Travel to Hanover
Flying to Hanover
Airlines offering direct flights to Hanover from the UK include Lufthansa City Line, Air Berlin, British Airways, Flybe and Eurowings. Cheap flights are available year-round, with the best deals if you book well in advance. There are no direct flights to Hanover from the USA, but plenty of options with one connection.
Flight times
From London - 1 hour 20 minutes; New York - 9 hours 30 minutes (including stopover); Los Angeles - 14 hours (including stopover); Toronto - 9 hours 30 minutes (including stopover); Sydney - 26 hours (including stopover).
Travel by road
Germany has an excellent network of toll-free autobahnen (motorways, prefixed 'A' followed by up to three numbers) and bundesstrasse (major roads, prefixed by 'B').
Traffic drives on the right. Speed limits are 130kph (81mph) or 100kph (62mph) outside built-up areas and 50kph (30mph) in built-up areas. There are no speed limits on motorways, although individually marked speed limits appear on a large percentage of motorway miles. A maximum of 130kph (81mph) is recommended. Seat belts must be worn at all times and children under 12 years (if they are shorter than 150 cm /4.92ft) can only travel in the front seat with a child restraint.
The minimum age for driving is 18. Foreign drivers require a valid national driving licence and proof of insurance - a Green Card is strongly recommended. A country identification sticker must be displayed on the vehicle.
You can obtain general information on travelling by car in Germany from the Allgemeine Deutsche Automobil Club (ADAC) (tel: 0800 510 1112, in Germany only; www.adac.de), which also provides a breakdown service throughout the country.
Emergency breakdown services
ADAC (tel: 0180 222 2222, in Germany).
Routes
The A7 (Hamburg-Kassel) skirts Hanover to the east and is Germany's north-south link. The A2 (Berlin-Dortmund) passes the city to the north and is nicknamed Warschauer Allee (Warsaw avenue), because it links the east with the west. These motorways are linked by the A37 (east) and the A352 (west).
Coaches
Eurolines (tel: +44 871 781 8181, in the UK; www.eurolines.com), Flixbus (www.flixbus.de) and other bus companies run international coach services to Hannover from across Europe, including a direct overnight service from London (journey time - 14 hours 30 minutes).
The main coach/bus station, Zentraler Omnibusbahnhof (www.hannover-zob.de/startseite), is located directly behind the railway station on Rundestrasse.
Time to city
From Berlin - 3 hours; Munich- 6 hours; Cologne - 3 hours; Bremen - 1 hour 30 minutes.
Travel by Rail
Services
Germany has a fast, efficient rail network. The main station is Hannover Hauptbahnhof, Ernst-August-Platz, and is an important junction on the ICE train network. Facilities include shops, numerous eating and drinking outlets, car hire, and two trade fair information counters.
Operators
Deutsche Bahn (DB) (tel: 0180 699 6633, in Germany only; tel: 0044 (0) 8718 80 80 66, in English only; www.bahn.de) operates Germany's rail network. Services include high-speed InterCityExpress (ICE) trains between major cities in Germany, InterCity (IC) and EuroCity (EC) trains, which serve cities in Germany and Europe respectively, and InterRegio trains, which link different regions of the country.
ICE services run to Hanover from Berlin and Hamburg and also to Bremen, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Mainz, Stuttgart and Munich. The Nightjet-trains (www.oebb.at/de/angebote-ermaessigungen/nightjet) also makes stops at Hanover. During international trade shows, selected ICE trains, IR trains and regional trains stop at Hannover Messe/Laatzen station, at the Messegelände (trade grounds), in the southwest of the city.
If travelling by train to Hanover from the UK, the best option is to take a Eurostar train to Brussels, followed by a Thalys or ICE train to Cologne, then an ICE train to Hanover.
Journey times
From Frankfurt - 2 hours 20 minutes; Cologne - 2 hours 40 minutes; Berlin - 1 hour 35 minutes; Munich - 4 hours 20 minutes; Stuttgart - 3 hours 50 minutes; London - 8 hours 30 minutes (including connection time).
