Hildesheim travel guide

Hildesheim, Germany

By the Travel Wiki editorial team

Hildesheim

Introduction

Hildesheim is a city in Lower Saxony in north-central Germany, lying southeast of Hanover on the Innerste river, a tributary of the Leine. It is a sizable city of over a hundred thousand residents, so you will find the amenities of an urban centre while staying within reach of the surrounding Lower Saxon countryside.

Before you go

Hildesheim's historic centre was once made up of more than 1900 half-timbered buildings and was known as the "Nuremberg of the north" until the Second World War. Wartime bombing destroyed most of the centre, and only a few lanes in the southern part survived unchanged. What you see today is largely postwar construction from the 1950s to the 1970s, so arrive expecting a city that blends modern rebuilding with carefully restored monuments rather than an intact medieval streetscape.

Many of the city's historical monuments have been reconstructed, with later alterations stripped away to return buildings to their original form. Two of its church buildings hold UNESCO World Heritage status, so plan your time around those if architecture is your reason for visiting. The few surviving old lanes in the southern centre are where you'll find the streetscape that predates the war.

Getting there

Hildesheim has no commercial airport of its own; the nearest is Hanover Airport, roughly 30–40 minutes away by car or about an hour by train. By road, the city sits on the A7 Autobahn network.

By train, Hildesheim is an ICE stop with hourly connections on routes such as Berlin–Frankfurt. Regional-Express services also run from Hanover roughly every hour, and two S-Bahn lines link the city with Hanover about every half hour.

Getting around

Hildesheim's compact centre is easiest to cover on foot, and the main sights and public buildings are well signposted for pedestrians. The Marktplatz, the cathedral and St. Michael's Church all sit within the historic core, so a walking day is realistic. Bear in mind that the centre was largely rebuilt after the 1945 air raids, with the market square reconstructed in the 1980s and 1990s; the surviving half-timbered streets cluster around St. Godehard and the Kehrwieder Tower, in streets such as Keßlerstraße, Knollenstraße, Gelber Stern, Am Kehrwieder, Lappenberg, Brühl, Hinterer Brühl and Godehardsplatz.

For more information, contact Stadtwerke Hildesheim.

Where to stay

Book your room well in advance. Hotels in Hildesheim can fill up and raise their rates when exhibitions and conventions are on in Hanover, which is only about half an hour away by autobahn. Planning ahead gives you a better choice of places and protects you from the busiest periods.

Accommodation ranges from a youth hostel on Schirrmannweg to larger hotels such as the Novotel on Bahnhofsallee and the Van der Valk on the Markt. Smaller options include Hotel Meyer on Peiner Landstraße, Gästehaus Klocke on Humboldtstraße and Hotel Bürgermeisterkapelle on Rathausstraße, the last of these close to the town hall square.

Food & drink

Hildesheim's eating places cluster around the pedestrian zone and the streets north of the centre. For a scoop in the middle of a shopping stroll, Eiscafé Capri on Almsstraße is an ice cream parlour right in the pedestrian area. Die Insel, on Dammstraße, is a restaurant and café set on a small river island. Meyers Treppchen on Brauhausstraße serves German cooking with South German specialities and has a beer garden in a fine spot. If you want an American diner feel, Cafe Del Sol sits out by the Berliner Kreisel on Frankenstraße, styled after American colonial architecture.

For a drink later on, Potters Bar on Friesenstraße mixes a long list of cocktails, with plenty of other drinks and non-alcoholic options besides. Kulturfabrik Löseke, a big brick former factory beside the railway on Langer Garten, packs a café, club, cinema and exhibition spaces under one roof.

What to see and do

Hildesheim's historic core centres on the Marktplatz, where the Rathaus (Town Hall) stands alongside a cluster of distinguished surrounding buildings: the Knochenhauer-Amtshaus (Butchers' Guild Hall), the Bäckeramtshaus (Bakers' Guild Hall), the Tempelhaus and the Wedekindhaus. Nearby you can find the Umgestülpter Zuckerhut (Upended Sugarloaf), a half-timbered house built in the early 16th century, destroyed in World War II and reconstructed in 2010. The city's two UNESCO World Cultural Heritage churches are essential stops: St. Mary's Cathedral (Mariendom) on Domhof, which dates back to the 11th century and holds bronze doors and a bronze column commissioned by Bishop Bernward around 1015, plus a thousand-year-old rosebush in the cloister; and St. Michael's Church (St. Michaelis) on Michaelisplatz, an early Romanesque church known for its Ottonian architecture and the painted "Jessebom" family tree of Jesus on the wooden ceiling. St. Andrew's Church on Andreasplatz has the tallest church tower in Lower Saxony, which you can climb for wide views.

For museums, the Roemer und Pelizaeus Museum on Am Steine holds world-class collections of natural history, ancient Egyptian and Peruvian antiquities and local history, and is noted for its special exhibitions. The Stadtmuseum Hildesheim, housed in the reconstructed Knochenhauer-Amtshaus by the Markt, covers city history, while the Cathedral Museum on Domhof displays liturgical objects and works of art spanning many centuries. If you want to be active, the DAV Kletterzentrum offers indoor climbing with dozens of routes on a high wall, and you can catch American football with the Hildesheim Invaders. Further afield, Schloss Marienburg to the south-west is one of Germany's most important neo-Gothic buildings, its turrets rising above the Leine valley, and Schloss Derneburg, formerly home to the artist Georg Baselitz, now shows art exhibitions from the Hall Art Foundation. In August, the M'era Luna festival draws fans of metal, industrial, dark-wave and goth music to the city.

Three days in Hildesheim

Day one: Start in the Marktplatz, the historic market square at the heart of Hildesheim, and use it as your orientation point for the old town. From there, walk to St Michael's Church, one of the city's UNESCO World Heritage sites, and take your time with its Romanesque architecture. Climb the Kehrwieder Tower for a view over the rooftops, then wander the surrounding lanes - Keßlerstraße, Knollenstraße, Gelber Stern and Am Kehrwieder - where the rebuilt streets give a sense of the city's long history and its reconstruction after the Second World War.

Day two: Head for Godehardsplatz and the church of St Godehard, another of Hildesheim's UNESCO World Heritage monuments, and spend the morning exploring the surrounding quarter. In the afternoon, follow the streets of Lappenberg, Brühl and Hinterer Brühl, which show the varied face of the old town, from quiet residential corners to lively shopping lanes. Round off the day with a walk along the Innerste, the river that runs through the city.

Day three: Use your last day to slow down and revisit what you liked best, whether that is the Marktplatz or the churches. If you are continuing your journey, Hildesheim sits in Lower Saxony within easy reach of Hanover, and Hanover Airport is the nearest airport, while ICE and Regional Express trains connect the city with Berlin and Frankfurt. By Autobahn or by rail, the city makes a convenient stop in northern Germany.

About this place