Leipzig
The CouchSurfing Wiki, an informal workspace which anyone can edit.
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CS Group
We share a CS group with Halle and Merseburg.
To find CSers in Leipzig, click here: Couch search for Leipzig.
New to Leipzig and want to meet people? The best way to do that is to take the direct path – and look for a profile that interests you and write to that profile. Posts to the group along the lines of "Hi! New here! Who wants to go out for a beer with me?" or similar will probably go unanswered – at least meet us halfway and ask individual members, or arrange a meeting if you know your way around Leipzig. Especially: Please don't look for couches using the group – write personal requests. We have a lot of potential hosts here, so you should get a positive reply fairly quickly. However, we do have an emergency couch subgroup which is read, so if you need a couch fast (tonight or tomorrow night), you might like to try there – but please only use it in a genuine emergency, or you will likely get a straight rebuff on the group.
Meetings
We've arranged for one meeting a month, on the second Thursday of each month. Refer to the CS group for dates and venues.
Regular non-CS events that might interest visitors to Leipzig
- Leipzig's language evening
- Party on down every Saturday in Leipzig's VillaKeller
- CAMPUS ALARM: Student party every first and third Friday of the month - in the VILLA
Places to go, things to see
Here are some ideas as to where to go in Leipzig:
Things to see
You can spend a whole day wandering around the city centre. Here is a very non-exhaustive list of things you might like to see outside the city centre:
- Leipzig Zoo
- Monument to the Battle of the Nations
- Clara-Zetkin-Park – a great place to grill ’n’ chill!
Click here for a useful map of other places to barbecue in Leipzig!
Pubs, restaurants, clubs
Most of Leipzig's pubs and clubs are either in the city centre, but Leipzig also has a couple of great pubbing and clubbing streets – Karl-Liebknecht-Straße in Südvorstadt, and Gottschedstraße in Leipzig West-Central. There are hundreds of good places to go, so here is a very small (and somewhat random) selection:
- Moritzbastei, city centre, behind the Gewandhaus – down in the catacombs; traditional student club, the place to take your CS guests as it is unique to Leipzig; arguably the best chili con carne in Leipzig, good prices
- Spizz, city centre (Markt) – hm... trendy, kind-of
- Sixtina, Markt – absinthery, gothic scene hangout, so be prepared to embrace the dark side...
- Dark Flower, city centre – the club to go for the gothic scene
- Night Fever, Gottschedstraße – if you a fancy a bit of disco beats from the 80s and 90s
- Puschkin, off Karl-Liebknecht-Straße – excellent food, good prices, street café
- Destillery, Kurt-Eisner-Straße (off Karl-Liebknecht-Straße) – one of Germany's oldest techno clubs, and still going strong
- McCormacks, McCormacks Ballroom (also a pub!), on and off from Karl-Liebknecht-Straße – Excellent food, luscious beergarden at both locations
- Sol y mar, Gottschedstraße – classy, you can sit on mattresses at the table; bit expensive, but not outragious
- Vodkaria, Gottschedstraße – you name it, they have it in Vodka brands; very cool website
What's on
Most Leipzigers use the events section of the local city mag, Kreuzer, if they want to know what to do of an evening. You have to know German, though...
Safety
Recent events in England have once again brought it home to us that while CouchSurfing is fun, there are risks.
Before you use CS as a guest or host, take a look at the following notes and links on safety – should be obvious, but read through them anyway. Yes, you have the time.
Emergency numbers
Take these numbers down and keep them in a safe place.
If you need to call someone for information, you can contact our City Ambassador, André, or call me (Dave) at the following number: +49 (172) 341 92 12. We may not be able to help you straight away, but we will do our best to find out who can.
Crime
If you've been robbed, physically assaulted or fallen victim to any other crime, or have other serious problems affecting your stay in the area and need to call the police, the phone number for the German Police is 110. Be aware that they may not be able to speak English, so it may help to have a German speaker on hand.
Medical emergency
The phone number to call in a medical emergency is 112. This is also the fire brigade, but they also deal with medical emergencies.
Sexual assault (especially against women)
Before you start, read this, and note the number below.
If the worst has come to the worst, Leipzig has a hotline for victims of rape, assault and related crimes. If any such thing has happened to you – whether you're not sure if it was actually a crime or not, whether you think it was somehow your fault or not, whether you want to take any other action or not, CALL THIS NUMBER:
+49 (341) 391 11 99
The hotline staff are at least roughly familiar with CouchSurfing, and most know some English. They are NOT associated with either the police or CouchSurfing. They will NOT force you to go to the police or the hospital. They WILL listen to you, they WILL treat the call with confidentiality, they WILL give you information on what to do next, support you in whichever way you want to handle it, and otherwise help you in any way possible.
What to do next
If you have fallen victim of a crime by another CS member – whoever it is, please inform an MDST at CouchSurfing, and TELL THEM WHAT HAPPENED. If you don't, CS cannot know that it has bad members and cannot prevent them for finding other victims. Click the page, scroll to the bottom, select "Problem with member" from the dropdown box and write about what happened. Other than that – WRITE A REFERENCE to warn other CouchSurfers! You don't have to tell the whole story if you don't want to, but write enough to stop others from CouchSurfing with that person.
