Royal Views: Hanover Puts the Cherry on Top of Spring! (March 21, 2014)

Now it’s impossible to miss—and it’s finally here officially: Spring has arrived in the Hanover region. Everything is green and in bloom, putting on a magnificent display of fresh colors, and just waiting to be explored and admired to your heart’s content. The start of the season at the Herrenhausen Gardens on April 1 offers a great opportunity to do just that. With magnificent water features, fascinating guided tours, artfully landscaped flower beds, and fragrant early-blooming plants, the Baroque gardens invite visitors to enjoy relaxing afternoons outdoors. At Easter, a colorful program—including exclusive carriage rides—also draws visitors to the historic gardens.

The 24th International Fireworks Competition will also be a colorful spectacle, taking place over five evenings between May and September, also set against the magnificent backdrop of the Herrenhausen Gardens. Last year’s winner, the Czech Republic, will kick off the event in spectacular fashion on May 17.

The “British Year” will then be the crowning touch to spring! Starting May 17, the Lower Saxony State Exhibition will open its doors under the theme “When the Royals Came from Hanover.” At the same time, Marienburg Castle will host the exhibition “The Path to the Crown—The Kingdom of Hanover and Its Rulers,” which also commemorates the 300th anniversary of the personal union. Together with numerous other events—ranging from an opera performance to a Hanover-British race day and an English garden festival—the Hanover region will take on a “very British” atmosphere. To complement this, the HMTG is hosting an open-air gallery for about four weeks, inviting visitors on an exciting and informative tour through downtown Hanover. On large-scale advertising columns, visitors will learn all sorts of interesting facts about the time when the royals came from Hanover. Floating banners, ground posters, and appropriately decorated storefronts round out this very special city tour.

This vacation region invites you to enjoy a sporty outdoor adventure: If you’d like to actively explore nature, grab your hiking boots and a picnic backpack and head out to the 7th Deister Day. The Deister municipalities are already waiting to be explored by countless visitors on guided hiking, horseback riding, and biking trails. The day is rounded out by live music and a variety of events throughout the towns.

The Easter Dance Days, the Long Night of the Theater, or a detour to explore Hannover’s studio scene on the Studio Walk—which takes place on two consecutive days—add a splash of cultural color. You can find the perfect spring outfit during a leisurely shopping trip on one of the Sundays when stores are open in downtown Hannover or the surrounding towns. A comprehensive overview is provided in the “Open on Sundays” brochure, which is available at the Tourist Information office, among other places.

Open-air season and the joy of driving a convertible

Hanover’s 100-year-old landmark—the New City Hall—takes visitors to lofty heights. An arched elevator—the only one of its kind in the world—first transports visitors vertically and then at a 17-degree angle up to the 98-meter-high, gilded dome of the city hall. Once at the top, visitors enjoy a fantastic view over the capital of Lower Saxony. In good weather and with a little luck, the Deister and even the peaks of the Harz Mountains can be seen. The two Hanover double-decker buses—running daily again starting April 15—provide a true open-air experience. Passengers can take a “hop-on, hop-off” city tour with the top down to Hanover’s most beautiful sights while feeling the wind in their hair.

HMTG has put together exciting experience packages centered around the diverse events in the Hanover region, including hotel accommodations. An overview of the lodging packages is available at www.hannover.de/erlebnispakete.

The latest HMTG supplement, “Tips and Events for Spring 2014,” also provides a comprehensive overview of the many exciting events and related experience packages. With a circulation of approximately 1.8 million copies, it is included today (Friday, March 21) with many daily newspapers within a radius of about 250 kilometers around Hanover and is also available for download at www.hannover-tourismus.de..

For more information, visit www.hannover.de/urlaubsregion &
www.visit-hannover.com. We have made photos available for editorial use at www.hannover.de/presse_hmtg.