Hidden Leipzig: Auensee and park railroad

Since 1951, the small steam locomotive of the park railroad, then still called the Pioneer Railway, has been running around the idyllic Auensee lake. On its circular route, it covers a distance of around 1.9 km from the beginning of April to the end of October and passes through a station and three stops. During its opening hours, the miniature railroad takes you on a relaxing ride across meadows with a view of Lake Auensee and through densely wooded sections on weekdays as well as Sundays and public holidays. Only Monday is a day off.

Adults pay €3.00 for a ride on the battery-powered locomotive and €3.50 for the steam locomotive. Children pay €1.50 and €2.00 respectively. You can find the exact prices here. Although the train is operated by the Parkeisenbahn Auensee e.V. association in cooperation with the city of Leipzig, children and young people work as conductors in their free time.

Did you know that the floodplain area covers 5900 hectares? It stretches from Zwenkau in the south to the north-western border of Saxony and consists of the floodplains of the Weiße Elster, Pleiße and Luppe rivers and their tributaries. The most important and characteristic part of this floodplain system is the Leipzig Floodplain Forest Landscape Conservation Area. The Auensee lake is located in the middle of this landscape conservation area and only five kilometers from Leipzig city centre.

The groundwater lake, which is up to 10 meters deep, was created around 1910 as a gravel pit for the construction of Leipzig's main railway station. Until the fall of communism, the excursion steamer MS Weltfrieden sailed across the Auensee and you can still explore the lake by boat today. The Auensee is surrounded by meadow orchards and wetland biotopes, in which the particularly fragrant riverside garlic feels at home.