Germany (Lonely Planet, 6th Edition) - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [562]
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Entertainment
Jolly Joker ( 281 4622; Broitzemerstrasse 220; entry for parties €6; from 10pm Tue-Sat; ) This popular evergreen with a capacity of 4000 features four separate dance spaces, 10 bars including a huge cocktail bar, and several food outlets. Expect top-100 dance-chart hits. The same complex also houses a cinema.
Staatstheater Braunschweig ( ticket office 123 4567; www.staatstheater-braunschweig.de; Am Theater/Steinweg) is the historic venue for classical music, theatre, dance and opera. Staatstheater ‘Kleines Haus’ (Magnitorwall 18; ) is the second of its four performance spaces. Tickets range from €7 to €38 depending on venue, performance and seat. The tourist office also sells tickets, or turn up an hour before the event for rush tickets.
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Getting There & Away
There are regular RE services to Hanover (€11.30, 45 minutes) and IC trains to Leipzig (€40, two hours). ICE trains go to Berlin (€53, one hour 20 minutes) and Frankfurt (€80, 2¾ hours).
The A2 runs east–west between Hanover and Magdeburg across the northern end of the city. This connects with the A39 about 25km east of the city, which heads north to Wolfsburg. The A39 also heads south from the city.
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Getting Around
Braunschweig is at the heart of an integrated transport network that extends throughout the region and as far south as the Harz Mountains. Bus and tram ticket prices are determined by time, not distance: 90-minute tickets cost €2.10, 24-hour tickets €5.30.
Any bus or tram going to ‘Rathaus’ from the Hauptbahnhof will get you to the centre in 10 minutes; these leave from the same side as the public transport information booth just outside the train station. Trams 1 or 2 and bus 420 are among these. The M5 tram is useful, connecting the train station with Friedrich-Wilhelm-Platz via Am Magnitor and passing the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum.
If driving, be aware that there are one-way systems all around the Altstadt. Alternatively, there’s parking by the train station.
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WOLFENBÜTTEL
05331 / pop 54,000
‘Alles mit Bedacht’ (everything with prudence) was the expression favoured by Duke August II (1579–1666), who founded Wolfenbüttel’s famous library and turned the town into a cultural centre in the mid-17th century. This friendly, charming little city, about 10 minutes by train from Braunschweig, is worlds away in terms of its feel and architecture. First mentioned in 1118, Wolfenbüttel was virtually untouched by WWII, and it’s almost a time capsule of half-timbered houses – there are over 600 of them, nearly all beautifully restored.
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Orientation & Information
The Hauptbahnhof is a five-minute walk southwest of Stadtmarkt, the town centre. To get to Tourist Information Wolfenbüttel ( 862 80; www.wolfenbuettel.com; Stadtmarkt 7; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm Sat), in Stadtmarkt, take Bahnhofstrasse north to Kommisstrasse. This joins Kornmarkt, the main bus transfer point. Stadtmarkt is just to the north. The Schloss and Herzog August Bibliothek are west of here.
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Sights
The tourist office has German-language audioguides (€5.50 per day), or you can download an English, French or German MP3 guide from the website www.wolfenbuettel.tomis.mobi (click on the appropriate flag for your preferred language). The free tourist office brochure, A walk through historic Wolfenbüttel, is also an excellent guide. It starts at Wolfenbüttel’s pretty Schloss Museum ( 924 60; Schlossplatz 13; adult/concession/family