Art, canals and eating out in Plagwitz, Leipzig

Located in Saxony and in the former East Germany, Leipzig is becoming increasingly well known as one of the most dynamic cities for arts and culture after Berlin. For a great insight into the arts scene in Leipzig, head out of the city centre to experience life in one of the city's cool neighbourhoods. And for when you want to explore beyond Leipzig, why not do so with your own set of wheels? Collecting a great value car hire from Leipzig Airport is easy and convenient. Check out our guides to Leipzig car hire and get a quote. You can see where else we have Germany car hire here. 

 

I'd like to say I knew enough about the city (or was cool enough) to head to Plagwitz on purpose but it just so happened to be where I had found a fab room to stay in with an Airbnb host. Arriving in Leipzig in the early evening, my host suggested I check out the local neighbourhood and have dinner there rather than head back into the city centre3. It was a great suggestion. I love strolling through random neighbourhoods - it's always such a good way of settling into a new place and getting your bearings. 

 

Introducing Plagwitz

The person who undoubtably put Plagwitz on the map was Karl Heine. Wikipedia describes him as a lawyer, entrepreneur and industrial pioneer. He initiated the building of the canal named after him and although it did not quite meet his wish to connect the city with Hamburg close to Germany's northern coast, it did prove appealing enough for various large companies to settle here. 

 

Those companies are no longer there - they weren't able to stay successful enough in the post-war period or even following reunification. However, the buildings stayed. And although this was followed by a time when the area experienced a real downturn, things are definitely looking up for the neighbourhood. The large industrial buildings are finally starting to receive a little TLC and are attracting artists looking for a creative space. The canal and the pathways that run alongside it have been spruced up a bit. More importantly, however, they still maintain a little of the rough and ready charm that could be applied to this neighbourhood in general. I wish I'd had more time to get to know it better… but then there's always the next time. 

In the meantime, here are a few suggestions of things to do whilst in Plagwitz - they're a mixture of things I actually had the pleasure of doing and things I have on my list to do for the next trip there!

 

Go for a walk: Karl-Heine-Straße and Karl-Heine Canal (and beyond)

Karl-Heine-Strasse is one of the main streets running through Plagwitz. Dotted with funky little cafés, bars, restaurants and a couple of art house cinemas - you're bound to find somewhere to while away the evening. It isn't an obviously pretty street but the large and somewhat dilapidated industrial building at one end of the street as well as the art deco Schaubühne cinema provides some interest. Mostly, it's just a nice, relaxed street to wander. The various cafés, bars and street art provide the atmosphere. You also get some lovely views overlooking the canal (which is surprisingly quite low down from street level) too. 

 

In Europe, you have your pick of cities famed for their canals… Amsterdam, Annecy, Bruges and of course Venice are among the bunch where a boat trip on the canals are a top highlight. But there are other cities that provide a more 'off-the-beaten-track' canal highlight. Leipzig is one. Several canals stem from the Elsterbecken (Elster river basin) east of the city centre. 

If you're in Leipzig during the Spring or Summer, then a boat ride along Karl-Heine Canal is one of the best things you could do during a visit. At least, I imagine so! This is one of the things I'll save for another trip as I visited in the winter and as you might suspect, there weren't so many boats ploughing the waters. You can however walk along the canal path and I did get to do that. 

Leafy, peaceful and also industrial in parts, it's a great way to discover more of the city. I followed it to where it connects with the Wieße Elster and strolled several more neighbourhood streets before reaching the fabulous Clara-Zetkin Park, which looked stunning and full of late Autumn yellows. I followed the path by the Elster river, which runs through the park before making my way to another of Leipzig's trendy neighbourhoods - Südvorstadt. You can, however, continue an exploration of Leipzig's greener charms by continuing south or north of Clara-Zetkin Park as it connects Leipzig's north and south floodplains.

 

Check out the art and maybe even meet the artists

Behind every new cool neighbourhood, you're likely to find that long before it got its budding hip status, the artists moved in. Leipzig's low rents and the area's large warehouse style spaces become very attractive for people wanting to unleash their creativity. It's appealing to me except I'm just not that creative! However, I do love enjoying other people's. And the Plagwitz/Lindenau area is great place to do just that.

Already established as an art and creative space for people are the Spinnerei and Tapetenwerk. The former used to be a huge cotton factory and the other an old wallpaper factory. Aside from the art being shown within them, they're also both just beautiful buildings.

Spinnerei

Back in its heyday as a cotton factory, the Spinnerei had up to 1600 workers, contained housing for families and included a fire brigade and power plant! Today you can visit various galleries, exhibition spaces and occasional artist studio openings. It also boasts a shop where you can by design and hand crafted goods as well as a café.  

The Spinnerei website has a wealth of information if you're curious to know more as well as find out about visiting. 

Photo by ares64

Photo by ares64

Spinnerei (Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei)

Spinnereistraße 7

04179 Leipzig

Tel.: +49 (0)3 41 498 0200 

www.spinnerei.de

They do guided tours, which need to be booked in advance and you can click on the various galleries to find out about opening times and the artists with work showcased.

Tapetenwerk

Taptenwerk has similarly become a space for art, design and creativity with exhibitions spaces, studios, and a lunchtime canteen that comes attached with a cooking school!  Lunch is great good value here with mains at around €5. I'm guessing that as it's connected to the cooking school, it's likely to be tasty fare too. Taptenwerk is also home to several architecture practices.

For more information on the various galleries and a history of the building, visit: www.tapetenwerk.de (it's only in German - but if you see it on Google Chrome, it should translate the website for you). 

Tapetenwerk Leipzig

Lützner Straße 91 

04177 Leipzig (Lindenau)

For gallery and studio openings, visit the website. Plattenküche, the canteen, is open on Monday to Friday from 12.00pm to 4.00pm. You can see the changing menu here.

For more on art in Leipzig, I'd also thoroughly recommend adding Museum der bildenden Künste (Museum of Fine Arts) on your list of attractions to visit. I'll be writing about my experience here soon so watch this space. 

 

Eat out and drink out along Karl-Heine-Straße 

As I mentioned before, Plagwitz' main street has several eateries and bars to choose from. These range from fine dining restaurant, Heine, to arty cafés like Café Albert and Druckstratt. There are some cool looking hole-in-the-wall type bars I spotted along here too. 

I really loved the warmth and casual dining available at Café Nora Roman in the SchauBühne cinema. For hearty fare at reasonable prices, I'd thoroughly recommend it. You can see more about Café Nora Roman in a separate post here soon. 

 

For a special treat, there is also Stelzenhaus, a restaurant and bar housed within one of industrial gems overlooking the canal (mains are around €25). 

 

Parking in Leipzig and Germany car hire?

If you're staying in Leipzig, Plagwitz is a good place to stay especially if you like the sound of all of the above. It's also outside of the fee-paying parking zones of the city centre so if you're driving into Leipzig, there is street parking as well as a free car park at Clara-Zetkin park by Anton-Bruckner-Allee. For more information about parking, in Leipzig, visit: www.en.parkopedia.de/free/leipzig/parking

And if you still need to book your Germany car hire, you can get a quote here.