Wolfsburg travel guide
Volkswagen's home town, Zaha Hadid's phaeno and a factory toured by train
Wolfsburg is Volkswagen's planned city on the Mittellandkanal, visited for the Autostadt, the factory tour, the phaeno science centre and the Kunstmuseum. Come between April and October, when the Autostadt park and the Allersee are at their best. A day, or two at most, is plenty. Prices are high, and many passports need no visa.
Wolfsburg exists because of one factory. Founded in 1938 on the Mittellandkanal in eastern Lower Saxony as a settlement for workers building the KdF-Wagen, the car that became the Beetle, it only received its present name after the war. Volkswagen still has its headquarters here, and the brick power station chimneys of the main plant line the canal opposite the railway station. Most visitors come to see cars: the Autostadt, a park of brand pavilions and museums next to the works, and the factory tour that leaves from it by shuttle bus.
The rest of the town surprises people who expect only industry. Zaha Hadid's phaeno science centre, raised on concrete cones beside the station, is one of the boldest buildings of the 2000s, and the Kunstmuseum on Porschestraße has a strong contemporary collection. North of the canal stands a Renaissance castle, while Fallersleben, absorbed into the city, keeps half-timbered streets and the birthplace of the poet who wrote Germany's national anthem. One full day suits most people; car enthusiasts may want two.
Explore Wolfsburg by theme
Find your kind of trip: 24 travel themes, each with the packages in Wolfsburg.
Wolfsburg at a glance
The essentials first-time visitors ask about, in one place.
Explore more of Germany
Pick a place by travel style: nature, cities, heritage, hills, islands.
Nothing in that category yet.
Top things to do in Wolfsburg
The Autostadt and phaeno sit either side of the station; add the Kunstmuseum, the castle and Fallersleben for a fuller day.
No things to do in Wolfsburg are listed yet. Browse all things to do
Best time to visit Wolfsburg
Month by month, so you can pick the weather and the crowds you want.
Lawns and lagoons at the Autostadt, walks round the Allersee and cycling along the canal; summer events in the Autostadt park.
Short grey days suit the indoor sights, phaeno, the Kunstmuseum and the car museums; the Autostadt puts on a winter programme with an ice rink in some years.
Factory tours run only on working days and pause during plant holidays, often in summer and over Christmas; check and book before you travel.
Packages in Demand
A Journey to Remember
Tours, activities and day trips in and around this destination, with the details you need before booking.
No packages in Wolfsburg are listed yet. Browse all packages
Create Your Custom-Made Trip to Wolfsburg
Traveling to Wolfsburg? Chat with a Local Travel Specialist in Wolfsburg Who Can Help Organize Your Trip.
START HEREOur Travel Experts are Recommended by
Plan your trip
Practical answers before you go. Pick a topic.
Getting there
ICE from Berlin and Hanover to the station opposite the Autostadt
The railway is the easiest way in, and it delivers you straight to the sights: Wolfsburg Hauptbahnhof faces phaeno on one side and, across a footbridge over the canal, the Autostadt on the other. ICE trains run direct to Berlin in about an hour, a route some people commute daily, and to Hanover in about 35 minutes. For most other destinations you change at Braunschweig, about 15 minutes away by regional train, or at Hanover. Flixtrain also calls here. The local airport (BWE) at Braunschweig mainly handles business flights, so most visitors fly into Hannover (HAJ): take S-Bahn S5 to Hannover Hauptbahnhof and continue by ICE, around 1 hour 15 minutes in total. Berlin Brandenburg (BER) is about two hours by train via Berlin Hauptbahnhof, and Hamburg (HAM) a little longer. Long-distance buses are scarce; Braunschweig has more. By car, leave the A39 at the Wolfsburg exits; there are large car parks beside the station.
- Hannover Airport (HAJ)
- S5 to Hannover Hbf, then ICE; about 1 hour 15 minutes
- Berlin
- Direct ICE in about an hour
- Wolfsburg Hbf
- Footbridge to the Autostadt, phaeno right outside
- On VfL Wolfsburg home match days, trains to and from the station fill up before kick-off and after the final whistle.
Where to stay
Porschestraße, the Autostadt hotel or old Fallersleben
Stay around Porschestraße for walking access to the station, museums and restaurants. Wolfsburg's hotels mainly serve business travellers and Volkswagen customers collecting new cars, so weekday rates run high and weekends are often cheaper. The Ritz-Carlton inside the Autostadt is the luxury option, and Fallersleben has more character.
- Centre around Porschestraße
- Walking distance to the station, museums and restaurants; functional post-war streets, quiet at night
- Autostadt
- The Ritz-Carlton sits inside the Autostadt grounds by the canal; the luxury choice, with water views
- Near the Allerpark
- Hotels close to the stadium, lake and water park; handy for match days and families
- Fallersleben
- Half-timbered old town with inns, a short train ride west of the centre; more character, fewer services
Getting around
Walking Porschestraße and WVG buses to Fallersleben
For a city built around the car, Wolfsburg is surprisingly easy on foot. The main sights sit in a line: the Autostadt north of the canal, the station and phaeno in the middle, and the pedestrianised Porschestraße running south past the Kunstmuseum to the Rathaus and the shopping streets. Allow about 15 minutes to walk its length. There is no tram, but the city bus company WVG serves the suburbs, the Allerpark, Schloss Wolfsburg and Fallersleben; buy tickets from the driver or ticket machines. Regional trains also stop at Fallersleben, which is quicker than the bus. Cycling is easy on flat, wide paths, including the towpath along the Mittellandkanal. Taxis wait at the station. To reach the VW factory itself, join the tour from the Autostadt; ordinary visitors cannot simply walk in.
- WVG city buses
- Suburbs, Allerpark, Schloss Wolfsburg and Fallersleben
- Regional train
- Wolfsburg Hbf to Fallersleben in a few minutes
Know before you go
Wolfsburg is a car company town with a few surprises. Read this before you plan the day.
Why travelers love it
- The glass car towers at the Autostadt, where new Volkswagens are lifted by robot from their parking bays and handed to their owners.
- Phaeno on a rainy afternoon, with hundreds of experiments under Zaha Hadid's sloping concrete roof.
- Fallersleben's half-timbered old centre, a reminder that people lived here long before 1938.
Good to know
- Nightlife is thin; for a proper night out, take the train to Braunschweig, a student city 15 minutes away.
- Factory tours fill up, and only a few places are released on the day, so book with the Autostadt in advance.
Trip fit
BookingMentor editorial ratings out of 5, based on a first-time visitor's experience.
Weather in Wolfsburg, month by month
Month-by-month climate figures for Wolfsburg are being researched.
Autostadt, the Volkswagen factory tour and phaeno in one day
Wolfsburg's main sights sit a short walk from the Hauptbahnhof and fit into a day. Spend the morning in the Autostadt and its ZeitHaus car museum, join the Volkswagen factory tour at midday if you have booked, then try the experiments at phaeno and finish at the Kunstmuseum on Porschestraße.
Morning. Cross the footbridge from the station into the Autostadt as it opens. The grounds are laid out like a landscaped park with lagoons, and each group brand has its own pavilion. Head first for the ZeitHaus, a museum of car history that covers many makes besides Volkswagen, with rare models from the earliest days of motoring. Then watch the two glass car towers, where new cars are stored and delivered to waiting owners.
Midday. If you have booked the factory tour, a shuttle bus takes you from the Autostadt into the plant, where the ID. train carries you past the production lines. Tours run Monday to Friday when the plant is working, and children must be at least six. Lunch on a VW Currywurst at one of the Autostadt restaurants.
Afternoon. Back across the canal, spend two hours in phaeno, playing with fire tornadoes, optical illusions and more than 350 experiments. Then walk down Porschestraße to the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg for large-scale contemporary art.
Evening. Dinner at an Italian restaurant in the centre. On a second day, see the AutoMuseum Volkswagen on Dieselstraße with its Beetles and prototypes, take a bus to Schloss Wolfsburg, and finish in Fallersleben, where the Hoffmann von Fallersleben museum tells the story of the man who wrote the national anthem's words.
VW Currywurst and the pizzerias of the Italian workers
Wolfsburg's signature food is the VW Currywurst, made in the Volkswagen plant butchery since the 1970s and served at the Autostadt restaurants. The other local strength is Italian cooking, a legacy of the southern Italian workers recruited from the early 1960s, whose families still run many of the town's pizzerias and trattorias.
Wolfsburg's most famous dish comes from the factory itself. Volkswagen has made its own Currywurst in the plant butchery since the 1970s, and it is so tied to the brand that it carries an official VW part number. Workers eat it in the canteens; visitors find it at the Autostadt restaurants, sliced and smothered in curry ketchup with fries or a roll. Supermarkets across northern Germany sell it too, as does the factory's own spicy ketchup.
The other food story is Italian. From the early 1960s Volkswagen recruited thousands of workers from southern Italy, and many families stayed. The result is a town with an unusually high number of good, unpretentious pizzerias and trattorias, plus Italian delis and ice-cream parlours. They are often the best-value meals in Wolfsburg, and some are still family-run by the second or third generation.
For regional cooking, try the inns of Fallersleben or the country restaurants on the edge of town, where Lower Saxon dishes such as Grünkohl with Pinkel sausage appear in winter and white asparagus in May and June.
For drinks, the bars and cafés along Porschestraße are the centre of what nightlife there is.
Travelers are asking
No questions yet about Wolfsburg. Ask the community or our travel team, and the answer will show here once it is published.
Our travel desk answers questions about Wolfsburg
How we research our Wolfsburg travel guide
Factory tour rules and Autostadt hours change more often than anything else here, so we watch wolfsburg.de closely. ICE links to Berlin and Hanover are checked with Deutsche Bahn, and the German National Tourist Board supplies background.
Last updated . Spotted something out of date? Tell us.
Checked against trusted sources:
Official website of WolfsburgGerman National Tourist BoardDeutsche Bahn
See all 3 sources
Before You Go...
Discover Trips & Info
A Travel Network Connection Travelers and locals
Incredible Event & Festival, Don't Miss!
Most Popular Event & Festival of Wolfsburg
Festivals and events in this destination, with dates, venues and ticket details where available.
No upcoming festivals or events in Wolfsburg are listed right now. Browse all events
Memorable Experiences
Where to Go (& NOT Go) In Wolfsburg!
Roaming the World one Adventure at a Time: Travel Tales, Tips, and Inspiration for wanderlusters.
Subscriber
Popular car hire destinations
Explore more options to hire a car for cheap
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Planning a Wolfsburg stop? These answers cover the questions we hear most.
Booking
Through the Autostadt, in advance or at the welcome desk on the Piazza if places are free. Tours run Monday to Friday when production is running, last up to an hour and start with a shuttle bus from the Autostadt; bring photo ID.
General
Pavilions for the group's brands, the ZeitHaus museum of car history with many other makes, the glass car towers and landscaped grounds along the canal.
Zaha Hadid. The science centre opened in 2005 beside the Hauptbahnhof and holds hundreds of hands-on experiments, good for children and curious adults.
It is made in the company's own butchery and treated like any other VW product. You can eat it at the Autostadt and buy it in supermarkets.
To house workers at the new plant making the KdF-Wagen, later the Beetle. It was called Stadt des KdF-Wagens bei Fallersleben until May 1945, when it took the name of the local castle.
On Dieselstraße, a bus ride from the station and separate from the Autostadt. It shows Beetles, rare prototypes and historic models from the company's own collection.
The Renaissance castle that gave the town its name houses the city museum, with displays on Wolfsburg since 1938, plus an art gallery and a park.
August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben, who wrote the words of the Deutschlandlied in 1841, was born there. A museum in the old town remembers him, and regional trains from Wolfsburg Hbf take a few minutes.
At the Volkswagen Arena in the Allerpark, beside the Allersee lake, the water park and the ice rink. Buses run there from the centre.
For a city built around the car, Wolfsburg is surprisingly easy on foot. The main sights sit in a line: the Autostadt north of the canal, the station and phaeno in the middle, and the pedestrianised Porschestraße running south past the Kunstmuseum to the Rathaus and the shopping streets. Allow about 15 minutes to walk its length.
Timing & weather
About an hour on a direct train, which makes a day trip from Berlin realistic.
The best time to visit Wolfsburg is Apr to Oct. The Autostadt grounds, canal boat trips and the Allersee are best in mild weather.
- Outdoor season: April - October (Lawns and lagoons at the Autostadt, walks round the Allersee and cycling along the canal; summer events in the Autostadt park)
- Winter: November - March (Short grey days suit the indoor sights, phaeno, the Kunstmuseum and the car museums; the Autostadt puts on a winter programme with an ice rink in some years)
Getting there
The railway is the easiest way in, and it delivers you straight to the sights: Wolfsburg Hauptbahnhof faces phaeno on one side and, across a footbridge over the canal, the Autostadt on the other. ICE trains run direct to Berlin in about an hour, a route some people commute daily, and to Hanover in about 35 minutes. For most other destinations you change at Braunschweig, about 15 minutes away by regional train, or at Hanover.
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.
