Buxtehude Travel Guide

Buxtehude
[ source: Flickr]

Buxtehude Overview

Buxtehude is a town on the Este River in Northern Germany in the district of Stade (Stade vacation rentals | Stade travel guide) and part of the Hamburg (Hamburg vacation rentals | Hamburg travel guide) Metropolitan Region (Metropolregion Hamburg).

Buxtehude is a steadily growing medium-sized town and the second largest in the district of Stade. It lies on the southern borders of the Altes Land within easy reach of the city-state of Hamburg. West of it are the towns of Horneburg (Horneburg vacation rentals | Horneburg travel guide) and Stade and to the south there are incorporated villages offering mostly upscale housing, e.g. Ottensen and Apensen.

Buxtehude is home to several large businesses and numerous smaller ones and retailers.

Overall Buxtehude is made up of 19,393 male and 19,495 female residents. The religious makeup of the city is 46.31% Lutheran Protestant, 7.76% Roman Catholic and 39.88% others including other Christian denominations and Judaism. Married couples makeup 48.28%; single, widowed and divorced individuals account for 51.70% while registered same-sex relationships are represented with 0.02%.

Buxtehude is home to 91.79% Germans and 8.21% with other background, most of them being Filipino (33.09%), Turkish (10.65%) or Polish (7.24%).

Things to Do

Buxtehude enjoys a good reputation as a warm, visitor-friendly town preserving its cultural and regional heritage without denying the future. Besides the beautiful old part of town, the main church of Sankt Petri (St. Peter) and the Zwinger are great places to pay a visit to. The Altes Land adjacent to Buxtehude and the close Elbe river serve as great get-aways for a bicycle tour or a long hike. Buxtehude can as well be used as your hub for tours to the nearby cities of Hamburg (Hamburg vacation rentals | Hamburg travel guide) and Bremen (Bremen vacation rentals | Bremen travel guide).

Regular events

For the interested visitor, some events held every year:

Buxtehuder Pistennacht

The Pistennacht is an event where bars, restaurants and clubs in the old part of town are open all night long. A stage downtown and some individual places offer live music.

Pfingstmarkt Neukloster

The Pfingstmarkt is the biggest fair in northern Germany along the national highway "B73". It is always held on the Christian holiday of Pentacost (German: Pfingsten) exactly 50 days after Easter close to Buxtehude. It features 130 exhibitors with many rides including a Ferris wheel and bumper cars as well as lottery booths, snack booths and sit-down food locations. In 2004 140.000 visitors flocked to the fair compared to 10.000 in 1904 and 100.000 in the 1970s.

Altstadtfest

Like the Pistennacht, the Altstadtfest (literally: "Old Town Festival") is held downtown. Every year on the first weekend of June the whole old part of town turns into a party with several stages with live music. Sunday morning the city's biggest flea market is held around the Fleth. For the occasion of Altstadtfest the town is decorated in the city colors of blue and yellow.

Weinfest

Vinum is the motto for the annual celebration of wine in old town Buxtehude. For one weekend the city dedicates itself to culture of wine and many booths for wine testing and entertainment open.

Weihnachtsmarkt

Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market) is held in the month of December in the Altstadt area with the highlight being Glühwein and bratwurst stalls. Various music concerts are also held at the St. Peter's square on the weekend before Christmas.

[ source: Wikipedia ]