Things to do in Göttingen
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Göttingen
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months: Handel in May, long days in June, term time life and forest colour in autumn.
Cherry blossom on campus and the botanical garden season begins.
Lake and open air season, calmer in August when students leave.
Cheapest and quietest, built for sauna, theatre and empty museums.
Grey low season apart from science night formats in scheduled years.
Christmas market around the market and town hall until 23 December.
What's on
- Internationale Händel-Festspiele Göttingen about ten days in mid to late May
Staged Handel opera, oratorio and concerts across town, book rooms and tickets early.
- Göttinger Weihnachtsmarkt late November to 23 December
Christmas market around the Markt, town hall and goose girl, busiest on Advent weekends.
- Nacht der Wissenschaft November in scheduled years, verify date
Institutes open late for experiments and lectures, the most local event in the calendar.
Best things to do in Göttingen
Gänseliesel
The goose girl fountain new doctors kiss on graduation, and the meeting point at the heart of the old town.
Altes Rathaus
The medieval town hall behind the fountain, with a painted hall and the market square as its front garden.
Forum Wissen
Free university museum that shows how knowledge is made, with a whale skeleton over the cafe.
Alter Botanischer Garten
Haller's 1736 scientific garden on the old town wall, with greenhouses, tunnels and thousands of species.
St. Jacobi Kirche
Gothic church with frescoes and a tall tower that gives the best panorama over the old town roofs.
Aula der Georg-August-Universität
The university ceremonial hall that anchors the plaque walk past houses where famous scholars lived.
Deutsches Theater Göttingen
A serious repertory playhouse in an 1890 building, sustained by the university audience next door.
Internationale Händel-Festspiele Göttingen
Ten days of Handel opera and concerts each May that draw an international early music audience.
Where to stay in Göttingen
Innenstadt
first trip, all-round base
Everything inside the wall ring is walkable in minutes, with the liveliest evening streets.
Bahnhofsviertel
rail arrivals, design hotels
Modern quiet rooms between the ICE station and the old town, a flat lit walk to dinner.
Nordstadt
design, space, drivers
Converted factory quarter with larger rooms and parking, a longer walk or short bus to the market.
Südstadt
quiet, families, value
Leafy villa streets south of the wall with calm nights and a short ride to the centre and lake.
Weststadt
wellness stays, drivers
Residential western edge anchored by a large spa hotel, best when the hotel itself is the destination.
Think twice about
- Hauptbahnhof forecourt
Scruffiest blocks in town with rough sleeping and street drinking at night. Pass through, sleep a few streets away.
- Groner Landstraße and Kasseler Landstraße arterials
Roadside hotels on multi lane approach roads with nothing to walk to at night. Only for a motorway stop.
- Weende Nord business fringe
Office and clinic edge hotels that go dead after working hours, making every dinner a ride or drive.
Best restaurants in Göttingen
INTUU
The top table in town, a creative hotel dining room with a chef choice menu worth surrendering to.
Bullerjahn
German dining inside the old town hall, with a terrace facing the goose girl and the square.
Zum Szültenbürger
Hearty meat led German cooking in a small buzzing old town room that you must book ahead.
Kartoffelhaus
A whole restaurant built around the potato, with huge portions that please every kind of eater.
Nudelhaus
Handmade pasta and well made pizza on one of the oldest half timbered lanes in the centre.
Le Feu Göttingen
Crisp Alsatian flatbreads made for sharing, the lightest and best pre theatre dinner in town.
Timberjacks Göttingen
Big American steakhouse energy with large portions, built for groups and celebration nights.
Café Cron & Lanz
The grand confectionery cafe for Baumkuchen, tortes and pralines in a classic coffee house room.
Outdoor things to do in Göttingen
Kiessee
The town lake for shore walks, boat hire and picnics on the meadows, with no swimming allowed.
Stadtwall
The tree lined rampart park that rings the whole old town and teaches you the shape of the city.
Bismarckturm Göttingen
Forest tower above the city with Leine valley views, reached by Stadtwald trails past wildlife enclosures.
Leine-Heide-Radweg
Flat river cycle path through town that makes an easy family ride south or a castle ride north.
Burg Plesse
Walk up castle ruin with a keep, valley views and a courtyard restaurant north of town.
Badeparadies Eiswiese
Municipal leisure pool with slides and a sauna area locals use as their everyday spa.
Hann. Münden
Half timbered town where the Fulda and Werra meet to form the Weser, an easy train day trip.
Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe
UNESCO hillside park with cascades and the Hercules monument, a full walking day from Kassel station.
Best hotels in Göttingen
FREIgeist Göttingen Innenstadt
Flagship design hotel with rooftop sauna and the INTUU restaurant between station and old town.
FREIgeist Göttingen Nordstadt
Design hotel in a former factory quarter with larger rooms, a sky bar and easy parking.
Hotel Freizeit In
Large wellness hotel with pools and many saunas, chosen when the spa stay is the point.
Eden Hotel
Family run four star south of the wall with an indoor pool, sauna and generous parking.
Gebhards Hotel
Traditional central hotel on a handsome avenue, calm and close to both station and market.
Best Western Hotel Am Papenberg
Quiet campus side four star near the north university and hospital, best with a car or bus pass.
Four Points Flex by Sheraton Göttingen
Predictable chain rooms right by the ICE station for late arrivals and early departures.
B&B Hotel Göttingen-City
Clean code access budget rooms west of the station that set the value benchmark in town.
Is Göttingen expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | €55 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | €110 a person |
| Splurge | €240 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Deutsches Theater Göttingen: a few days ahead
- Internationale Händel-Festspiele Göttingen: months ahead
- Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe: a few days ahead
- Golf Club Hardenberg: weeks ahead
- FREIgeist Göttingen Innenstadt: weeks ahead
- FREIgeist Göttingen Nordstadt: weeks ahead
- Hotel Freizeit In: weeks ahead
- INTUU: a few days ahead
- Handel Festival opera books months ahead, headline concerts weeks ahead.
- Book INTUU and Zum Szültenbürger days ahead, and hotels for festival and market weeks.
Is Göttingen safe?
- Safe university town overall, with awareness needed around the station forecourt at night.
- Lock hired bikes every time, bike theft is the common petty crime.
- Emergency number 112, police 110.
Göttingen travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Building a morning around the small goose girl statue alone instead of the whole market square.
- Centre priced chain food on Weender Straße when better local rooms are on the same streets.
- Planning shopping for a Sunday, when shops across Germany stay shut.
Getting around Göttingen: public transport and more
- Walk the centre inside the wall, it is about 15 minutes across.
- Cycle for the lake, forest and quarters, this is a bike first city.
- Use integrated bus and regional train tickets for Hann. Münden and Kassel day trips.
Who Göttingen suits
| Solo travellers | Great |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Göttingen your trip
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