Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen) is Germany's second-largest state by area — 47,000 square kilometres stretching from the North Sea in the north to the Harz mountains in the south, and from the Dutch border in the west to the Elbe in the east. Flatlands dominate: the coastal marshes, the Lüneburg Heath, the moors of the Emsland. The only real mountains are the forested Harz in the south, which hold Germany's most northerly ski slopes and the iconic Brocken.
The capital, Hannover, is a trade-fair city — the annual Hannover Messe is the biggest industrial fair in the world — and home to the spectacular Herrenhäuser Gärten, one of Europe's finest baroque gardens. Much of the old city was destroyed in the 1943 bombing, so modern Hannover is a mix of post-war reconstruction and green space (about 60% of the city area is parks or forest).
The state has three UNESCO World Heritage entries, all in the south: the imperial palace and old town of Goslar with its neighbouring Rammelsberg mine, and the Romanesque churches of Hildesheim. Göttingen is one of Germany's great university towns, alma mater of dozens of Nobel laureates. Lüneburg, built on salt, has a wonderfully intact medieval centre that leans visibly where the salt mines have subsided. Hameln trades on the Pied Piper legend; the Harz Mountains are the obvious destination for hikers.
On the coast, the Wadden Sea (Wattenmeer) is UNESCO-listed as the largest unbroken tidal flat system on earth; walking across the mudflats to one of the East Frisian islands at low tide is a classic German summer activity. The East Frisian Islands themselves — Borkum, Juist, Norderney, Langeoog, Spiekeroog, Wangerooge — are long-established family holiday destinations.
Wolfsburg is, for better or worse, Volkswagen's company town; the Autostadt exhibition complex next to the factory is genuinely impressive even if you don't care about cars.
