Herrenhausen Gardens - Hanover
First published in 2020
Herrenhausen Gardens are most probably the most important tourist spot in Hanover. Officially they consist of the Great Garden, the Berggarten, the Georgengarten, and the Welfengarten, but usually people just refer to the Great Garden if you ask. You have to pay an entrance fee of 8 EUR (as of 2020) that is valid for the Great Garden, the palace, and the Berggarten.
Our hotel was in the northern part of Hanover, so we walked to the gardens through the Herrenhäuser Allee (Herrenhausen parkway). This is anyhow something I would recommend to do. Parking near the Great Garden is limited and walking along the two-kilometer-long alley is a nice introduction to the symmetry of the Great Garden.
The Great Garden itself is considered to be one of the most outstanding Baroque gardens in Europe, with the fountain as the central focal point. The first fountain was inaugurated in 1719 and continually improved over the years. During our visit, the museum hosted an interesting exhibition of the technique behind the fountain, but I'm not sure if this is really a permanent one.
The garden is quite large, with different sections (like a rose garden, to name just one) separated by hedges. Expect to spend quite some time just strolling around.
The Great Garden hosts also a grotto that was decorated by Niki de Saint Phalle. The grotto consists of three, small rooms and was opened in 2003. For us, this was one of the key reasons to visit the gardens.
Unfortunately, the weather was getting worse and worse the longer we stayed in the garden, so we decided to take a look at the palace and the museum. The palace was destroyed during World War II and the one you can see today was opened only in 2013. As the palace and the museum inside are included in the entrance fee anyhow, you might want to take a look - but don't expect too much.
Originally, we wanted to visit the Berggarten as well, but because the rain became stronger and stronger, we stayed there only for a few minutes. It's located just across the street from the Great Garden and is less formal. On top, it has some greenhouses and in the meantime also an aquarium (not included in the entrance fee).
In the meantime, the rain was so bad that I didn't even take out the camera. So we decided to call it a day and walked back to our hotel.
