted artists and start-ups. If you’re there at the right time (20 April, 29 June, 24 August in 2024), you can experience the Westbesuch street festival with alternative art and culture. This raw and unfinished Westkultur area changes from month to month, year to year. Also see the “Karl-Heine-Kanal” below.
WEB: Westbesuch (in German)

The Karl-Heine-Kanal and the Weiße Elster River
If the weather is suitable, a visit to Leipzig’s historic waterway complex in the Plagwitz quarter can be very enjoyable. Kayaking, biking or walking are options for more active visitors. You will pass by beautifully restored brick industrial buildings, residential areas, and tree-lined river/canal banks. Kayaks or bikes can be rented at the Stadthafen Leipzig, the local harbor, and some other locations.

Südfriedhof
The Südfriedhof is Leipzig’s largest cemetery, as well as an expansive, beautiful park in Leipzig’s south, not far from The Battle of the Nations Monument. The 78-hectare (193-acre) complex first opened in June 1886, and is now the resting place of many of Leipzig’s notable sons and daughters, including the Baedeker family (above) and the artist Max Klinger. If you don’t think touring a cemetery is a good idea, think again. This one is worth a visit. The castle-like chapel complex, completed in 1910, that dominates the landscape is also a columbarium and crematorium. Located in front of the complex is a monument to antifascists who died at the hands of the Nazis.
WEB: Südfriedhof (official website)

Born in Leipzig
The German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716), pianist Clara Schumann (1819-1896), opera composer Richard Wagner (1813-1883), and Till Lindemann, Rammstein’s lead vocalist, were born in Leipzig. Although not born there, Johann Sebastian Bach spent most of his musical career in Leipzig, and his son Johann Christian Bach was born in the city. The Battle of Leipzig (1813), one of the most important in European history, was fought nearby, and the city’s massive monument to it opened in 1913. See “The Monument to the Battle of the Nations” below.

The Leipziger Messe (Trade Fair)
Leipzig’s large trade fair, the Leipziger Messe, also has a long history – going back over 850 years. Following World War II the Leipziger Messe faced major roadblocks, but it managed to become an important event in East-West trade. Following German reunification, the fair had to reinvent itself. In 1991 the corporate entity called the Leipziger Messe GmbH, was created. Still using Leipzig’s traditional double-M logo, standing for “Mustermesse” (from the first “product sample fair” of 1895) and in use since 1917, the Messe moved into its new, modern exhibition complex in 1996. The massive Messegelände complex, located only 10 or 15 minutes from Leipzig’s center, includes the Congress Center Leipzig (CCL), a large, modern convention facility with the latest technology, meeting rooms, and other modern convention facilities. There is also the smaller, centrally located Kongresshalle am Zoo (Convention Hall at the Zoo) right in the heart of Leipzig for up to 1,200 guests. The trade fair complex annually hosts about 40 trade fairs and 100 conventions for 1.3 million visitors.

The Leipzig Book Fair
Although no longer the national/international powerhouse it was before the war, Leipzig’s annual book fair (Leipziger Buchmesse) takes place in March. During GDR times, the book fair was hobbled by East Germany’s isolation. Since 1998, the fair has taken place in the Leipziger Messe’s new Glass Hall exhibition center. At the 2019 fair, the last before the covid pandemic, 2,500 exhibitors from 46 countries presented their new releases to 286,000 attendees. Dating from the 1600s, the number of books on display at Leipzig’s book fair exceeded the Frankfurt fair in 1632, but after 1945 Frankfurt became the biggest book fair in Germany (in October), which it remains today. The pandemic led to the cancellation of the 2020 and 2021 fairs in Leipzig, and a limited fair in 2022. The 2023 Leipziger Buchmesse took place in April with a full schedule. The 2024 event is scheduled for 21-24 March, and also features the Manga-Comic-Con. The 2025 Leipzig Book Fair will take place from 27 to 30 March.

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Walkable Leipzig

Leipzig’s central area is pedestrian-friendly and offers a lot to see and do. It’s also compact enough to make it easy to tour it all on foot. (You don’t have to do it all in one day!) In fact, if you arrive at the main train station (Hauptbahnhof) or decide to start there, all you have to do is walk across Willy-Brandt-Platz, the square right in front of the station, and pick any street heading south from there. You are now in the Zentrum, the center of old town Leipzig. In the center of the central area is a main square called Markt (market), where the Old City Hall, now a museum, stands on your left if you’re walking south. (See photo below.) All around you are some of the city’s key sights, most within a stroll of only a few blocks. Most of the streets in the center are pedestrian zones.

The sights in the area include: the City Hall Museum (in the Old City Hall), the Thomaskirche, where Bach was organist and his grave is located, the Bach Museum (across from the St. Thomas), the Nikolaikirche (where East Germany’s 1989 “We are the people” rebellion began), the opera house (on Goethestraße), Auerbachs Keller (pub/restaurant where Goethe and other notables hung out), the Mädler Passage (glass-covered shopping hall), the Gewandhaus concert hall (home of Leipzig’s renowned philharmonic), the New City Hall (built in 1905) and its viewing tower, the Egyptian Museum, the landmark City-Hochhaus (Panorama Tower) skyscraper (the city’s tallest building), and more. There are also bars, restaurants, shops, and restored buildings with classic “Gründerzeit” architecture. This central area is ringed by several main streets, most with names ending in -ring (Martin-Luther-Ring, Dittrichring, Goerdelerring, Tröndlinring, etc.). See below for more details about some of these attractions.

Public Transport in Leipzig (LVB)
If you wish to venture farther afield, you’re in luck. Leipzig has a good public transport network consisting of commuter rail (S-Bahn), streetcars/trams, and buses. Your ticket is valid on any of these modes of transportation, allowing you transfer from one mode to another if required. The Leipzig Transport Authority (LVB – Leipziger Verkehrsbetriebe) provides information in English. With an LVB route map (PDF), you’ll be able to find your way around. It’s easy to connect with rail or bus transport from Leipzig’s main station or the Markt station (below ground) near the Old City Hall. You can also save money with a Day Ticket (good for 24 hours for up to five people) or the LeipzigCard (1 to 3 days, wider range). Be aware that dogs or luggage may be subject to a special charge. See the link above for more.

We hope you’ll enjoy your stay in Leipzig! There’s a lot to see and do.

Back | Leipzig City Guide: Part 1
More | City Guides: Germany

Related Pages
AT THE GERMAN WAY

• Dresden City Guide – A guide to Leipzig’s rival city, the capital of the Free State of Saxony
• City Guides: Germany – More cities
• Hotels and B&Bs
• Driving in Europe – Tips for driving in Germany and Europe
• Air Travel – Flying to, from or in Germany
• Rail Travel in Germany
• Travel and Tourism – Travel-related information for Germany, Austria, Switzerland
• Notable People – Bios of notable people from the German-speaking world

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