Looking for the best things to do in Görlitz? Look no further! Here’s a small collection of things to see and do during your time in the city, based on my day trip there in March 2019.
Why visit Görlitz?
First things first: what makes Görlitz worth seeing? Görlitz has to be one of Germany’s most beautiful – and criminally underrated – cities. Located right on the edge of the country – or as the locals say, where Germany begins – the city has a population of just 56,000 but a long and interesting history that rivals places twice its size.
For me Görlitz feels like the epitome of central Europe – cobbled streets, beautiful merchant houses and a charming old town to wonder around and get lost in. But Görlitz has plenty that sets it apart too…
Many of Görlitz’s historic buildings have been restored with money given by a mystery donor, who has gifted the city with over €500,000 a year since 1995…
Things to see and do in Görlitz
1. Admire the beautiful buildings in the Altstadt (Old Town)
Top of your list of things to see in Görlitz should be the beautiful old town. Like many cities in Germany, Görlitz has a well-preserved old town, but Görlitz’s claim to fame is that it has more protected buildings and monuments than any other town in Germany – over 4,000 in fact.
During the East German communist regime, many of these buildings fell into disrepair (similar to those in Dresden), but in the past few years over 700 have been fully restored, making them– quite literally – as good as new. The city has also made a big push in recent years to encourage young people to move back into the historic centre, offering low prices to entice people into living in the newly renovated spaces.
Many of Görlitz’s historic buildings have been restored with money given by a mysterious donor, who has gifted the city with over €500,000 a year since 1995, gifting a total of over €10 million. The donor requested to stay completely anonymous…
Read more: 10 reasons to visit Saxony: Germany’s hidden gem
2. Take a selfie on the German-Polish border in Görlitz
One very cool thing you can do in Görlitz (if you like borders like me) is to walk across the bridge to the Polish town of Zgorzelec, formerly a part of Görlitz (and Germany) before the war. There isn’t a huuuge amount to do there, but there is a branch of Folkstar just next to the bridge which sells great colourful items in the styles of various different Polish folk art.
I thought it would be very cool to take a selfie in each country. It was. (I really like borders.)
If you like borders, check out this post on one of the most bizarre borders in Europe.
3. Explore Görlitz with a walking tour from Visit Görlitz
I’m not always one for walking tours organised by the local city tourism office, but this is one from Visit Görlitz I would really recommend as a top thing to do in Görlitz. The city has a fascinating history and has much more in common with the traditional regions of Lusatia and Silesia than it does with the East German Republic and being a modern-day border town.
In fact, the town grew rich on trade and commerce along the medieval Via Regia route, which stretched from Spain to Moscow and once boasted a population of 100,000, dwarfing both Leipzig and Dresden at the time.
4. Rest your feet in Café Herzstück
One place you can’t miss when you’re in Görlitz is the charming Café Herzstück in the old town. The weather on my day trip to Görlitz was far from ideal (hence the very grey photos) and so I whiled away an hour or two in this cosy café with several cups of tea and a slice of cake. The staff were lovely and the place was really nice. Would definitely recommend!
5. Hunt out famous settings from your favourite films in Görliwood
In recent years Görlitz has made a huge name for itself as Europe’s premiere filming location, having stood in for almost every major European city you can think of on the big screen. One of my favourite films, The Grand Budapest Hotel, was filmed extensively in Görlitz and the surrounding area.
Make sure to pick up a Görliwood brochure from the Visit Görlitz tourism office for a city plan of the most famous filming locations.
For more on filming locations for the Grand Budapest Hotel in Saxony, click here.
6. Take photos of Görlitz’s beautiful doors
I guarantee that something you’ll do a lot of in Görlitz is marvel at the beauty of its doors. They are really quite something and you will spend a lot of time photographing them from every angle.
7. Try the local cuisine
Mohnkuchen (poppyseed cake) is something you’ll find in most bakeries in Germany, but the local speciality Schlesischer Mohnkuchen (Silesian poppy cake) is prized in these parts and is well worth trying. The most popular local brew is Landskron beer, named after the local hill and landmark, Landskrone.
(I’m sure that Görlitz is also home to plenty of really good restaurants, but on my day trip I didn’t do any fine dining, opting for bakeries and cafes instead.)
8. Verfall feiern or ‘Celebrate Decay’
Outside of Görlitz’s carefully restored old town, you’ll notice that a lot of buildings aren’t in quite the same condition. Görlitz lies in the former East Germany – an area which is still struggling with unemployment, a declining population and large-scale decline of local industry. As a result, many buildings are left abandoned or crumbling or both.
While the decay is a sign of hard times for the city, as a tourist it’s something you can try to embrace and, as the graffiti suggests, celebrate. (And photograph.)
This hipster cafe embraces the ‘decay’ in GörlitzThe graffiti itself can be found behind the bank on Postplatz, here.
9. Go shopping in one of the Görlitz’s many arcades
As part of the city’s former position as a trade hub, Görlitz today has plenty of shopping arcades, both old and new. Part of the challenge of being on the border with Poland is that many things are cheaper over the river, but there are still signs that commerce is picking up again, with several independent boutiques and craft stores dotted around (and also a bizarrely high proportion of plant shops).
10. Take a great Instagram photo at the Upper Lusatian Society of Sciences
So I very almost didn’t include this last one purely because the above photo is the most expensive Instagram photo I’ll ever take. The library is a beautiful masterpiece found in the Upper Lusatian Society of Sciences, or in German – die Oberlausitzische Bibliothek der Wissenschaften (I bloody love German sometimes), which costs €10 to enter. An additional €5 is required to take photos, however. The library is literally just one room in the building (which you actually can’t enter – there is a divide stopping you from walking any further through the stacks) and the rest of the exhibits there didn’t look too appealing to me.
Still, if you find yourself in Görlitz on a rainy day with an hour to kill (as I did), there are worse ways to spend your time. The staff were pretty helpful and waived the charge for the Garderobe because I was in and out so quickly.
If you want to see photos of Görlitz in the sunshine (something I definitely wasn’t lucky enough to experience), then check out this great blog post from Earthtrekkers.
