Halle

Halle is the largest city in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany with a population of 233,700. Located on the river Saale, it is often referred to as Halle an der Saale, or Halle (Saale) for short, to distinguish it from other municipalities in Germany sharing the same name.

For other places with the same name, see Halle (disambiguation).

Halle has always been an important industrial centre - its industrial heritage spans salt mining, chemical industries and chocolate confectionery. Internationally, Halle is perhaps best known as the birthplace of the Baroque composer Georg Friedrich Händel, who later went on to a successful career in London.

Understand

Get in

By plane

The train station is right underneath the terminal of Leipzig/Halle Airport

Leipzig/Halle Airport (LEJ ^IATA), sometimes called Schkeuditz Airport, is 30 km away from central Halle. The airport is the second biggest airport in Eastern Germany after Berlin. Trains between the airport and Halle Central Station run roughly every 30 minutes, alternating a S-Bahn (S 5X) and an IC-train enroute to Hanover. The trip takes 11 minutes and costs €4.20 (S-Bahn) or €6 (IC). The train station is below the terminal building and can be reached by stairs, escalators and elevators.

Berlin's airports (TXL or SXF) are less than two away by train and offer more direct flights.

By train

Halle's main train station (Hauptbahnhof)

Halle (Saale) is a station on the high-speed rail line Berlin–Erfurt–Frankfurt or –Munich. ICE high-speed trains from Berlin and Erfurt call approximately once an hour, from Frankfurt or Munich about once in two hours, respectively. In addition, Halle is served by hourly intercity trains on the (Cologne/Bremen)–Hannover–Leipzig(–Dresden) line; as well as several regional train lines.

Deutsche Bahn operates regular train service between Halle and nearby cities such as Leipzig (€7.60, 25 minutes), Lutherstadt Eisleben (€9.50, 30 minutes), Dessau (€14, 50 minutes), Magdeburg (€22, 50 minutes), Jena (€20, 60 minutes), Weimar (€20.50, 60 minutes), Lutherstadt Wittenberg (€15, 65 minutes).

High-speed trains are available to major cities in Germany including Erfurt (€40, 30 minutes), Berlin (€49, 70 minutes), Frankfurt (€88, 2:40 hours), Munich (€117, 3 hours), Hamburg (€106, 3:15 hours). Prague (€66, 4:40 hours) can be reached with an additional transfer in Dresden; or by train and bus via Leipzig (3.5 hours). Tickets may be much cheaper if booked in advance.

By bus

see long distance bus travel in Germany

By car

From Leipzig, take the A14 west to the B100.

Get around

By tram

Hallesche Verkehrs-AG (HAVAG) operates the local surface street tram. It passes most major attractions downtown and will take you to and from the main train station. Tickets are available at the office in the Marktplatz, from vending machines or from the drivers. 1-hour tickets cost €2.20 if bought from a vending machine, somewhat more if bought from the driver. Day passes cost €5.

Market square in Halle

See

• 🌍 Marktkirche Unser Lieben Frauen. Late Gothic cathedral where Luther preached. Contains Luther's death mask. Handel was baptized here. Church: Free; Luther exhibit: €2.  
• 🌍 Händel-Haus Halle, Große Nikolaistraße 5. The house where Georg Friedrich Händel was born, now a museum dedicated to his life and works. Displays his works, letters, manuscripts. Adult: €5; Student: €3.50.  
• 🌍 Burg Giebichenstein, Seebener Straße 1 (Take tram 7 or 8 to Burg Giebichenstein). Old Castle that's now been converted into an art school. Is right on the Saale river. Great views of the city.  
• 🌍 Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Friedemann-Bach-Platz 5 (take a tram from Marktplatz to Moritzburgring. Go left down Moritzburgring). Th-Tu 10:00-18:00. Castle which has now been converted into a great art museum. Has exhibits which include works by Klimt, Ernst, and Klee. Highlights include Lyonel Feininger's paintings of famous Halle landmarks. Adult: €7; Student: €5.  
• 🌍 Neustadt (take tram 2). The township built by the GDR in the 1980s to house chemical plant workers. It is a poignant example of East German architecture.  
• 🌍 Halloren Schokoladen-Museum, Delitzscher Straße 70. The Halloren Chocolate Factory is the oldest in Germany. The origins date back to the founding of a honey cake bakery in 1804.  
• 🌍 Beatles Museum, Alter Markt 12. W-Su 10:00-20:00. Three floors of memorabilia owned by fan Rainer Moers. Adult: €5.  
• 🌍 Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte (Halle), Richard-Wagner-Straße 9 (Take tram 7 towards Kröllwitz, stop Landesmuseum). Tu-F 09:00-17:00; Sa Su holidays 10:00-18:00. The State Museum of Prehistory is the archaeological museum of Saxony-Anhalt with Nebra Sky disk and Eulau family graves as highlights. Adult: €5; children: €2.50.  
• 🌍 Franckesche Stiftungen, Franckeplatz (Take tram 4, 7 or 9 from main station, stop Franckeplatz), ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. Tu-Su 10:00-17:00. The Francke Foundations are a unique ensemble of historical school buildings dating back to the age of enlightenment (founded 1698); the buildings today house departments of Halle University, several schools and other cultural and social institutions. Highlights are the baroque Cabinet of Artefacts and Curiosities and the Historical Library. Occasionally concerts, lectures and conferences. Adult: €6; children: free.  

Do

• Reederei Riedel River Tours. Tu-Su hourly 10:00-18:00. Runs 45-minute river tours. Adult: €5. 

Festivals

• Handel Festival. In the second week of June. 

Buy

Leipziger Straße is the main shopping street in downtown Halle. It branches off of the Southeast corner of the Marktplatz. There you will find many retail shops and chain fast food restaurants.

Eat

Budget

Make sure you try some döner kebap. It's heavily Germanized Turkish food. Halle has some of the best döner in Germany.

• DINEA Café & Restaurant Halle, Marktplatz 20 (on the upper floor of the Kaufhof department store). M-Sa 09:30-20:00. Self-service restaurant with view over market square. Offers breakfast, cold and hot lunch buffet, daily specials, cakes. €6-9. 
• NT Cafe, Große Ulrichstraße 51. Artsy place affiliated with the Neues Theater (New Theatre). €3-9. 

Mid-range

• Ökoase, Kleine Ulrichstraße 2. Vegetarian restaurant popular among the hippie crowd. Try the Arabic tomato soup, Greek vegetable stew, or Swiss chard coconut soup. €5-12. 
• Palais S, Ankerstraße 3c. Waterfront terrace. Serves everything from pasta to schnitzel to steak. €7-14. 
• 🌍 Sushifreunde Steinweg, Steinweg 17 (From market square take tram 1,3 or 8 in southern direction, stop Steinweg), ☎ [phone]. M-Su 11:30-20:00. Has an all-you-can-eat special on Tuesday and Thursday evenings for €16.90. 
• Schad, Reilstraße 10 (Take tram 7, 8, 12, 6, 0r 3 to Reileck). Great German restaurant and private brewery that boasts having served Mikhail Gorbachev. 

Splurge

• MahnS Chateau, Oleariusstraße 4a, 06108, e-mail: [e-mail]. €20. 

Drink

A street in the Paulusviertel district

Bars and pubs

• Café Noire, Kleine Ulrichstraße 30. It is by far the best bar/cafe on Kleine Ulrichstraße. 
• Hallesches Brauhaus, Große Nikolaistraße 2. Brewery that also serves good food. 
• 🌍 Lucy, Burgstraße 48 (Take tram 8 to Volkspark), ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. M-Th 18:00-01:00, F Sa 18:00-02:00. Bar that has lots of live pub music. 

Clubs

• Charivari, Kaulenberg 1. Karaoke club. 
• Klub Drushba, Kardinal-Albrecht-Straße 6. Indie club with good dance parties. 
• Objekt 5, Seebener Straße 5 (Take the 7 or 8 to Burg Giebichenstein and it's a short walk from there). Great indie club and cafe. Folk and rock music and good food. 
• Potemkin, Kleine Ulrichstraße 27. 
• Turm, Friedeman-Bach-Platz 5. Student club. Techno, house, hip-hop, drum & bass. 

Sleep

The Riebeckplatz in Halle

Budget

• Hostel No5, Robert-Franz-Ring 5 (Tram 10, 11, 94 or bus 91 to Ankerstraße), ☎ [phone]. Dorm bed: €13; Single: €21. 
• Jugendherberge Halle, Große Steinstraße 60 (Tram to Stadtbad), ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. Located in an old school in the city center. Dorm bed: €16.50; Single: €21.50; Bed linens: €3.50; €3 surcharge if 27 or older. 

Wasserturm

• 🌍 KAHSA Apartments, Zum Planetarium 44, 06116 (Bus line 43 to Kanena, metro line S3 to Halle Messe), ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. Check-in: 15:00, check-out: 10:00. 10 smaller and bigger vacation rentals. All accommodations have internet and parking. Tourists as well as business travellers welcome. (updated Aug 2018)

Mid-range

• City Hotel am Wasserturm, Lessingstraße 8 (Tram 6, 12, 95 to Lessingstraße), ☎ [phone]. From €100. (updated Jan 2018)
• Dormotel Europa Halle, Delitzscher Straße 17 (S7 or tram 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 12 or bus 30, 43 to Hauptbahnhof), ☎ [phone]. €39-55. 
• Esprit Hotel, Torstraße 7 (Tram 1, 3, 6, 8, 11, 95 or bus 30, 97, 99 to Rannischer Platz), ☎ [phone]. €42-60. 
• Hotel Marthahaus, Adam-Kuckhoff-Straße 5 (Tram 6, 10 to Stadtbad), ☎ [phone]. Run by a Christian mission. Soft carpet, well furnished, stained glass windows in the lounge. Beautiful dining hall. Single: €45-60; Double: €65-85. 
• Ramada Leipzig Halle, Hansaplatz 1 (1km from Zöberitz train station), ☎ [phone]. $54-81. 
• Hotel Schweizer Hof, Waisenhausring 15, ☎ [phone]. 
• Hotel am Steintor, Krukenbergstraße 29 (Tram 2, 12 to Magdeburger Straße), ☎ [phone]. €35-49. 
• Tryp by Wyndham Halle, Neustädter Passage 5 (Tram 2, 9, 10 or bus 21, 34, 91 to Zentrum Neustadt or S-bahn train (S7) to Halle Neustadt station), ☎ [phone], fax: [phone]. Check-in: 14:00, check-out: 12:00. Formerly the Best Western Grand City Hotel €58 +. 
• Hotel Westfalia Halle, Grenzstraße 35 (Tram 10, 94 or bus 32, 91, 97 to Betriebshof Freiimfelder Straße), ☎ [phone]. €38-50. 

Splurge

• Ankerhof Hotel, Ankerstraße 2a (Tram 10, 11, 94 or bus 91 to Ankerstraße), ☎ [phone]. Former Royal Customs Office. Gym and saunas. Some rooms have river view. $87-116. 
• Apart-Hotel Halle, Kohlschütterstraße 5 (Tram 6 to Adolfstraße), ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. Really nice murals in the suites. Sauna. Single: €72; Double: €89. 
• Hotel Atlas Halle, Delitzscher Straße 32 (Tram 7, 10 or bus 44, 91 to Freiimfelder Straße), ☎ [phone]. $59 - $99. 
• Hotel Eigen, ☎ [phone]. €69. 
• 🌍 Dorint Charlottenhof Halle (Saale), Dorotheenstraße 12 (Tram 2, 4, 7, 9, 12 to Riebeckplatz), ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. 4 star hotel that caters to the business crowd. Pool, gym, sauna. €57-108. Breakfast: €15. 
• Dormero Hotel Rotes Ross, Leipziger Straße 76 (Tram 4, 7, 9 or bus 91, 97, 99 to Am Leipziger Turm), ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. 4-star hotel aimed mostly towards business travelers. Feels like a small Grand Hotel and the rooms are very individually decorated. Has a small fitness room, a sauna, and a whirlpool in the basement. Breakfast buffet includes selection of cheese, sausage, breads, cereals, and fruits. Italian restaurant and 24-hour room service €52-€113. 

Connect

Internet

• Internetcafe Speed, Am Bauhof 1. €3 per hour. 

Go next

• Merseburg, 15 km south, more than thousand-year-old town with interesting old centre, Romanesque/Gothic cathedral and Renaissance palace (10 minutes by train)
• Leipzig, 40 km east, Halle's "twin", trade city, cultural metropolis and economic "boom town" of East Germany, half an hour train ride away.
• Eisleben, 35 km west, birth place of Martin Luther (30–40 minutes by train)
• Naumburg, 50 km south, impressive Romanesque cathedral, home town of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, centre of the Saale-Unstrut cultural landscape and wine-growing region (30–40 minutes by train, or cycle up the Saale bike trail)
• Dessau, 50 km northeast, centre of the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm, seat of the 1920s Bauhaus art school, capital of classical modern architecture (50–55 minutes by train, change in Bitterfeld or Köthen)
• Wittenberg, 75 km northeast, important city during the late Middle Age and Renaissance, origin of Martin Luther's Protestant Reformation (just under an hour by train)
• Magdeburg, 85 km north, state capital on the river Elbe with huge Gothic cathedral and one of Germany's most important Romanesque monasteries (50 minutes by intercity train)
• Erfurt, 120 km southwest, state capital of Thuringia, medieval old city (35 minutes by ICE high-speed train)

Routes through Halle

Berlin ←	Hamburg  Munich	→ Erfurt → Nuremberg
Berlin ←	Berlin  Frankfurt	→ Erfurt → Frankfurt
Hanover ← Magdeburg ←	Cologne/Emden  Dresden	→ Leipzig