☰Salzgitter

Salzgitter's restaurant scene is modest but functional. Most options cluster around Salzgitter-Lebenstedt and Salzgitter-Bad, with a handful of decent spots for a sit-down meal.

The Chinese restaurant Sun-Garden in Lebenstedt (Berliner Strasse 144) offers familiar Chinese dishes in a classic red-and-gold interior. Service is friendly and the food is reliable. Take bus 612, 619, or 640 and get off at Lutherkirche.

For something heartier, Hacienda (Chemnitzer Str. 78) serves Balkan-style grilled meats — cevapcici, raznjici, satarash — despite the misleading Latin name. There's a weekday lunch special between 11:30am and 2:30pm.

If you want something lighter, Eiscafé Guido sits right in the Lebenstedt town centre near the Stadtpassage. Good sundaes, decent coffee, and ice cream cones to go for around €0.60 a scoop. Open Monday–Saturday 8:30am–10pm, Sunday 10am–10pm.

You can get around Salzgitter very comfortably by bus. As the city consists of separate villages, sometimes a far cry off from one another, it might take you some time to get from one quarter to the other. Depending on your destination you might have to allow for an half-hour or 45 min ride. At night you have to take a taxi. There are no nightbusses.

Contributors August 14, 2006

Salzgitter By Bus (KVG)

The main part of the busses in Salzgitter are run by the regional bus company KVG ("Kraftverkehrsgesellschaft mbH Braunschweig"). A KVG branch office is located at Salzgitter-Lebenstedt. KVG mbH Braunschweig; In den Blumentriften 1; 38226 Salzgitter.

You can find a map of the bus-routes on the following site: www.kvg-braunschweig.de/pdf-Form /Liniennetzplan_SZ.pdf ** Timetables (in German) you can look up at: www.kvg-braunschweig.de/go.asp** (Click "Fahrpläne" in the menu on the left and then choose your line or stop to see the timetable.)

tel: 0049-5341-4099-0

url: www.kvg-braunschweig.de

address: In den Blumentriften 1; 38226 Salzgitter

email: [email protected]

Salzgitter is accessible by train from Braunschweig roughly once an hour, arriving at Salzgitter-Lebenstedt station on Konrad-Adenauer-Strasse. The station is small — just a single track today, down from four in its heyday — but it gets the job done. It sits directly opposite the Citytorcenter shopping centre and a cinema.

By car, the A39 autobahn connects Salzgitter to Braunschweig and the broader Lower Saxon motorway network. The city itself is spread across several distinct districts, so check which part of Salzgitter your destination is in before setting out.

Most Salzgitter residents head to Braunschweig or Wolfenbüttel for serious shopping, but the city centre in Salzgitter-Lebenstedt covers the everyday basics. Walking from the train station, you'll pass the Citytorcenter on the right, then the Créteil-Passage and the Stadtpassage facing each other along the main pedestrian stretch, plus a C&A near the town hall. Standard high-street fare: shoes, clothing, accessories.

Worth a detour is Bellsdorf Schreib- und Spielwaren (In den Blumentriften 6), a toy and stationery shop that has occupied the same spot for over 30 years. The windows are crammed with toys floor to ceiling, with an old-fashioned charm that chain stores rarely manage. Kids love it; adults feel unexpectedly nostalgic.

Salzgitter has no single tourist centre — its attractions are scattered across the 31 villages that make up the municipality. The medieval hilltop ruins of Burg Lichtenberg, the Renaissance Schloss Salder (now a local history museum), and an industrial tour of the working steelworks at Salzgitter-Watenstedt are the standouts.