Hannover 2026

Holzmarkt, Hannover

We arrived at Hannover Hbf on Friday 7 August after travelling from Düsseldorf on two trains. 

The main body of this post will give a few details of the brewery and bars we visited in the same order. For details of travel to Hannover, accommodation, meals, places of interest and a side trip to Bad Fallingbostel see the appendices that follow.

Reimanns Eck

In a pleasant neighbourhood, north of the station, Reimanns Eck (Reimanns Corner) at Lister Meile 26, overlooks Weißekreuzplatz, a green space with a summer beer garden. The restaurant also has many pavement tables to cater for drinkers and diners.

Inside, there's a bar near the corner entrance and further back a wider dining space with a large painting of a local street from an earlier era.

On a hot afternoon, we enjoyed cold glasses of draught Gilde Ratskeller Premium Pils, from Gilde Brauerei in the south of Hannover, established in 1546.

The bound menu also included details of three Bavarian draught beers brewed by Paulaner - Zwickl, Münchener Hell and Hefe-Weissbier.

Pasta e Basta

On the ground floor of the Markthalle, Karmarschstraße 49, Pasta e Basta is a South Tyrol style small bar and restaurant.

We enjoyed chunky glasses of pale Oberbräu Hell brewed by Holzkirchner Oberbräu in the Bavarian Oberland.

Klickmühle 2.0

Just across Karmarschstrasse from the Markthalle, Klickmühle 2.0 is on a corner at Leinstraße 25.

This was our first chance to try Herrenhäuser Premium Pils (40cl €4.10) brewed by Privatbrauerei Herrenhäuser in the north east part of the city. However, any atmosphere was lacking and the decor and music were not inspiring so we did not linger here.

Craft Bier Bar Hannover

After walking north on Leinstrasse, Holzmarkt and Burgstrasse we reached Craft Bier Bar Hannover on a corner at Ballhofplatz 7.

The sister bar of Craft Bier Hamburg, it had customers outside but was not busy inside for a Friday night. The barman was friendly and helpful.

High tables and a variety of stools were the main seating options with Tintin cartoon panels and real candles for decor. The beer menu for 24 taps is displayed above the bar using details from Untappd as this is a verified venue.

Schönramer Hell

We also visited late on Saturday night and over the two nights we enjoyed 25 cl glasses of German beers, including: Chiemseer Hell by Auerbräu Rosenheimer Spezialitätenbrauerei (€3.50); Eleven W/ Beyond Beer by Fuerst Wiacek Berlin (NEIPA €5.50); Schönramer Hell by Private Landbrauerei Schönram (€4). Many of the draught beers were from other countries.

The music choices were better on Saturday including tracks by Portishead and the New Radicals.

Brauhaus Ernst August

There are many pavement tables in front of the wide, contemporary frontage of Brauhaus Ernst August at Schmiedestraße 13, the Brewpub we visited first on Saturday. Inside it is dimly lit with several different areas.

We chose a table near the main entrance with views of  the curved bar and brewing vessels and an artificial tree but there are only high tables with stools in this area.

The Hanöversch Pilsener Naturtrüb was hazy, pleasantly sweet and soft.

The smallest measure of draught beer is 0.4l (€4.9 / €5.0). From our vantage point we gained the impression that there were more staff than necessary. However, it was only 5pm and we must have arrived before the main trade.

Hannovers Wohnzimmer

A kilometre away and southeast of the Markthalle, Hannovers Wohnzimmer (living room) features dark wood, patterned wallpaper and carpet.

There's a bar on one side of the room and more seating outside.

An A-board outside lists draught beers with Gilde the obvious local choice. The friendly barman encouraged us to visit the penultimate day of the Maschsee Festival with live music and food stalls by the nearby lake. Perhaps next year?!

Schankwirtschaft Barfuß

Disappointed to find that the Markthalle closes at 4pm on Saturdays, we continued back on our steps to find a group of drinkers standing outside the narrow frontage of Schankwirtschaft Barfuß. We dared to go inside and the lady behind the tiny bar / window serving hatch pointed out that it was a cash only place.

Glass ashtrays on tables indicate that smoking is allowed but as we were the only customers inside an aversion to smoke was not an issue.

The wallspace is covered with black and white photos of film stars, musicians and famous people providing an enjoyable memory challenge.

Do you recognise all the faces above?!

Whenever Hannover was mentioned as a destination, we met with surprise that any tourist would wish to visit the city. However, we were not disappointed by the capital of Lower Saxony and would be happy to return, especially for a first visit to the Sprengel museum.

Appendices

Transport to Hannover etc

Düsseldorf > Minden,  Minden > Hannover (via Haste!).

Hannover Hbf is northeast from the centre of the city.

The railway station includes many food outlets and other shops including one for football fans. Payment is required to use toilet facilities.

In Germany we used the monthly DB Deutschland-Ticket (€63) which allows unlimited travel on regional trains (not ICE), local U-Bahn, tram and bus services.

Accommodation

We stayed in the Prize by Radisson hotel which has an unusual design concept including a lot of yellow and purple!

The most direct walking route from the eastern exit from the station passes near Telemoritz (141 metres high, previously known as the VW tower) and is about 800 metres.

Coffee bars / breakfast / meals

Hotel breakfasts are usually expensive and we enjoyed visits to Le Crobag Veggie, just inside the main west entrance to the station. Unlike most places inside the station, there was somewhere to sit. Apart from the croissants, the filled rolls can also be recommended.

After a friendly welcome, we enjoyed Tyrolean style pizza and salad with a second glass of Oberbräu Hell, on a return visit to Pasta e Basta in the Markthalle, later on Friday evening.

Kenibo Ramen Bar, a Japanese noodle restaurant at Kramerstraße 10 can also be recommended. Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier Naturtrüb is available on draught here.

Landmarks and places of interest

Kröpcke-Uhr, a replica of the original clock in the city centre is known as a meeting place and is also used for small exhibition displays.

Beginenturm (Beguine tower), by the river Leine, is the only completely preserved tower of the medieval city fortifications.

Neues Rathaus, the New Town Hall was constructed between 1901 and 1913 in the Neo-Renaissance style. Behind the building lies Maschpark surrounding a small lake with water lilies and beyond that the Sprengel Museum and the main Maschsee lake surrounded by green spaces. The Sprengel Museum displays modern art including the Kurt Schwitters archive.

A daytrip to Bad Fallingbostel

On Saturday morning we took a direct train to Bad Fallingbostel. Meg's father, Robert Baker, an RAF bomber command navigator was captured after his plane was shot down over the Netherlands during WWII. spent some weeks Towards the end of the war, in 1944, he was moved west from Poland to Stalagluft 357 for RAF prisoners in Bad Fallingbostel and was held there for almost a year. We walked from the station to visit the site of the camp and a cemetery at Oerbke. 

Read Meg's The Valiant Heart blog post for more details and photos.

15,000 steps later, there was time for a bottle of Krombacher beer in the shaded garden of Dielencafe before the train back to Hannover.

Köln (Cologne)

On Sunday we travelled by train to Köln. See separate blog post - Köln -2026 

Related post

Also visited in August - Düsseldorf -2026

Hasselt - June 2026

 

Bierpunt Hasselt - Street art by Studio Giftig

A two-day first visit to Hasselt preceded the annual June visit to Antwerp for BierPassie Weekend. The Limburg city is known for Street art, quality food and previously for producing Jenever.

Hasselt station - trains to Verviers (left) and Antwerp (right).

Hasselt is served by direct SNCB trains to / from Brussels, Leuven, Antwerp and Verviers via Liege. There is also a regular De Lijn 20a bus service to Maastricht in the Netherlands.

Map derived from the Hasselt Guide available from Visit Hasselt

The centre of the city within the inner ring road is mainly free of vehicle traffic and is criss-crossed by pedestrian passages shown with green stripes on the map.

It's a pleasant city to walk around with plenty of independent record and book shops. Just for the Record (above right) is also a cafe and had an art exhibition.

There are also interesting older buildings including some where the ground floor frontage has been updated for commercial use. Street art is featured at the end of this post. Beer bars, cafes and taprooms appear below in the order in which they were visited by Tim. Only a few establishments were open on the arrival date, Tuesday 16 June, so these come first.

Bierpunt Hasselt

Bierpunt Hasselt (photo at top of post) was the second Limburg location for a Bierpunt beer bar. 

The extensive beer range is listed on both sides of laminated menus and includes 24 draught beers and 18 local beers (Streekbieren).

At Zuivelmarkt 29, near the entrance to the Begijnhof, outside tables have views of the Panoramatoren and Street Art 'Out of the Cage'. Tim's first beer on this trip was The Musketeers Troubadour Blond (6.5% ABV, €4.70) and there was a pleasant breeze on the warm evening. A brief look inside the bar gave the impression that it lacked character as there did not appear to be a traditional bar. 

Cafe Export

Cafe Export is sandwiched between Noncha and Cargo at Kolonel Dusartplein 24, just inside the inner ring road. There is space for many outside tables directly in front of the cafe and on the other side of the pavement.

Inside there is a contemporary look with little character except for the vertical wall lights with red shades and red curtains at the front windows.

A separate area beyond the bar is dimly lit with a raised pool table at the far end.

The beer menu includes 12 draught beers, 12 alcohol free beers, 25 Blond /Triples and five Trappist beers. There is a separate cocktails menu.

Tim chose Kompel L'Or Noir with a coal miner's image on the bottle and matching glass. This 8.2% ABV golden Tripel is on the sweet side and cost €5.20. Brewing Kompel beers began in 2015 at Maasmechelen, Limburg, near the Dutch border and former Eisden coal mine (1923-1987). It was possible to watch some of the France v Senegal World Cup game on TV here at the same time as music by Michael Jackson and Bruno Mars was playing.

Cafe Van Veldeke

Also open on Tuesdays, Cafe Van Veldeke 'the sunniest terrace in Hasselt' was a convenient final stop just before reaching the Ibis Styles hotel on the other side of the inner ring road. There is a statue of the twelfth century poet and writer Hendrik Van Veldeke under the trees next to the 

terrace.

The loud music playing here was the best of the evening and included tracks by Pet Shop Boys, Robert Cray and Spandau Ballet. The dark walls are decorated with framed gig posters, cassettes and vinyl records.

Subsequent research via Het Laatste Nieuws revealed that the cafe reopened on 30 May 2025 with Stef Cosemans (21) as the youngest cafe owner in Hasselt. His father Alain (56) worked on the refurbishment with him. It's nice when beer cafe owners like good music!

There is an online beer menu with five draught and twenty bottled beers including draught La Trappe Tripel (€5.50) and bottled Gouden Carolus Whisky Infused (€6.50). 

De Kleine Hal

As it closes at 8pm midweek, De Kleine Hal was the first beer cafe visited on Wednesday. Outside tables give views of St. Quintinus cathedral.

It was quiet inside and a table by the front windows was preferred for views of the remaining length of the narrow interior which is reached by a few steps down from the entrance level. The traditional interior has a nice collection of brewery signs and mirrors. The Belgian flags are for the World Cup but the bicycle looks more permanent?!

The tiled bar is a nice feature. The printed beer menu lists seven draught beers and a blackboard shows Westmalle Duo as draught beer of the month.

The menu also lists eight local beers, twenty nine bottled beers and there are twelve Trappist beers on another page. Ter Dolen Wit and Blimke Piepelier are additional local bottle beers shown on the blackboard. Blimke beers are brewed at Microbrouwerij De Rechter, north of Hasselt's centre.

As it was relatively early, a coffee sufficed on this visit but Blimke Piepelier has been added to Tim's Untappd Belgian wishlist. Some good music was playing here including tracks by the Waterboys, Jimi Hendrix, The Eagles and Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Cafe De Vaart Van Maastricht

Rear patio garden and front corner of De Vaart Van Maastricht

After a walk on this hot Wednesday to Cafe De Vaart Van Maastricht, Tim was ready for his first beer of the day.

This is a traditional corner bar for locals and a great place to relax in the shade with a beer. Music from a radio station was playing.

You can play Flemish billiards / Bumper pool here on the table with blue baize and a hole at each end. There's an unusual stove at the far end of the pub and Hercules, the small (yappy) bar dog is standing next to it in the photo (left above). Martens Pils is the refreshing draught Pilsner here.

Also from the Martens range, draught Sezoens Original Blond with it's distinctive glass and branding was a good reason to stay longer here.

A Facebook post above indicates that Philippe, Joke and Hercules have now moved to a B&B in the south of France since my visit. Hopefully standards will be maintained in Hasselt with Jasper now in charge.

Z33 Cafe

Begijnhof entrance and garden with bombed church ruins

Heading back towards the hotel, passing Bierpunt Hasselt, there was an opportunity to go through the archway into the Begijnhof and have a walk around the gardens and ruins before a beer break at Z33 Cafe which has a terrace inside the Begijnhof giving 'the most beautiful view in Hasselt'.

The obvious beer choice from two options was Romelaar Blond, the Z33 cafe house beer, brewed in Hasselt by Brouwerij De HopHemel. It was served with a small bowl of complimentary high quality roasted peanuts. Good value for €4.50 when you like nuts! The upper level of the cafe overlooks the Begijnhof and the Z33 House for Contemporary Art, Design & Architecture.

Panaramatoren and view from top of Bierpunt and Zuivelmarkt leading to St Quintinus cathedral

Before leaving the Begijnhof, the free opportunity was taken to ride the lift to the top of the Panoramatoren and view the city. A winding stairway is also available!

Stout

At Minderbroedersstraat 28, Stout occupies the premises previously used by Bakkersdochter.

The upmarket bakery and cake shop has moved to larger premises next door at No. 32.

At 5pm on a Wednesday it was a quiet time before Stout closes at 6pm.

Opening hours, events and the beer range are listed on Untappd and a first beer check-in earns an 'I've been to Stout' badge. Branded tote bags and t-shirts are displayed on a wall near the entrance. There are no draught beers but there are some jars and packages of food and snacks on shelves as well as fridges displaying canned and bottled beers. The fluorescent colours of the can designed by Karl Grandin for Omnipollos Flora Session IPA simplified the choice for Tim and the extra pale beer also suited his taste.

For a beer brewed at Omnipollos Kyrka (Omnipollo's deconsecrated church brewery in Sundyberg, Stockholm), €6 seemed fair for drinking on the premises.

De HopHemel

The Brouwerij De HopHemel Taproom is near Hasselt station at Bampslaan 21.

The entrance to the large room is reached from a wide archway.

The bar is at the street end of the room. Draught beers are listed on a blackboard above the taps between the front windows.

There are also clipboards with menus for draught and packaged beers. Draught beers are €5 but the serving may be 15cl, 25cl or 33cl with guest beers and stronger house beers served in the smaller measures.

Tim's first beer was HopHemel Verona Hoppy Helles which was more dry than expected.

The taproom has many interesting features and decorative details.

The courtyard extends behind the main building with strung hops, outdoor seating and windows to the brewery in a single storey side building.

HopHemel Quintinus Hasseltse IPA was suggested as a next choice and this was more suited to Tim's taste. The names for HopHemel beers are taken from saints' names as shown in the Druivelaar, a Flemish daily tear-off calendar.

On a quiet evening it was nice to get the chance for a brief chat with Steven Broekx (left) and Geert Vandormael who met in 2012, began brewing in 2017, incorporated Brouwerij de HopHemel in October 2020 and opened their Hasselt taproom in November 2022. They kindly posed with the first two issues of Berkshire CAMRA Branches magazine 'Pubs & Pints' that Tim left for reference.

Tim was grateful that they were able to sell him a rare can of HopHemel Adelheid, a Barley wine infused with oak chips soaked in apple cider distillate from the local Haspengouw region. This is one of the five beers in the 'Unusual Suspects' category in the 'Hidden Beers of Belgium' book written by Breandan Kearney with photography by Ashley Joanna.

In July 2021, Breandan Kearney also contributed a comprehensive Belgian Smaak post 'A Place in Blossom' about the brewing key players in the Haspengouw region, including Brouwerij de HopHemel. 

Grand Cafe 't Hemelrijk

It was nearly 8pm on arrival at Grand Cafe 't Hemelrijk. Most customers were seated around the front terrace.

Inside, a table was chosen away from the bar with a view towards an open front window and terrace beyond.

In conjunction with Brouwerij Haacht, the current bound menu features pop art by Stephan Bar that is also on display inside the cafe.

Tim was pleased to a favourite beer in the bottle section - Super 8 Flandrien (€4.90) a Blond beer flavoured with hop, coriander, oak and vanilla. It was served with a complimentary small bowl of nuts and savoury bites. A local beer on the menu is Belgian Craft Beer Company / Bier Van Hoge Goesting Coccinelle Tripel.

A conservatory area at the back has a darts board and table football. Music playing here included tracks by Paolo Nuitini and Duffy.

Café René

Conveniently, Café René is next door to 't Hemelrijk at Hemelrijk 9. Once again it was empty inside as all the customers were outside.

From the well illustrated ring-bound beer menu, Ter Dolen Kriek appealed to Tim and is brewed 15km away in the Ter Dolen castle brewery in 'Limburg's green heart'.

The 4.5% ABV Kriek is sweet and has cherry and almond flavours (€4.90). 

Music playing here included tracks by Sting, ELO, Bob Sinclair and Marvin Gaye.

Jenever Museum

A Juniper tree in courtyard of Jenever Museum

Before the train to Antwerp on Thursday, there was time to visit the Jenever Museum at Witte Nonnenstraat 19. A temporary exhibition included an upended tractor with ball and chain attached, a spoof Jenever post featuring Boerke (Dickie), a Belgian comic strip character created by Pieter De Poortere.

A Pieter de Poortere illustration of museum layout and linked photos

A post by Derek Blyth for The Brussels Times mentions 'The Jenever Museum in Hasselt occupies an ancient brick farm that once belonged to the order of White Nuns. It was turned into a distillery in 1803 and converted into a jenever museum in 1982'.

After a walk around the brick floored museum, where Jenever is still produced using the traditional methods, with a leaflet giving English translations of information boards, it was time to taste a jenever / elixir in the bar / shop (included in the ticket price).

Jenever Museum Sint-Lambertus + Google Translation of rear label

It would have been rude not to buy a small bottle of the same blackcurrant flavour jenever / elixir to take home!

Other references

Several individuals' posts and CAMRA Good Beer Guide Belgium (9th edition, Tim Skelton) inspired visits to Hasselt and the establishments featured above. Thanks to Caroline Debenham (Bluesky, 21-23 Feb 2024) and Jezza (Bluesky, 1 May 2026).

Other cafes and bars (unvisited)

Lto R: De Egel; Fietsbar; Cambrinus

De Egel (The Hedgehog) at Zuivelmarkt 64, near Bierpunt, was closed. Fietsbar, Het Dorp 35a, is a cafe combined with a bicycle workshop. Cambrinus at Het Dorp 25, recommended by Steven and Geert at De HopHemel, is almost next door to Cafe Van Veldeke.

Batopillo (2005), an artwork depicting a man with propellors powered from a backpack, by the Belgian artist, sculptor and inventor Panamarenko (Henri Van Herwegen, 1940-2019) is mounted on a stainless steel pole outside De Dry Dagonders brasserie, Botermarkt 28, on a corner near Café René. 

Street Art

Hasselt has a lot of Street Art spread around the city. Over 50 locations are identified on a free Street Art Route Hasselt map selected and curated by SAGA which can also be downloaded. 

Smeets and Fryns are the main grain Jenever producers linked with Hasselt.

L to R: Untitled, 2012 (Locatelli / Polak); Untitled, 2011 (MYMO); Owl, 2012 (ROA)

It's not surprising that there is a large malting tower - mouttoren - near the canal basin and new Quartier Bleu retail and housing development. The brick malting tower now features three large street art walls that are visible from some distance. More details about the artists can be found by clicking on the links to Street Art Cities posts under the photos.