Where to Stay in Hildesheim, Lower Saxony

What is Hildesheim known for?

St Mary's Cathedral and St Michael's Church carry the reputation of Hildesheim, and the Hildesheim Cathedral Museum holds what belongs with the first of them. Hildesheim's collections carry the rest. The Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum runs to collections of its own, and the Feldbahnmuseum Hildesheim keeps to one subject.

The Huckup stands in the streets as a figure of its own. Older defences show in the Kehrwiederturm and the Gelber Turm, and Steuerwald Castle sits outside the middle of the city.

What are the main landmarks in Hildesheim?

St Mary's Cathedral and St Michael's Church are the two buildings most visitors come for, with the Hildesheim Cathedral Museum beside the first of them. The Huckup waits in the street. The Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum takes a whole visit on its own, and the Feldbahnmuseum Hildesheim asks for less.

Kartause Hildesheim and Steuerwald Castle lie further out. Towers, monuments and a fountain fill the rest: the Kehrwiederturm, the Gelber Turm, the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Denkmal and the Bugenhagenbrunnen.

What is the history of Hildesheim?

Hildesheim grew as a church town. St Mary's Cathedral and St Michael's Church stand at the centre of that story, and the Hildesheim Cathedral Museum keeps the objects that came out of it over the centuries. Kartause Hildesheim belongs to the same monastic stretch of the past.

Walls, towers and earthworks went up as the town grew, and the Kehrwiederturm, the Gelber Turm and the Wasserkamp earthworks are what is left of that work. Steuerwald Castle and the Bennoburg held ground outside the walls. The Innerste ran past all of it on its way to the Leine.

Later centuries left monuments rather than walls: the Rainald-von-Dassel-Denkmal, the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Denkmal and the Bugenhagenbrunnen all belong to that habit of marking names in public. Churches kept multiplying. Saint Elisabeth Church and the Christuskirche came into a city already full of them.

The Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum gathered collections of a different order, and the Feldbahnmuseum Hildesheim and the Skulptur des Wortes came from later habits again. The Huckup belongs to the same public streets. Hildesheim remains a cathedral city first, whatever else has been added to it.

Where is Hildesheim?

The Innerste runs through Hildesheim. That river is a tributary of the Leine, and Hildesheim stands on it southeast of Hanover, the larger city that most arrivals pass through first. Steuerwald Castle and the Wasserkamp earthworks lie outside the built centre.

Lower Saxony, or Niedersachsen, holds the country around, and Hanover is the nearest city of any size.

What is the climate of Hildesheim?

The Innerste valley sits far enough inland that the sea has less say here, and the swing between a warm July and a raw January is wider than on the coast. Rain spreads over the year. Frost settles along the Leine lowland in the coldest weeks.

Walking between St Michael's Church and the cathedral is a matter of minutes, which helps when the weather turns without warning.

How do you get to Hildesheim?

Hanover is the way in. Hildesheim lies southeast of it on the Innerste, and long-distance arrivals usually change in Hanover rather than at the smaller town, which keeps the last leg short. Inside the old centre, the walk from the cathedral to St Michael's Church is short.

Kartause Hildesheim, Steuerwald Castle and the Feldbahnmuseum Hildesheim all sit outside that circle and need transport.