If you have enough time to spend one day in Leipzig, my advice is: definitely do it. Better still, make it two.
This fascinating Saxon city, the eighth largest in the country, is one of the best cities to visit in Germany. It’s the city where the movement that brought down the East German Communist regime began and grew, and I think it’s by far the ‘least East’ of the cities of the former GDR.
As well as its recent history, it also has incredible musical credentials, having been home to Johann Sebastian Bach, Felix Mendelssohn, Robert and Clara Schumann and the birthplace of Richard Wagner.
Add in some outstanding architecture, museums, street art, cafes and restaurants and you have one of the most enjoyable places to visit in Germany.
So if you have a day to spare in your Germany itinerary, here’s how to spend it in Leipzig.
One Day In Leipzig Planning Tips
Most of what you’re likely to visit in Leipzig in one day is within the small historic centre of the city. And all the main sights in this area are walkable.
The centre is a 3-minute walk from the main station so there’s a good chance you won’t need to buy a tram or bus ticket during your visit to Leipzig.
The only place many short-term visitors would be likely to visit outside the centre is the Monument to the Battle of the Nations (Völkerschlachtdenkmal). This is a 15-minute tram ride from the main station (Hauptbahnhof).
Two of the main points of interest for visitors to Leipzig are its role in the fall of the East German Communist state in 1989 (now widely referred to as the Peaceful Revolution) and the composer Johann Sebastian Bach.
You could spend at least half a day in Leipzig exploring either of these – so I’ve suggested an alternative option for the afternoon of this one-day itinerary to cover both options.
Leipzig One Day Itinerary
Morning – 8.00 am to 10.00 am – City Walk or Bus Tour
Start the day with a walk around the city centre (Mitte district). Many places don’t open until 10.00 am, so you have two hours free to wander the city, get your bearings and enjoy a coffee.
You could join a guided city walk which takes you around all the central Leipzig sights, or a hop-on-hop-off open top bus tour (stadtrundfahrt) of the city, which also includes the Monument to the Battle of the Nations.
The bus tours depart from the same place as the starting point for my suggested route. Cross the street from the main station (Hauptbahnhof) to the park, and head one block right before turning down Nikolaistrasse.
This street has some of the finest Leipzig architecture, with several superb buildings and a shopping arcade from the late 19th and early 20th century Art Nouveau period. You soon reach the Nikolaikirche – the Church of St Nicholas – to which you’ll shortly return.
One block beyond the church, turn left onto Grimmaische Strasse, one of the city’s main shopping street. After a minute or two you reach Augustusplatz, the city’s modern architectural heart. Here you’ll find the city’s excellent Socialist Realist-era Opera House, facing the later Brutalist Gewandhaus Concert Hall.
The modern building between them is the Paulinum, part of the University of Leipzig. It was built on the site of the University Church of St Pauli, which was demolished by the East German authorities in 1968. The tower to the left is the Leipzig Hochhaus, the tallest building in the city, and a great viewpoint. To the right is the Krochhochhaus, the first high-rise building in the city, dating from the 1920s. It’s modelled on the Torre dell’Orologio, the Clock Tower on St Mark’s Square in Venice.
Retrace your steps along Grimmaische Strasse. On your left, just before you reach the Markt, step inside the Mädler Passage, the grandest and most elegant of Leipzig’s shopping arcades. It was built between 1912 and 1914, and the historic Auerbachs Keller restaurant in the basement was preserved, famous for having been depicted in a scene from Goethe’s Faust.
Continue a few metres to the Markt, the city’s main square. It’s dominated by the Altes Rathaus, the Old City Hall, which is home to the superb City Historical Museum (more on which later in the article).
And just beyond the square, to the left, is the tower of the Thomaskirche (St Thomas Church). Johann Sebastian Bach was Cantor (Choirmaster) there from 1723 to 1750, and the Museum dedicated to him is across the street from the church.
10.00 aM to 12.00 pM – Thomaskirche and Bach Museum
By 10.00 am, Leipzig’s attractions are starting to open. The Thomaskirche, located just above the Ring road around the city centre, is a 15th-century late Gothic hall church built to replace an earlier Romanesque building. It’s best-known for its connection to Bach, who is buried in the choir of the church. There’s also a prominent statue of him outside the church.
Bach was originally buried in the cemetery of the Johanniskirche (St John’s Church) in Leipzig, and later beneath the church, most of which was destroyed in a 1943 bombing raid. His remains were then moved to the Thomaskirche in 1950.
The Thomanerchor (Thomas Choir) of which Bach was Cantor was founded in 1212, and is one of the oldest in Germany and indeed Europe.
The Bach Museum is housed in a building a few metres across the street from the Thomaskirche. I didn’t know a great deal about the composer and his many works before my visit, but the exhibition well and truly piqued my curiosity.
It’s very well set out, explaining the history of the Bach family, and introducing instruments he would have played. There are some furnishings from his family home including an 18th-century chest. And for kids there are some great interactive elements, including a small room where you can make sounds with unlikely implements such as forks, a metal plate and a bell.
The highlight is the Treasure Room, which contains a famous portrait of Bach and several original musical scores handwritten by Bach himself.
The Museum is open Tuesdays to Sundays, 10.00 am to 6.00 pm.
12.00pm to 1.30pm – City History Museum
The grandest building in the centre of Leipzig is the Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall) which dominates the Markt, the city’s main square. It’s home to the Leipzig City History Museum (Stadtgeschichtliches Museum), which is a great place to get an overview of the city.
You enter through a wonderful grand hall, which forms part of the first section of the Museum, covering Leipzig from its origins to the Battle of the Nations in 1813. This section has some amazing exhibits, including the portrait of church reformer Martin Luther pictured above.
The exhibition on the second floor covers Leipzig’s history from 1813 to the present. It traces its industrial past and its successes as a city hosting trade fairs. It then has fascinating sections on Leipzig under the Nazis, as part of the Communist East Germany and its role in the Peaceful Revolution of 1989.
The Museum is also open Tuesdays to Sundays 10.00 am to 6.00 pm.
1.30 – 2.00 pm – Lunch
Afternoon
2.00pm to 3.00pm – Museum in der Runden Ecke
It’s fitting that one of the best exhibitions on the work of the Stasi – the much-feared East German secret police – should be in the city that helped bring about their demise.
The Stasi – an abbreviation of Staatssicherheit, or State Security – had a vast network of informants and ‘unofficial collaborators’ that comprised around 1 in 6 East Germans. That’s over 2.5 million people out of a population of 16 million.
Their headquarters were in the ‘Runde Ecke’ (‘Round Corner’), a building that had previously been the premises of a local insurance company.
The exhibition covers all aspects of their work, from methods of surveillance and interrogation to how they went about destroying the vast hoard of evidence documenting their crimes.
Some have criticized the exhibition for being old-fashioned, and not using interactive exhibits and technology like many modern museums do. I think this is rather one of the Museum’s strengths – it’s rooted in its time, down to every aspect of the décor which is as it was when the Stasi vacated the building in 1990. It’s a fascinating immersion into another world, one that some, even in the West, would welcome back.
The Museum is free to enter but you pay €5 for a headset with an summary of each room in English.
See Also: Stasi Museum Leipzig – One Of The Best Museums on East Germany
3.00pm – Nikolaikirche – St Nicholas Church
Monday prayer meetings began at the Nikolaikirche in 1982, but remained fairly quiet affairs until the summer of 1989. Discontent with the Communist regime (one of the most repressive in the former Eastern Bloc) was growing, and there was a breach of the Iron Curtain with the Hungarians opening part of their border with Austria. Poland had also held free elections.
The prayer meetings – monitored by the local Stasi (secret police) – grew until September, when they were followed by silent, peaceful marches around the city centre. By October 9th, the authorities didn’t know what to do – brutally beat back the peaceful demonstrators or acquiesce and let them pass. As they chanted, ‘Wir sind das Volk’ – ‘We are the people’ – the police let them walk by. The Honecker government’s hold on the East German people was, after 40 years of repression, broken.
The Gothic church was completely remodelled in the 17th century, with a whole new green and pink interior. The leaves at the top of the pillars represent palm fronds – and the monument outside the church (pictured above) is a replica of those inside the church.
4.00pm to 6.00pm – Monument to the Battle of the Nations
The one trip that I suggest away from the centre on your day trip to Leipzig is to the Völkerschlachtdenkmal, the Monument to the Battle of the Nations.
It’s one of the most famous landmarks in Germany, a vast stone monument built to commemorate the centenary of what was also called the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813.
It was the biggest battle of the Napoleonic Wars, a combined Allied force of Austrian, Russian, Prussian and Swedish troops overcoming the French army of Napoleon Bonaparte, supported by Polish, Italian and some German forces.
It was also Napoleon’s biggest defeat before Waterloo in 1815. Having retreated from Moscow a year earlier, the French forces now found themselves forced to retreat to their own territory.
The Monument is massive, almost 300 feet high, and its style is unusual, with elements of a step pyramid, a dome and Art Nouveau-influenced statuary. You can explore the grounds for free, or pay to enter the Monument and climb to the viewing gallery at the top.
Tram 15 runs there from Leipzig Hauptbahnhof (main station), taking around 15 minutes to the Völkerschlachtdenkmal tram stop.
6.00pm – Dinner
There are hundreds of restaurants around the centre of Leipzig. The best I visited, far and away, is the Ha Noi Restaurant, on the corner of Brühl and Nikolaistrasse. The Vietnamese food is superb, and it was packed every night of the two weeks we spent in Leipzig. It might be worth reserving a table.
1 Day In Leipzig – Itinerary Summary
8 – 10 am – City Centre Walk
10.00 am to 12.00 pm – Thomaskirche and Bach Museum
12.00 pm to 1.30 pm – Leipzig City History Museum, Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall)
1.30 pm – 2.00 pm – Lunch
2.00 pm to 3.00 pm – Runde Ecke Stasi Museum
3.00 pm to 4.00 pm – Nikolaikirche (St Nicholas Church)
4.00 – 6.00 pm – Tram 15 to Monument to the Battle of the Nations
6.00 pm – Dinner
More Than One Day In Leipzig – Other Things To Do In Leipzig
There’s more than enough to keep you in Leipzig for two, perhaps three days.
If you have more time, I suggest exploring some more of the city’s musical heritage. Start with the statue of Richard Wagner in the park between the station and Opera House – it’s above the southeast corner of the Schwanenteich lake, just behind the Opera House. The Schumann-Haus – once home to Robert and Clara – is less than ten minutes’ walk away down Littstrasse, at Inselstrasse 18.
The Mendelssohn Haus Museum, the 19th-century home of composer Felix, is a further 10 minutes’ walk away at Goldschmidtstrasse 12.
If you’re interested in exploring Leipzig’s GDR past further, there are two additional museums worth visiting. The N’Ostalgie Museum is a lighter-hearted look at the former East Germany, ideal for kids. Part of it includes apartment rooms set out as they would have been in the 1980s, with all the GDR brands lost to time stocked in the kitchen. And the gaudy ‘80s living room wallpaper and floral-patterned furniture imprinted in the brains of those who grew up with them.
The Contemporary History Forum has an excellent permanent exhibition on Dictatorship and Democracy after 1945. It also hosts temporary exhibitions, including a fascinating one on music in Germany during the same period. Entry is free, and it’s open Tuesdays to Sundays 10.00 am to 6.00 pm – and closed Mondays.
If you have time, I strongly recommend a few hours in the Fine Arts Museum (Museum fur Bildenden Kunste). The building – a glass cube – is a striking setting for a permanent collection from the 15th to 19th centuries, with a strong collection of old Dutch Masters and works by Lucas Cranach the Elder and Younger. The permanent exhibition is free to visit – you only pay to visit the temporary exhibitions.
If your kids love animals (like Our Little Man) then you’ll need to set aside a day to visit Leipzig Zoo. It’s one of the best zoos we have ever visited (and there have been many). The highlight is the Pongoland exhibit, where all four great apes – orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos – can be seen under one roof. You could easily spend a full day at the Zoo, as we did. It’s close to the centre – take tram 12 from the Hauptbahnhof.
Where Is Leipzig
Leipzig is in the western part of the Land (state) of Saxony (Sachsen), in south-eastern Germany.
It’s 168 km (105 miles) southwest of Berlin.
It’s 115 km from Dresden.
And it’s 378 km from Frankfurt.
How To Get To Leipzig
The nearest airport to Leipzig is Leipzig-Halle Airport (airport code LEJ). It’s quite a small airport, more of a cargo hub (serving DHL) than a passenger hub. There are direct flights with Ryanair from London Stansted to Leipzig. And Lufthansa fly there from Frankfurt and Munich. However, most destinations served by the airport are for German holidaymakers travelling to the Mediterranean in the spring and summer season.
The airport is within easy reach of the city centre, with regular S5 and S5X S-Bahn (train) services calling there en route from Halle main station (Halle Hbf) to Leipzig main station (Leipzig Hbf).
Otherwise, Leipzig is well-connected by train. Trains from Berlin Hbf to Leipzig Hbf take around 1 hour 30 minutes. And Dresden is a little more than an hour away.
Leipzig also has good connections through Flixbus. Three buses run daily to Leipzig from Berlin Central Bus Station (Berlin ZOB) in Charlottenburg. Regular buses also run to Dresden, and also Prague in the Czech Republic.
How To Get Around Leipzig
The centre of Leipzig is walkable, and it’s quite possible that, if you’re only spending one day in Leipzig, you won’t need to use public transport.
However, its tram network – covering 13 routes – is excellent, taking you to all corners of the city.
Best Time To Visit Leipzig
Leipzig is very much a year-round city, like its Saxon counterpart Dresden, and the capital Berlin.
We visited in winter for a week, and again several weeks later in spring, and both were great times to explore the city.
Places tend to be open year-round in the larger cities, while attractions and museums in some of the smaller towns in Eastern Germany have limited opening hours – or even close – during the winter months. This isn’t a problem in Leipzig.
The city would also be great to visit in summer, with a great atmosphere with more tables outside on the streets and squares.
And the Christmas Market – held on the main Markt square – would also be a great time to appreciate the city.
How Many Days In Leipzig, Ideally
Three days is a decent amount of time to allocate for visiting Leipzig.
This would give you time to walk everywhere around the city centre, explore some of the cafes and cover several of the city’s excellent museums.
It would also give you enough time to spend a few hours exploring the café and artists’ quarter of Plagwitz. Or, if you have animal-loving kids with you as we did, visit Leipzig Zoo.
Day Trips From Leipzig
Like nearby Dresden, Leipzig is an excellent base to explore the region, with a whole range of day trips possible. Leipzig is an hour west of Dresden, so this opens up a whole new range of day trip options, dipping into the Saxony Anhalt and Thuringia regions.
Aficionados of Second World War history should head to the former prison for captured Allied officers at Colditz Castle. I would have loved to have visited, but happened to be staying at a time when the Castle was closed for six months for renovations. A pity.
Dresden is only an hour or so away by train. The stunning Baroque city has been fully restored after its destruction in World War Two, and like Leipzig, there’s easily enough to warrant a three-day stay, perhaps more. Check out my guide to spending one day in Dresden, which will help you plan your time there.
My guide to the best Dresden landmarks is a quick guide to the main sights. And my article on the Frauenkirche Dresden tells you everything you need to know about the city’s landmark Baroque church.
If you love visiting European churches, then it’s only a 45-minute train ride from Leipzig to Naumburg. This small country town is home to one of the great cathedrals of Europe, with some of the most beautiful early Gothic sculpture to be found anywhere on the continent.
The west choir is decorated with statues of the twelve founders of the Cathedral, including the famous figure of Uta von Ballenstedt. This incredibly vivid sculpture is sometimes described as the most famous statue in Germany – and it’s worth travelling a very long way to see. Take a look at my guide to visiting Naumburg Cathedral for further information.
To the northeast of Leipzig, there are plenty of things to do in Torgau to warrant a 50-minute trip there by train. It’s home to Schloss Hartenfels, the finest Renaissance-period Castle in Germany. And Second World War buffs may also want to visit as it’s where the US and Soviet armies met – at the crossing point on the river Elbe – two weeks before the surrender of the Nazis and end of the War.
Leipzig is also close to the state border with Saxony Anhalt, one of the best unexplored regions in Europe to discover. Nearby Halle an der Saale is well worth a day trip, with one of the finest squares in Germany, two outstanding churches and the birthplace of composer George Frideric Handel.
Merseburg, 20 km (13 miles) west of Leipzig , is home to a superb Gothic Cathedral and Renaissance Castle. It’s a testament to how much there is to see in Germany that this amazing small city rarely gets a mention.
If you’re planning on a longer day trip from Leipzig, I strongly recommend visiting Quedlinburg. It’s considered the cradle of the German nation, as the Kingdom of the East Franks was proclaimed there in 936 AD. It’s also home to thousands of half-timbered houses and buildings, more than any other city in Germany, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Check out my guide to the best things to do in Quedlinburg for more information.
Where To Stay In Leipzig
5-star – Steigenberger Icon Grandhotel Handelshof Leipzig – grand luxury hotel in a superb city centre location
4-star – Seaside Park Hotel Leipzig – stylish Art Deco hotel close to the main sights and the station
4-star – Vienna House Easy by Wyndham Leipzig – great location 5 minutes walk from the main station
3-star – Premier Inn Leipzig City Hahnekamm – great mid-range option very close to the train and bus stations
One Day In Leipzig – Final Thoughts
I hope you’ve enjoyed this guide to spending a day in Leipzig, and that you get to do so in the near future.
It’s a great city to visit, with a lot going for it. As well as visiting some fascinating places, we all liked the vibe of the city, and agreed it’s somewhere we’d like to return to at some point. Of the provincial cities of the former GDR, it’s the city that has progressed most since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
For more one day itineraries in Germany, check out the following articles:
One Day In Nuremberg – 24 hours in the Imperial City
One Day In Dresden – an introduction to the Florence of the Elbe
One Day In Hamburg – a short trip to Germany’s maritime melting pot
And take a look at more articles from across Europe in my ‘One Day In…’ series:
One Day in Avignon – a day in the City of Popes
One Day in Santorini – a whistle-stop trip around one of the most beautiful Greek islands
One Day In Heraklion – a day in the fascinating capital of Crete
One Day in Brno – 24 hours in the Czech Republic’s superb second city
One Day in Zagreb – 24 hours in the Croatian capital
One Day in Bath – a day in the stunning Georgian twice-over World Heritage city
1 Day London Itinerary – the perfect 24 hours in London
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