This is Bremen

Bremen, the cosmopolitan city on the river Weser, is steeped in history. The locals are proud of their Hanseatic heritage, but it’s not something they would ever boast about. They enjoy having a coffee on the market square outside the magnificent UNESCO-listed town hall, or a refreshing beer on the bustling Schlachte Embankment. Here, it’s easy to imagine days gone by, when ships from all over the world were docked in the harbour. Even today, you can still see traditional sailing ships here, such as the Alexander von Humboldt. If you walk through the Schnoor quarter, Bremen’s oldest district, or the elegant Böttcherstrasse with its distinctive architecture, you experience history at every turn.

A journey to outer space, a walk through a whirling tornado or an expedition to the tropical jungle of Borneo – a trip to Bremen can be all this and more. Sit and tremble on the earthquake sofa at Universum® Bremen, or journey around the world in 80 minutes at the Übersee-Museum Bremen. The knowledge worlds of Bremen will awaken your spirit of discovery and your thirst for adventure. How about a visit to the International space station that was built in Bremen? Or testing your off-road driving skills at one of Germany’s most innovative car plants? Well, have you become curious?

In Bremen, you can see works by great masters past and present. Why not take a stroll along Bremen’s ‘cultural mile’ and pay a visit to the internationally renowned Kunsthalle art gallery, the sculpture museum or the design centre? The theatre, which presents a packed programme of entertainment, is just around the corner. A little further on, right by the river, the locals celebrate their big summer festival, the Breminale. And the International Festival of Street Performance, La Strada, turns the city into a giant open-air stage… there’s so much going on in Bremen!

As well as being a “beautiful, historical city”, Bremen is also “down-to-earth” and “a stress-free, friendly city” offering plenty of opportunities for leisure pursuits. At least, that’s what Germans think, according to a recent survey. And Bremen is green! Not only because green is the colour of Werder Bremen football club and Beck’s brewery. The city is also home to a whole host of lush green spaces, idyllic parks and enchanting gardens. They all make discovering Bremen by bike a particular pleasure. But this also a city that is proud of its culinary traditions. Exquisite chocolate, fine wines, rich-tasting coffee and refreshing beer – this historical trading port is home to many famous brands. Bremen is known for producing wonderful foods and drinks, and the locals are known for their appreciation of it. The array of restaurants, bars, cafés and local producers means there’s no shortage of places to enjoy the finer things in life.

The Bremen region may be relatively small, but what it lacks in size it more than makes up for in its capacity for innovation, its commercial strength and its entrepreneurial spirit. This cosmopolitan city state has expertise in the maritime economy and logistics, wind energy, automotive and the space and aeronautics industries – and is a global player in all of them. Numerous highly respected research institutes are based in Bremen and help to put new ideas and solutions into practice in close collaboration with business.

The tram takes you from the city centre to the main terminal of Bremen Airport in just eleven minutes. And from the main train station, it’s a three-minute walk to the exhibition grounds and around ten minutes to the city centre. Bremen really is a city where you never have to travel too far – it can be easily explored on foot or by bike, or you can use the local public transport.

Over 30,000 students are enrolled on several hundred courses in the federal state of Bremen, which comprises the cities of Bremen and Bremerhaven. There are also numerous non-university research centres that form part of the research community in these cities on the Weser river. Science and research are an important driving force in the development of Bremen and Bremerhaven, and have close links to almost all areas of life. And it’s thanks to this thriving research community that highly qualified and talented young professionals are attracted here – much to the benefit of innovative local companies, and to life in the city in general. The universities and the research institutes are also playing their part in shaping the cityscape. The Fallturm drop tower and the Universum, for example, have become Bremen landmarks, and are as much symbols of the research community as the town hall and the Roland statue are for the city of Bremen.