Saarbrücken is the capital of Saarland, the smallest land of Germany. The city is a major industrial center but at the same time you can find some interesting landmarks there. There's no historic center, only the downtown that lies on both banks of the Saar river near the Old Bridge. It will take you a couple of hours to walk around the downtown.
View from the Castle Square ©Yuriy Buriak
Alte Bruecke (Old Bridge, 1546) ©Yuriy Buriak
View from the Alte Bruecke (Old Bridge) ©Yuriy Buriak
In 1381 the land was called Nassau-Saarbrücken and ruled by the Nassau dynasty. You can visit the residence of the Counts of Nassau-Saarbrücken.
Saarbruecken Castle (17th century) ©Yuriy Buriak
Interesting facade of the Saarbruecken Castle ©Yuriy Buriak
Fountain on the Castle Square ©Yuriy Buriak
Old City Hall ©Yuriy Buriak
Castle Church (Schlosskirche, 1743) ©Yuriy Buriak
The most interesting building in the city is Ludwig's Church (Ludwigskirche) which you can see on one of German commemorative coins of 2 euro. On Saturdays there's is a city market near the church.
Ludwigskirche (Ludwig Church, 1775) ©Yuriy Buriak
Saarbrücken is connected to the French town of Sarreguemines with the Saarbahn tram line, one of the two international tram lines in the world.
Friedenskirche (1743) ©Yuriy Buriak
Rathaus (City Hall, 1897-1900) ©Yuriy Buriak
Staatstheater (state theatre, 1938) ©Yuriy Buriak
St. John’s Church (Johanneskirche) (1894-1898) ©Yuriy Buriak
St. John's Basilica (1754-1758) ©Yuriy Buriak
Interesting house ©Yuriy Buriak
We spent the night at the Mercure Hotel Saarbrücken City (booking.com), it has the best location.
Getting there: It's easy go get to the city by train, but trains such as IC or ICE run just a couple times a day. Therefore, most likely you will take a regional train from Frankfurt, Mannheim or Kaiserslautern.
