"The bridges over the Saar" Top 5 Page for this destination Saarbrücken by Urzu

Saarbrücken is a great little city. Capital to Saarland, one of the smallest states of Germany. It is not a very touristy city, or it doesn’t get much attention, but in any case it’s a city that holds many charms and should definitely be considered if you are around the area!

Saarland is a state that changed nationality about eight times in 200 years, due to its closeness to France it belonged to the two countries, and “changed sides” constantly. This has had a great influence in the whole Saarland, and especially in Saarbrücken. The city has a little bit of a French “feel” to it, with all the little Bistros and Cafés and its terraces, which are lovely if the weather is nice! In fact Saarbrücken is only minutes away from France, and with the Saarbahn (the tram) you can go to the French city of Saarguemine quite fast.

Saarland was also a very industrial state, especially for coal mines and steel industry. This made Saarland mainly a working class state, which makes it somewhat cheaper to the rest of Germany. The industry has been decreasing greatly in the past years already, and in fact the coal industry will disappear in only a few years. But there have been other factors to keep the state and the city alive the Saarbrücken University has become quite important for its Informatics department, hosting for example Bioinformatics degrees.

The people in Saarland are also known for being quite friendly, there is a community feel, since it’s such a small state. In fact there is a saying that living in Saarland is always cheap, because if you need something there will always be a friend of a friend who will be able to help you!

Also Saarland is situated mainly in a valley area, so it has many wonderful places to go wandering and admire the beautiful scenery.

Saarbrücken was my home city for three years (though that was long ago), and it will always have a very special place in my heart!