From Hotel Alt-Connewitz to the Wildpark, along Die Linie through the floodplain forest, up Fockeberg and into Clara Zetkin Park. Plus evenings in Connewitz.
Connewitz is green and neighbourhood life in one. The floodplain forest and Wildpark sit almost on your doorstep, while the streets around Connewitzer Kreuz cover the louder urban side. Fockeberg and Clara Zetkin Park a little further out are worth keeping in mind if you want Leipzig beyond the usual sights. Here we show you a different side of Leipzig, and our Hotel Alt-Connewitz on Meusdorfer Straße is the natural base for exploring it.
From the hotel into the woods
Leave the car and just walk. From our Hotel Alt-Connewitz it is only about twelve minutes on foot to the Wildpark. By then you are already deep in the floodplain forest, a designated protected area. You wander between the Pleiße and the Elsterflutbett through one of Leipzig’s big floodplain stretches.
We rent bikes at the hotel, too. Pick one up at reception and cover more ground that way.
We wrote a separate piece on the KarLi as well. Our KarLi guide has the shops, food and staff picks.
The Wildpark
Wildpark Leipzig sits in Connewitz’s southern floodplain forest on Koburger Straße. Across roughly 40 hectares you find native animals in large enclosures, including roe deer, wild boar, red deer and other Central European species. Entry is free, donations welcome. Playgrounds and the park restaurant round things off, so families often start here from the hotel.
Check opening hours on the city website. Last entry is usually an hour before closing. From our Hotel Alt-Connewitz you are there in about twelve minutes on foot. The bus stop Wildpark works well too.
Following Die Linie through the forest
Once you are in the woods, paths run under the trees and along the water. You can stick to the Elsterflutbett, peel off along the Pleiße, or simply wander. There is room for a short loop before lunch or a longer stretch in the afternoon. Stay on marked paths and watch the signs in the protected area.
If you want a clear line on the map, take Die Linie. It is named for its straight run through the southern floodplain forest, Leipzig’s Ratsholz. You can pick it up easily from the Wildpark. Stay on it and you come out at the southern end of Clara Zetkin Park. Or turn right onto Schleußiger Weg before the park and head for the KarLi when you want cafés, shops and a bit of street life again. From there, walk back to the hotel along the KarLi. That loop works both ways. Start on the KarLi, cut into the forest, and return on Die Linie.
Up Fockeberg
Fockeberg is a rubble hill in Südvorstadt, piled up from wartime ruins after 1945. Think of Berlin’s Teufelsberg and you have the idea. Leipzig’s version is smaller, but it still sits in the city and you actually climb. From our Hotel Alt-Connewitz count on about forty minutes on foot, so treat it as a separate outing. Or pair it with the KarLi. From Steinstraße you are at the top in about twenty minutes.
Pause at the top. On a clear day you look out over the centre, the floodplain forest and well into the south. Come back via the KarLi or the woods, depending how you want the day to end.
Clara Zetkin Park
Clara Zetkin Park is Leipzig’s big central park, with lawns, paths, a pond and that easy park pace near the ring road. You will not get there in twelve minutes from Alt-Connewitz. Go by bike or tram, or arrive via Die Linie after a forest walk north.
On the south side, on Karl-Tauchnitz-Straße, the Parkbühne is the open-air stage from the 1950s. Summer brings outdoor concerts and family shows. Dates and tickets are on the venue site. Nearby you also find the park café and play pavilion. Further north on Anton-Bruckner-Allee, just south of Leonorenhügel, stands the Franz Schubert stele. The slim granite pillar from 1929 honours Franz Schubert. He never came to Leipzig, but the city still shaped his story here. Mendelssohn conducted the premiere of the Great C major Symphony at the old Gewandhaus in 1839. The men’s choir in Leipzig pushed for the memorial, and sculptor Margarete Tschaplowitz-Seifert designed it.
Combine the park with a trip into the centre and you are also close to our Hotel am Bayrischen Platz. Southwestern Leipzig is easy to explore from there as well.
Around Connewitz
The urban side starts at Connewitzer Kreuz by WERK 2. KarLi, Wolfgang-Heinze-Straße and the roads toward the forest meet a few minutes from our Hotel Alt-Connewitz. Old façades, corner shops, pubs and venues in former industrial and cinema spaces all sit close together.
WERK 2 on Kochstraße 132 is the big arts complex at the Kreuz. The former machine hall hosts concerts, workshops, markets and club nights. Four clubs share the building, and the programme changes often. Round the corner at Wolfgang-Heinze-Straße 12a, UT Connewitz is one of Germany’s oldest cinemas. The historic hall still runs films, concerts, readings and festivals, and it keeps that old movie-theatre atmosphere on purpose.
Toward Koburger Straße, between Kreuz and Wildpark, Conne Island is at Koburger Straße 3. It is a youth and culture centre run by locals, with a hall, café, outdoor space and skate park. Check the site for the programme and tickets. For dancing and a beer garden in the evening, Tanzcafé Ilses Erika on Bernhard-Göring-Straße 152 is a regular stop, with a basement club and outdoor seating. The line-up stays wide and never mainstream, from alternative and indie through hip hop, dancehall and Italo disco.
Earlier in the day, Wolfgang-Heinze-Straße is worth a wander. Restaurant LADEN at number 15 opened fairly recently and took over the old Goldfisch rooms at the end of 2023. You sit in the courtyard under lights, with cake in the afternoon and proper dinner later. Plenty of vegan and vegetarian dishes on the menu too. ZENDA at number 38 is known for homemade cakes and a snug room. By day it is a café with a mezzanine, by night more of a bar. Hours and nights change, so check before you go.
Now and then the courtyards open for the Connewitz flea market. You browse yards rather than a big market square. Local listings have the dates. For the long KarLi strip with shops and food, stick with our KarLi guide. Woods by day, neighbourhood by night, and Meusdorfer Straße is close again.
Back at Alt-Connewitz
Whether you walked for hours in the woods or stayed out late in Connewitz, Hotel Alt-Connewitz is never far. There is a sauna on site if you want to unwind.
The hotel page has more on rooms, location and booking. For more Leipzig before you arrive, browse our little BIG stories.