Hanover is greener and more walkable than its trade-fair reputation suggests. The compact reconstructed Altstadt clusters around the Marktkirche, the Marktplatz and the Old Town Hall, and from there it is a short stroll to the Maschsee lake, the New Town Hall with its slanted dome lift, or into the vast Eilenriede city forest.
The baroque Herrenhausen Gardens — split between the formal Grosser Garten and the botanical Berggarten — are the headline sight. The Sprengel Museum on the Maschsee shore holds one of Germany's strongest 20th-century collections; the Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum covers everything from prehistoric bog people to old masters; and the Kestnergesellschaft shows ambitious contemporary art.
Architecture buffs should walk the marked Red Thread route between the Nanas on the Leibnizufer, Frank Gehry's twisting tower and the Expressionist Anzeiger-Hochhaus. Save an evening for the bars of Lister Meile and the List district, or for the alternative scene in Linden across the river.