WHAT TO SEE
For anyone with a little spare time available to explore, there are three key areas to visit. Leipzig’s historic heart, surrounded by a ring road jangling with trams, is easily walked and busy with street musicians and students on bicycles (German chancellor Angela Merkel studied physics here when it was still the GDR). It is particularly known for its 30-odd interior courtyard arcades, some lined with shops, some with quiet cafes.
West of the centre, the repurposed factory district, Plagwitz, laced with canals that are now given over to leisure boating, is also worth seeing, particularly along main thoroughfare Karl-Heine Strasse, with its feng shui shops and vegetarian kebabs. Just south of town is the New Lakeland, where former open-caste coalmines have been converted to beach and watersport destinations.
In town, business travellers often frequent the Westin’s 27th-floor restaurant, Falco (falco-leipzig.de), which has two Michelin stars. For a real bargain business lunch, however, nothing can touch the value of the Panorama Tower restaurant (panorama-leipzig.de), which offers a three-course lunch for a mere € 12 as well as fantastic views from the 29th floor.