Halle

The fourth largest city in Eastern Germany with nearly a quarter million in population, Halle is justly proud of its native son, Georg Friedrich Handel, celebrating his music with the annual Handel Festival and other music programs. But Handel is not the only musician admired here. Along with his house, which holds the city’s music museum, travelers can visit a Beatles Museum, in a baroque palace on Alter Markt. Halle’s opera house, theaters and art museum in the 15th-century Moritzburg Palace make it a cultural center, even though it is in the midst of a major industrial area. Much of the region’s historic prosperity was based on salt, and ...

The fourth largest city in Eastern Germany with nearly a quarter million in population, Halle is justly proud of its native son, Georg Friedrich Handel, celebrating his music with the annual Handel Festival and other music programs. But Handel is not the only musician admired here. Along with his house, which holds the city’s music museum, travelers can visit a Beatles Museum, in a baroque palace on Alter Markt. Halle’s opera house, theaters and art museum in the 15th-century Moritzburg Palace make it a cultural center, even though it is in the midst of a major industrial area. Much of the region’s historic prosperity was based on salt, and another museum details the methods used to extract and process it. The State Museum's archaeological collections from the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic ages are among the largest in Europe, with more than 10 million artifacts. A zoo, botanical garden and miles of riverfront parks provide plenty of green space.

About the Expert

Stillman Rogers has written more than two dozen guidebooks, including Adventure Guide to Canada's Atlantic Provinces, Guide to Eastern Canada, and Adventure Guide to the Chesapeake.