Magdeburg travel guide
Emperor Otto's cathedral, a Hundertwasser citadel and a ship bridge over the Elbe
Magdeburg is Saxony-Anhalt's capital on the Elbe, with Germany's first Gothic cathedral, Hundertwasser's Green Citadel, riverside parks and a famous canal bridge over the river. Summers here are warm and among the driest in Germany. Two days is plenty, three with a Harz day trip. Costs are high, and many passports need no visa.
Magdeburg, the capital of Saxony-Anhalt, stands on the Elbe roughly halfway between Hanover and Berlin. A thousand years ago it was Emperor Otto I's favourite residence and almost an eastern capital of his empire; Otto lies buried in its Gothic cathedral, and the city's own code of town law was copied by hundreds of towns from Poland to Ukraine. The visit makes sense for that deep history, for the river, and for the green space that makes this one of Germany's leafiest cities.
Little of the old merchant city survived. Imperial troops massacred most of the population in 1631 during the Thirty Years War, and Allied bombing in 1945 destroyed the centre again, so today's Breiter Weg mixes rebuilt baroque houses, East German blocks and the pink, onion-domed Green Citadel by Friedensreich Hundertwasser. The best of Magdeburg is along the water: the Elbe promenade below the cathedral, the Rotehornpark island across the old lift bridge, and the canal aqueduct north of town. A long weekend covers the city; add a day for Quedlinburg or the Harz.
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Top things to do in Magdeburg
The cathedral and the Romanesque monastery anchor the centre, with modern architecture on Breiter Weg and parks and the river just east.
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Best time to visit Magdeburg
Month by month, so you can pick the weather and the crowds you want.
Highs of 23-25C, warmer than most of northern Germany, with only about 50-60 mm of rain a month; ideal for cycling the Elbe and the island parks.
Highs of 15-20C; April is one of the driest months at about 28 mm, and the Elbauenpark gardens are in bloom.
Highs of 4-8C and frost at night, but dry; the Christmas market and light installations around the Alter Markt fill December.
The Telemann Festival, honouring the baroque composer born here in 1681, takes over churches and concert halls every other spring; check the year before planning a March visit.
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Getting there
IC from Leipzig/Halle Airport or the A2 between Hanover and Berlin
Magdeburg's own airport at Cochstedt has had no regular passenger flights since 2013, so travellers fly into one of three neighbours. Leipzig/Halle (LEJ) is closest: an IC every two hours from the airport's station reaches Magdeburg Hauptbahnhof in about an hour, and the drive up the A14 takes about 50 minutes. Berlin Brandenburg (BER) has more international flights and is about two hours by train or 90 minutes by car on the A10 and A2. Hannover (HAJ) works for arrivals from the west: take the S-Bahn to Hannover Hauptbahnhof and change to an IC or regional train, about 1.5 hours in total. East-west trains converge on Magdeburg Hauptbahnhof, with direct services to Berlin, Leipzig, Hanover, Dresden and Cologne, and the station sits on the western edge of the centre. Walk east along Ernst-Reuter-Allee and you reach the Alter Markt in about ten minutes, or the cathedral in fifteen. FlixBus coaches stop by the station, and drivers use the A2 north of the city or the A14 to the west.
- Leipzig/Halle Airport
- IC every two hours, about 1 hour
- Berlin Brandenburg Airport
- Train about 2 hours, car about 90 minutes
- Hauptbahnhof to Alter Markt
- 10-minute walk on Ernst-Reuter-Allee
- Tram stops at the station are on the city side; if you are heading straight to Hasselbachplatz, the tram is quicker than walking the length of Breiter Weg.
Where to stay
Breiter Weg, Hasselbachplatz bars or Buckau by the river
Stay in the old centre around the cathedral and the Alter Markt, the most convenient base, since everything worth seeing in town is then within a 20-minute walk. Hasselbachplatz suits nightlife and Buckau the river. Room supply is good outside big trade events and football weekends.
- Altstadt around Domplatz and Breiter Weg
- Walking distance to the cathedral, the Green Citadel and the Elbe promenade; quiet at night
- Hasselbachplatz
- Gründerzeit square at the south end of Breiter Weg and the centre of nightlife; lively, noisy until late
- Buckau
- Old industrial suburb by the Elbe, south of the centre, with restored brick buildings, cafés and the river path; a tram ride from the station
- Near the Hauptbahnhof
- Big chain hotels and the youth hostel; handy for trains, ordinary surroundings
- The city tourist office (TIM) books rooms in hotels and private guesthouses, which helps when the centre is full.
Getting around
Marego tickets for trams, the S-Bahn and the Elbe ferries
Trams, buses, S-Bahn trains and even the Elbe ferries share a single tariff, the Marego system, and the whole city is one zone (Magdeburg, zone 010). The city operator MVB sells tickets at its service centres and from machines at stops and on board, and Deutsche Bahn machines sell the same tickets. Any valid ticket works on every mode within the city. Trams are the backbone, with frequent services along Breiter Weg, Ernst-Reuter-Allee and across the river to the stadium. Cycling is the most enjoyable option: most main roads have bike tracks, and the Elberadweg runs right through the city along the riverbank, linking Buckau, the cathedral, the Rotehornpark and the Wasserstraßenkreuz to the north. Bikes can travel on trams, ferries and S-Bahn trains, sometimes with an extra ticket. The small Elbe cable ferries at Westerhüsen and elsewhere are useful for cyclists in season.
- Tram and bus
- MVB network, single Marego zone 010 for the whole city
- Bike
- Elberadweg through the city; bikes allowed on trams and S-Bahn
- Walking
- Hauptbahnhof to the cathedral in about 15 minutes
- Buy a day ticket if you plan to ride out to Buckau and the Elbauenpark and back on the same day.
Know before you go
Germany's first Gothic cathedral and a Hundertwasser building stand a few streets apart.
Why travelers love it
- Otto the Great's tomb in the cathedral choir, and nearby the grave of his English queen Editha.
- Crossing the Hubbrücke, the old railway lift bridge now open to walkers, from the cathedral bank to the Rotehornpark.
- Watching barges cross the Elbe on a bridge at the Wasserstraßenkreuz, where the Mittelland Canal flies over the river.
Good to know
- The Green Citadel is mostly private apartments and shops; you can see the courtyards, but tours are needed for the interior.
- Sights are spread along a long north-south axis, so use trams on Breiter Weg to save walking it end to end twice.
Trip fit
BookingMentor editorial ratings out of 5, based on a first-time visitor's experience.
Weather in Magdeburg, month by month
Magdeburg is one of the driest places in Germany, with warm summers and May to September the best time to visit. Tap through the months to see how little rain falls here.
Climate figures are approximate long-term averages for Magdeburg (NCEI, via Wikipedia).
Cathedral, Green Citadel and the Elbe water bridge in a weekend
Magdeburg fills a weekend. Day one covers the cathedral, Germany's first Gothic one, the Kloster Unser Lieben Frauen, Hundertwasser's Green Citadel, the Magdeburg Rider in the Kulturhistorisches Museum and the Johanniskirche tower. Day two is for the Elbe: the Rotehornpark, then a bike ride to the Elbauenpark and the Wasserstraßenkreuz canal bridge.
Day one, morning. Start at the cathedral of St Maurice and St Catherine, begun in 1209 as the first Gothic cathedral in Germany. Find Otto I's tomb in the choir and the sculptures of the Wise and Foolish Virgins at the north portal. Walk a few minutes to the Kloster Unser Lieben Frauen, an 11th-century Romanesque monastery that now houses an art museum and a sculpture park.
Afternoon. Across the street rises the Green Citadel, Hundertwasser's last building, pink and wavy with trees on its roofs. Continue to the Kulturhistorisches Museum on Otto-von-Guericke-Straße for the original Magdeburg Rider, a 13th-century equestrian statue; a gilded copy stands under a canopy in front of the town hall on the Alter Markt. Climb the 52-metre tower of the Johanniskirche for the view over the river, then end the day in the bars around Hasselbachplatz.
Day two. Walk down to the Elbe, cross the Hubbrücke lift bridge and spend the morning in the Rotehornpark, where an observation tower stands beside the Stadthalle. Hire a bike and ride north on the Elberadweg to the Elbauenpark, home of the wooden Jahrtausendturm, and on to the Wasserstraßenkreuz, the 918-metre trough bridge that carries the Mittelland Canal over the Elbe. Ride back along the river in the evening light.
Bötel mit Lehm und Stroh and Börde kitchen classics
Magdeburg's signature dish is Bötel mit Lehm und Stroh, cured pork knuckle with pea purée and sauerkraut from the farm cooking of the Börde. Other Saxony-Anhalt classics include Halberstädter Würstchen, Harzer Käse, Soljanka soup and Salzwedel Baumkuchen. Eat around Hasselbachplatz, and in summer at the Elbe beer gardens of the Petriförder and Buckau.
The local signature dish has an alarming name. Bötel mit Lehm und Stroh, literally pork knuckle with clay and straw, turns out to be a cured knuckle served with a thick pea purée (the clay) and sauerkraut (the straw). It belongs to the hearty farm cooking of the Magdeburger Börde, the flat, black-soil country west of the city that grows sugar beet, wheat and potatoes.
Look for other Saxony-Anhalt classics on menus and in delicatessens. Halberstädter Würstchen, small smoked pork sausages from the town of Halberstadt, were among the first sausages ever sold in tins. Harzer Käse is a pungent, low-fat sour milk cheese from the Harz, often eaten with onions and caraway. Soljanka, a sour, spicy meat soup with pickles, is a leftover of East German canteen cooking that many restaurants still serve with pride. For dessert, Baumkuchen from Salzwedel, a layered cake baked on a spit, makes a good gift to take home.
Hasselbachplatz and the streets around it have the densest choice of restaurants and bars, from pub food to Vietnamese and Turkish grills. In summer, beer gardens along the Elbe, especially at the Petriförder and in Buckau, are where locals spend the evening.
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How we research our Magdeburg travel guide
Magdeburg's tower and museum hours come from magdeburg.de, Marego fares from the regional network, and train links, including the IC from Leipzig/Halle Airport, from Deutsche Bahn. For the wider Elbe region we use the German National Tourist Board.
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Checked against trusted sources:
Official website of MagdeburgGerman National Tourist BoardDeutsche Bahn
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Magdeburg questions answered for a short visit.
General
Both lie in Magdeburg Cathedral: the emperor, who died in 973, in the choir, and Editha, his Anglo-Saxon first wife and a granddaughter of Alfred the Great, in a tomb nearby.
The courtyards and ground-floor shops and cafés are open to everyone. The upper floors are private flats, so the interior can only be seen on a guided tour.
In the Kulturhistorisches Museum on Otto-von-Guericke-Straße. The gilded statue outside the town hall on the Alter Markt is a copy.
Yes, the 52-metre south tower is open for climbing when the church is open, giving one of the best views over the Elbe and the cathedral.
A wooden tower about 60 metres tall in the Elbauenpark, with floor after floor of hands-on exhibits on nature and the history of human discovery.
Around Hasselbachplatz at the southern end of Breiter Weg, where bars, clubs and late-night food places cluster in Gründerzeit buildings.
Otto von Guericke, the city's 17th-century mayor and scientist, showed that teams of horses could not pull apart two copper hemispheres once the air between them had been pumped out. A monument by the town hall honours him.
Yes. Regional trains run to the UNESCO-listed half-timbered town in a little over an hour, and you can carry on to Thale for the Bode gorge.
Trams, buses, S-Bahn trains and even the Elbe ferries share a single tariff, the Marego system, and the whole city is one zone (Magdeburg, zone 010). The city operator MVB sells tickets at its service centres and from machines at stops and on board, and Deutsche Bahn machines sell the same tickets. Any valid ticket works on every mode within the city.
Getting there
It lies about 15 km north of the centre near Hohenwarthe. The easiest way is by bike on the Elberadweg; otherwise drive or take a bus toward Hohenwarthe.
Yes, the IC 55 leaves every two hours from the station under the airport terminal and reaches Magdeburg Hauptbahnhof in about an hour.
Timing & weather
The best time to visit Magdeburg is May to Sep. Highs of 20-25C and some of the lowest rainfall in Germany; good weather for the Elberadweg and the parks.
- Summer: June - August (Highs of 23-25C, warmer than most of northern Germany, with only about 50-60 mm of rain a month; ideal for cycling the Elbe and the island parks)
- Spring and early autumn: April - May, September (Highs of 15-20C; April is one of the driest months at about 28 mm, and the Elbauenpark gardens are in bloom)
- Winter: November - February (Highs of 4-8C and frost at night, but dry; the Christmas market and light installations around the Alter Markt fill December)
July is the warmest month in Magdeburg, with average highs of 25°C, and January the coolest, with lows of -1°C. July is the wettest month, at about 61 mm of rain; February is the driest. Magdeburg is one of the driest places in Germany, with warm summers and May to September the best time to visit.
Visa & documents
As a Schengen member, Germany shares one set of entry rules with most of the EU. Citizens of the EU and of many other countries, including the US, UK, Canada and Australia, can visit visa-free for up to 90 days in any 180-day period; other nationalities need a Schengen visa. The EU's Entry/Exit System (EES) records non-EU travelers' fingerprints and a photo at the border.
Health & safety
Pickpocketing at large stations, Christmas markets and on big-city public transport is the main risk in a very safe country. Carry ID and validate paper tickets where required. Call 110 for police and 112 for fire or ambulance.
