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Göttingen is a city in the southernmost part of the German state of Lower Saxony, bordering Hesse and Thuringia.
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old townhall
Marktplatz. Built 1369-1444, the Altes Rathaus was the town hall until 1978, and it now houses the Tourist Office. The coats of arms of other members of the Hanseatic League are painted on the walls.
goose girl
Marktplatz. This fountain outside the Altes Rathaus is Göttingen's most famous figure. She is known as the "most kissed girl in the world" since every local student who receives a Ph.D. gives her a kiss (after being dressed up with a silly graduation hat and wheeled to the statue in a handcart).
One of the city's cemeteries, famous for Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss's grave.
Historic cemetery with graves of important scholars, including eight Nobel Prize winners: Max Born, Otto Hahn, Max von Laue, Walther Nernst, Max Planck, Otto Wallach, Adolf Windaus and Richard Zsigmondy.
access behind the Auditorium at Weender Straße and Nikolausberger Weg. These gardens, established in 1736, are well worth a visit for plant-lovers. The former city wall around the Altstadt (old city) is also a circular green area, popular with joggers. Gauss's grave is on the southwest side.
The Georgia Augusta is the largest and the oldest (1737) university in Lower Saxony. Besides the University, several Max Planck Institutes and other important scientific institutions are also located in Göttingen. Due to the large number of Nobel Prize winners who studied, taught or did research in Göttingen, the city also gives itself the nickname of the city that creates knowledge. The university is spread out in many sections around the city, though you see a couple of its buildings (the Auditorium and Aula) on the self-guided tour. Former staff and students include Gauss, Riemann, Dirac, Bismarck, Oppenheimer, Born, Hilbert, Teller, and Weyl.
Obere-Masch-Straße and Untere-Masch-Straße. This memorial, designed by Corrado Cagli in 1973, stands on the site of a synagogue that was destroyed in 1938. The names of Göttingen's Jewish residents who were murdered during the "dark time" are listed below an abstraction of the Star of David.
four churches view
St. James's Church
Jacobikirchhof and Weender Straße. Built 1361-1461, St. James' has the most interesting interior of Göttingen's churches, with fascinating original paintwork (not unlike that of a barbershop) and modern stained-glass windows. The Ott organ is also impressive. It is sometimes possible to climb the tower, although the last set of stairs to the view may be blocked off - ask before paying a euro.
St. John's Church
Johanniskirchhof. Built around 1200, St. John's is the oldest of Göttingen's churches. It was mostly rebuilt in the 14th century (the north-side doorway dates from 1245). The interior is plain, although one of the two towers can sometimes be climbed.
St. Alban's Church
Albanikirchhof. Built 1423-1467, St. Alban's stands on the site of an earlier mission chapel. Hans von Geismar painted the altarpiece in 1499, and he added himself to the scene of Mary's death as the 13th apostle.
St. Michael's Church
Kurze Straße. Built 1787-1789, St. Michael's was Göttingen's first Catholic church after the Reformation.
St. Nicholas's Church
Nikolaistraße. An English Catholic mass is held here every second Friday at 19:00. The area around the church is also used for flea markets on weekend mornings in the summer.
St. Mary's Church
Neustadt and Groner-Tor-Straße. The church bell tower used to be the gate into the neighboring city Neustadt (new city), which Göttingen bought in 1319. St. Mary's is probably older than that; it used to be the church of the Teutonic Knights. The altar triptych was carved by Bertold Kastrop in 1524.
Göttingen forest
(follow Herzberger Landstr. east) is full of pleasant hiking trails, as well as the Bismarck Tower, which you can climb for a gorgeous view in the summer (though you may need to ask directions, since the tower is hard to find).
A cinema on the back side of the train station. They show contemporary movies mainly in German (no subtitles).
German Theatre
Best known theatre in the city. Events take place at almost every day. The building is worth-seeing and close to the former fortifications which surround the city.
Young Theatre
Aiming at a younger audience
Theatre in the Operating Theatre
Run by university students. Plays are performed in the former operating theatre. A single performance is usually played every evening for about two weeks. The ThOP regularly features English plays produced by the English Drama Workshop.
German and Vietnamese specialities.
Ask anyone in Göttingen and they will recommend their personal favourite of the many Döner kebab shops in the city. Perfect after meeting the Gänseliesel and visiting the Johannis church is this kebab shop, which is an insider among students.
This Persian cafe has huge bowls of spiced tea and delicious yogurt dips. The breakfasts are traditional German, not Persian.
Good Indian dishes.
Although the sign might lead you to think it is Asian, the noodle dishes here are more Italian-inspired; head past the spaghetti straight to the house-made wide noodles in fresh, inventive vegetarian, meat- and fish-based sauces. The Biergarten is wonderful in the summer.
Italian food.
Delicious pizza and wine. Prices are slightly higher. The chef that gave this place its name is no longer working here, but it remains a popular restaurant.
At St Nikolai churchyard, nice little cafe-bar, wonderful place outside in summer. Good breakfast, delicious baguettes.
Delicious Italian gelato.
The place for delicious Kaffee & Kuchen (coffee & cake) and people-watching from window tables on the second floor. Finest cafe in town, but the service is very reserved, and can thus feel a bit unfriendly.
Mühlenstr. 4. Probably the best place in town for live music. It's also the only pub in Göttingen to serve Strongbow.
If you want a more German experience, check out this atmospheric student pub in a cavern that was once a kind of student jail.
A nice leftist bar with cheap beer and free table soccer and billiard.
A 20-minute walk from the centre of the city, is somewhat austere and suffers from enforcing a midnight curfew; it is, however, the only place you'll find in town where you can get a bed for the night for about €24. Take bus 80 from train station.
On Weender Landstr., opposite the Shell petrol station, might be a more realistic option, with rooms starting at €30. It is particularly well-located for those who are in Göttingen to spend time at the University.
Near the faculties for phsyics, chemistry, medicine and geology ("Nord-Campus") and the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine.
By plane
Hannover Airport (IATA Code: HAJ) is the nearest international airport: 70 - 90 minutes by train (change in Hannover necessary), 140 km by road.
By train
is a stop on the ICE (Inter City Express) train line between Hamburg and Munich and also on one ICE line between Berlin and the South of Germany.
By car
Autobahn A7, one of the main north-south roads in Germany (stretching from the Danish border near Flensburg to the Austrian border near Füssen) goes right next to Göttingen.
The core zone of Göttingen's old town is a pedestrian zone. The distances within the old town and to the railway station are short and can usually be covered without difficulty on foot.
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