Hanover
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Overview
Locals love Hanover (spelt 'Hannover' in German) for the low cost of living; good public transport; wealth of museums, theatre, live music and other arts and cultural events; and the city's proximity to green spaces. The spectacularly Baroque Herrenhäuser Gärten, the constructed Lake Maschsee and the Eilenriede, Europe's largest urban forest, are all close at hand. That said, most Germans groan at the first mention of Hanover, whose dialect is regarded as the closest tongue to High German. Perhaps it's a complex socio-linguistic thing – or perhaps they're just jealous of the laid-back lifestyle.
Attractions
Must-see attractions
Hanover
Proof that Hanover is not all buttoned-down business are the grandiose Baroque Royal Gardens of Herrenhausen, about 5km north of the city centre, which…
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Hanover
An excellent way to get your bearings in Hanover is to visit the Neues Rathaus (built 1901–13) and ascend 98m in the curved elevator (the only one of its…
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Hanover
The Sprengel Museum is held in extremely high esteem, both for the design of the building as well as for the art housed inside. Its huge interior spaces…
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Hanover
When these three earth-mama sculptures were first installed beside the Leine River in 1974, Hanover’s city fathers and mothers were inundated with nearly…
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Hanover
The jewel in the crown of the Herrenhäuser Gärten is grand both in format and history, having been laid out as a Baroque garden in 1714 under the tutelage…
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Hanover
The Schloss Herrenhäusen, an early-19th-century palace destroyed by bombing in 1943, reopened in 2013 after being spectacularly reconstructed to the…
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Hanover
This artificial lake, built by the unemployed in one of the earliest Nazi-led public-works projects, is now a favourite spot for boating and swimming. It…
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Hanover
More than 640 hectares (almost twice the size of NYC's Central Park), Europe's largest city forest, Eilenriede, is also known as Hanover's grüne Lunge …
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