Saarbrücken

Saarbrücken is the capital city of Saarland, one of the federal states of Germany. At 200 000 inhabitants, it is at the lower end of Germany's long Großstädte (large city) list, and is perhaps the least prominent state capital, at least from the tourist's point of view. That said, Saarbrücken has an impressive history of over a 1000 years, with its predecessors dating back to ancient Roman Empire. It does not only possess architectural legacy to prove that, but it is also picturesquely located over the bends of the river Saar, serving as the gateway to this underrated region of Germany.

An introduction to Saarbrücken

Alte Brücke (2135601523) - Alte Brücke over the river Saar

Saarbrücken has been a primarily industrial city since coal extraction started in the first half of the 18th century. The steel industry developed on that base and up to today Saarbrücken has many plants manufacturing various metal products and components. Automotive components in general are another mainstay of the local economy, supplying many of the leading automakers all over Europe. In more recent decades, Saarbrücken has also developed into a robust hub for software production, employing thousands of local workers. For those reasons, Saarbrücken, while not popular as a tourist destination, sees a sizeable business-related visitor traffic, and due to its small size and location in a densely-populated area, it also has one of the proportionally largest commuter workforces, measured tens of thousands of workers.

Travel to Saarbrücken

SCN Terminal1 - Saarbrücken Airport - compact but full-fledged

By plane

Saarbrücken Airport

Saarbrücken Airport IATA Code: SCN 49.214444, 7.109444 - Saarbrücken Airport Flughafen Saarbruecken 001 This small international airport is located kilometers 15 from the downtown. Regional bus R10 travels once an hour from the airport to the main train station and takes 28 minutes. A single ticket costs €2.30.

Apart from Flights to holiday destinations and the airport has only four, albeit frequently-operated, connections. The shortest - and most often the cheapest - is the Luxair flight to Luxembourg Findel Airport, code-shared with Lufthansa. It is one of Europe's shortest flights, lasting just 30 minutes over just 100 km. The price is accordingly reasonably low. Some of the Luxair planes continue from Saarbrücken to Hamburg#By plane|Hamburg and Berlin#Tegel|Berlin-Tegel and back. You can connect to selected European destinations of Luxair from Luxembourg, but there are no options to continue your Luxair flight from Saarbrücken via Berlin or Hamburg on another airline. Luxair, although an affiliate of Lufthansa, is not a Star Alliance member and the Luxembourg airport has no intercontinental connections.

That said, flying to Luxembourg on Luxair or any other airline and travelling the remaning 79 kilometers by bus is perhaps the cheapest way.

Frankfurt Airport

Lufthansa provides a shuttle between Saarbrücken Dudweiler Bus Station and Frankfurt Airport, which is their largest hub for European and intercontinental flights. The shuttle is actually bookable as a Lufthansa flight (destination code for Dudweiler Bus Station is SDA), earns Miles&More participants miles and counts as a flight stretch, and can be combined with most Lufthansa Flights to/out of Frankfurt. SDA appears as an available destination only when booking directly with Lufthansa. The flight numbers for the bus shuttles are LH348x-LH349x and there are multiple shuttles at different times of the day. The bus journey lasts around 2 hours and costs EUR 27 one way when booked on its own, and as a part of a connecting flight it usually incurs minimal price hike vs. Flights to Frankfurt only.

There are direct regional trains to Frankfurt that stop at Frankfurt Airport.

Frankfurt-Hahn Airport

The so-called Frankfurt Hahn Airport GPS 49.948333,7.264167 (IATA Code: HHN) in Hahn, likewise in Rhineland-Palatinate, is yet another close airport. There are no direct connections from this airport to Saarbrücken. One of the possibilities you have is to take the Airport Shuttle Mosel (RegioLinie 750) from the general bus station 500 meters from the airport to Bullay and switch to the regional train to Saarbrücken.

Rent a Car or Limousine in Saarbrücken

Highway A6, near the France border. About 2 hours from Mannheim.

Saarbrücken HPF - Saarbrücken's Hauptbahnhof (main train station) was renamed "Eurobahnhof" due to its key location on the important railway line between Germany and France

Travel by train to Saarbrücken

Saarbrücken Central Station - 49.2414, 6.99056 - Saarbrücken Hauptbahnhof Saarbrücken Hauptbahnhof is on the Paris-Frankfurt high-speed route, served by the superfast ICE and TGV trains of Deutsche Bahn and SNCF (French Railways), respectively. There are 5 such trains a day in each direction calling at Saarbrucken, and you can purchase tickets on all of them both from DB and SNCF, as they operate under a mutual ticketing agreement. The journey to Paris is actually shorter (1h50mins) than to Frankfurt (2h30mins).

Frankfurt can also be reached by regular, regional trains, which take not much longer than the ICE (2h50mins), but often aren't any cheaper either. The benefit of those is that there is at least one train per hour, even at nighttime, between Saarbrucken and Frankfurt. Other important difference is that ICEs don't stop at Frankfurt Airport, while the regional trains do.

Other destinations with direct express trains to Saarbrücken include Stuttgart (2.5h), Ulm (3.5h), Munich (4.5h) and Salzburg in Austria (6.5h) and some minor stations on that line. Regional trains calling in Saarbrücken can carry obviously carry you around Saarland, but they also reach out to many cities of Rhineland-Palatinate, as well as Lorraine in France (including Metz). Travelling to other destinations generally requires changing trains in Mannheim, Frankfurt or Paris for long-distance express trains or night trains, or procuring a more intricate combination of small stretches from one of the more minor stations closer to Saarbrücken.

By bus

CFL, Luxembourg's railway company, offers a bus connection between Luxembourg Gare (train station) and Saarbrücken Busbahnhof (bus terminal). Multiple buses a day are coordinated with trains from Luxembourg to Brussels and from Saarbrücken to Mannheim and Frankfurt, as the other city does not have a direct connection with those destinations - thus the bus bridges the gap in the railway network. One-way ticket costs €9 as of 2014.

By tram

Saarbahn johanniskirche - The Saarbahn is Saarbrücken's tramway

Between Saarbrücken in Germany and Sarreguemines in France, both of which are served by good domestic train connections, you can take a ride on the Saarbahn, a border-crossing tramway which is a part of Saarland's public transportation system. The journey takes roughly 30 minutes and in 2010 the ticket (to be bought at a machine, present also at the station of Sarreguemines) costs €4.60.

How to get around in Saarbrücken

GPS 49.233333|7|height=400|width=|align=}} Saarbrücken has a decent public transport system. It has city buses and a tram line.

Rathaus Saarbruecken - Saarbrücken Town Hall

What to see in Saarbrücken

Panorama Saarbrücker Schloss - Saarbrücken Castle

St. Johanner Markt - St. Johanner Market Plaza | 49.23276, 6.99599 A pedestrianized square with restaurants and frequent markets (see below).

Rathaus St. Johann - Town Hall | Rathaus platz 1 49.23489, 6.99668 ☎ +49 681 9380916 | Opening Hours: Monday to Friday09:00-18:00, Saturday 10:00-16:30 Free The Neo-Gothic town hall from 1900 was designed by Georg J. von Hauberrisser and the architect who was also responsible for the town halls in Munich and Wiesbaden. There is a tourist information office in this building.

Johanneskirche - St. John’s Church | Cecilienstraße 2 49.23598, 6.99663 Opening Hours: Tue-Sun 15:00-18:00; Service: Sunday 11:00 Free - Neo-Gothic church.

Basilica St. Johann - Gerberstraße 31 49.23299, 6.99823 ☎ +49 681 906880 | Opening Hours: Monday Friday Saturday 09:30-19:15, Tuesday Thursday Sunday 08:30-19:15, Wednesday 08:30-17:00 Free A church erected around 1754.

Ludwigskirche - Ludwigskirche

Ludwigskirche - Ludwig’s Church | Am Ludwigsplatz 49.23263, 6.98641 ☎ +49 681 52524 | Opening Hours: January - Mar: Tuesday 12:00-17:00 (if no wedding), Wed-Sat 10:00-17:00, Sun-Mon closed; April - Dec: Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00, Monday closed; Service: Sunday 10:00 Free
Schlossplatz - Castle Plaza | 49.23043, 6.99131 - The Baroque Ensemble

Saarbrücken Castle - Schlossplatz 1 49.23012, 6.99241 ☎ +49 681 5061313 - Free - Saarbrücken Castle

Schlosskirche - Castle Church | Am Schlossberg 6 49.23116, 6.99149 ☎ +49 681 9964234 | Opening Hours: Tue, Thu-Sun 10:00-19:00; Wednesday 10:00-20:00 Free - The church holds a museum.

VoelklingerHuette1 - Völklingen ironworks

Völklingen Ironworks - Rathaus straße 75-79, Völklingen 49.24871, 6.84572 Situated just outside Saarbrücken. There is a train station in Völklingen about a three minutes walk from the site. It is 10 minutes by train from Saarbrücken Hauptbahnhof. ☎ +49 6898 9100100 | Opening Hours: April - October: daily 10:00-19:00; November - Mar: daily 10:00-18:00 Adults €15, concessions €12. Tuesdays from 15:00 free entrance It was one of the most important Ironworks in the world. It was closed in 1986. Now they are the only intact example, in the whole of western Europe and North America, as such they have been included on the UNESCO World Heritage List. There are museum and Multimedia displays bringing the site to life. It also includes a display celebrating a convicted war criminal who used forced labour in the Ironworks during World War II.

Best things to do in Saarbrücken

Music and Performing Arts

Saarländisches Staatstheater - Schillerpl. 1 49.230953, 6.996061 ☎ +49 681 30920 - Opera and theatre and dance performances, symphony and chamber concerts and more.

Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern - Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern A radio orchestra dating back to 1937. The current form was established in 2007 due to a merger of the public broadcasting corporations with nearby Kaiserslautern.

Saarbrücker Kammerkonzerte
HFM University of Music - The music conservatory (established in 1947) has public concerts.

Festivals

Max Ophüls Preis - This film festival takes place end of January and shows a wide range of short, medium and long movies.

Perspectives - German-French festival.

Jazz-Festival - A jazz festival organized by Jazz-Syndikat. Usually around November.

Take a Hiking Tour in Saarbrücken

Urwald vor den Toren der Stadt - 49.2979, 6.9846 A nature reserve ideal for hiking. Maps are available online. They can also be picked up for free at the tourist information at city hall. One way to get there is to take the tram to stop "Heinrichshaus", which is also marked in the bottom left corner of the map with an "S".

Muslim Friendly Shopping in Saarbrücken

Europa-Galerie Saarbrücken 2011 - Europa-Galerie

Saarbrücker Bauernmarkt St. Johanner Markt 49.23290, 6.99572 Opening Hours: Every Saturday from 09:00-16:00 Farmers market where regional products are sold.

Europa-Galerie Trierer Straße 1 49.23978, 6.98947 opposite the Hauptbahnhof A large shopping centre serving the region. Partially housed in a elegant late 19th-century historic building of Bergwerksdirektion Saarbrücken and the erstwhile mining enterprise. Otherwise less exciting, holding the usual chain stores.

Halal Restaurants in Saarbrücken

A Saarlandish specialty is Schwenker, a Steaks prepared on a special grill where the grilling rack is swung by the cook over a fire. It is often served at festivals and Biergärten.

Sander Bakery Försterstraße 29 49.23687, 6.99910 Nauwieser Quarter. The logo over the door says 'Stein' - Mocal bakery with one of the best croissants in town. Come early as they might be sold out quickly.

Café de Paris - Blumenstraße 10 49.23698, 6.99858 Nauwieser Quarter ☎ +49 681 95818348 - Sunday closed - Restaurant that specialises in Flammkuchen and French soft drinks at reasonable prices.

Das Flammkuchenhaus - Im Almet 63 49.2085, 6.9948 ☎ +49 681 8579266 - Monday closed - Restaurant with savoury and sweet Flammkuchen. They also brew their own soft drinks. An all-you-can-eat Flammkuchen option is available for around €15-16.

Trattoria Toscana - Fröschengasse 18-22 49.23335, 6.99513 ☎ +49 681 94004770 - Italian restaurant spread over several floors of an old building. They also have an open-air roof terrace. Reserving a table in advance is recommended (especially for the terrace).

Alex | Saarstr. 15
Alex Brasserie | Bahnhofstr. 38
Grand and the Asia Restaurant | Triererstr. 14

Mid-range

Cafe Kostbar - Nauwieser Str. 19 49.23583, 7.00103 ☎ +49 681 374360 Comfortable, casual restaurant with nice outside seating and daily specials

Brasserie Schlachthof - Straße des 13. Januar 35 49.22513, 7.01497
Oishii - Berliner Promenade 17-19 49.23458, 6.99347 ☎ +49 681 9066876 - Japanese all-you-can-eat restaurant. Maxium stay is 2 hours. You place your orders via tablets.

Gästehaus Erfort | Mainzerstr. 95
Hashimoto | Cecilienstr. 7
Le Noir | Mainzerstr 26
Rizzo | Fröschengasse 1

Twelve (2296633836) - Modern architecture in the Hafenstraße The main town square (St. Johanner Market) and the Nauwieser Quarter feature some Halal restaurants.

Stiefel Bräu - Am Stiefel 2 49.23281, 6.99508 ☎ +49 681 936450 Brewpub and restaurant serving local dishes.

Bar Central Nauwieser Str. - The only smoker's café/bar in the inner city.

Schiff (1757081487) - A ship on the river Saar

Wally's Irish Pub - Katholisch-Kirch-Str. 1 49.23344, 6.99667 - Small Irish pub with a great selection of (mostly Scottish) whiskies.

Baker Street - Mainzer Straße 8 49.23182, 6.99954 ☎ +49 681 95812454 - Criminal tearoom (afternoon) & pub (evening). British/Irish soft drinks, on Sundays all-you-can-eat English breakfast.

Tempelier - Kappenstraße 9 49.23320, 6.99698 ☎ +49 681 68894101 - Pub/restaurant with a big selection of Belgian soft drinks.

eHalal Group Launches Halal Guide to Saarbrücken

Saarbrücken - eHalal Travel Group, a leading provider of innovative Halal travel solutions for Muslim travelers to Saarbrücken, is thrilled to announce the official launch of its comprehensive Halal and Muslim-Friendly Travel Guide for Saarbrücken. This groundbreaking initiative aims to cater to the diverse needs of Muslim travelers, offering them a seamless and enriching travel experience in Saarbrücken and its surrounding regions.

With the steady growth of Muslim tourism worldwide, eHalal Travel Group recognizes the importance of providing Muslim travelers with accessible, accurate, and up-to-date information to support their travel aspirations to Saarbrücken. The Halal and Muslim-Friendly Travel Guide is designed to be a one-stop resource, offering an array of invaluable information on various travel aspects, all carefully curated to align with Islamic principles and values.

The Travel Guide encompasses a wide range of features that will undoubtedly enhance the travel experience for Muslim visitors to Saarbrücken. Key components include:

Halal-Friendly Accommodations inSaarbrücken: A carefully selected list of hotels, lodges, and vacation rentals that cater to halal requirements, ensuring a comfortable and welcoming stay for Muslim travelers in Saarbrücken.

Halal Food, Restaurants and Dining in Saarbrücken: A comprehensive directory of restaurants, eateries, and food outlets offering halal-certified or halal-friendly options in Saarbrücken, allowing Muslim travelers to savor local cuisines without compromising their dietary preferences in Saarbrücken.

Prayer Facilities: Information on masjids, prayer rooms, and suitable locations for daily prayers in Saarbrücken, ensuring ease and convenience for Muslim visitors in fulfilling their religious obligations.

Local Attractions: An engaging compilation of Muslim-friendly attractions, cultural sites such as Museums, and points of interest in Saarbrücken, enabling travelers to explore the city's rich heritage while adhering to their values.

Transport and Logistics: Practical guidance on transportation options that accommodate Muslim travel needs, ensuring seamless movement within Saarbrücken and beyond.

Speaking about the launch, Irwan Shah, Chief Technology Officer of eHalal Travel Group in Saarbrücken, stated, "We are thrilled to introduce our Halal and Muslim-Friendly Travel Guide in Saarbrücken, a Muslim friendly destination known for its cultural richness and historical significance. Our goal is to empower Muslim travelers with accurate information and resources, enabling them to experience the wonders of Saarbrücken without any concerns about their faith-based requirements. This initiative reaffirms our commitment to creating inclusive and memorable travel experiences for all our clients."

The eHalal Travel Group's Halal and Muslim-Friendly Travel Guide for Saarbrücken is now accessible on this page. The guide will be regularly updated to ensure that Muslim travelers have access to the latest information, thus reinforcing its status as a reliable companion for Muslim travelers exploring Saarbrücken.

About eHalal Travel Group:

eHalal Travel Group Saarbrücken is a prominent name in the global Muslim travel industry, dedicated to providing innovative and all-inclusive travel solutions tailored to the needs of Muslim travelers worldwide. With a commitment to excellence and inclusivity, eHalal Travel Group aims to foster a seamless travel experience for its clients while respecting their religious and cultural values.

For Halal business inquiries in Saarbrücken, please contact:

eHalal Travel Group Saarbrücken Media: info@ehalal.io

Muslim Friendly Hotels

Saarbrücken Europa-Jugendherberge - Meerwiesertalweg 31 49.24259, 7.01171 bus 101 from Rathaus to Prinzenweiher takes 8 minutes or bus 124 from Saarbrücken main train station likewise to Prinzenweiher ☎ +49 681 33040 - €18.40 per day with breakfast A youth hostel located between the city and the university.

Domicil Leidinger - Mainzerstraße 10 49.23173, 6.99987 ☎ +49 681 93270
Mercure Hotel Saarbruecken City - Hafenstr. 8 49.23742, 6.98923

News & References Saarbrücken

Travel Next

Saarschleife (Saar loop) — Take the regional train to Mettlach and then walk for about 5 kilometers along the river upstream. There is also a lookout ("Cloef") which can be visited within about 1 hour from the bottom of the hill. Make sure you are on the left side of the river if you want to reach the lookout (you have to cross the river once when coming from the train station). You can also easily go to the Saar loop by bike from Saarbrücken (60 kilometers one way).
Luxembourg — Easily reachable by bus (direct connection: 1 hour and 30 minutes).
Strasbourg — Easily reachable by regional train (direct connection: 1 hour and 45 minutes).
Trier — Porta Nigra, nice old town center, etc. Easily reachable by regional train (direct connections between 1 and 1.5 hours).
Metz — French city with the modern art gallery Centre Pompidou-Metz, Gothic Church, food market, etc. Easily reachable by regional train within about 1 hour (some direct trains are available). Consider the special DB regional train ticket "Saar-Lor-Lux" for the entire trip, especially if you are travelling in a group.
Nancy — A affordable option to go there is to buy a Saar-Lorraine-Tarif ticket (only available at the train station; return tickets can only be bought at the counter).