Events – Hannover

Hanoverians like to share their city with visitors from all over the world, and there are plenty of excuses for a celebration. The 'Swinging Hannover’ jazz festival, the traditional Marksmen's Funfair (Schützenfest) and the Maschsee Lake Festival: Hannover is a city bustling with life with an eventful calendar packed with festivals and celebrations. The annual International Fireworks Competition in the Royal Gardens of Herrenhausen is a highlight every year.

International Fireworks Competition

This event is a „high light“ in the truest sense of the expression – the place where the best pyrotechnists from all over the world compete against each other! The combination of music, drama and fireworks simply gets under your skin. One frisson of pleasure follows another, and you find yourself wishing that the 25-minute performance would never end. It is hardly possible to imagine a more marvellous backdrop than Hannover‘s Herrenhausen Gardens for these breathtaking displays against the night sky. In a nutshell: a true feast for all the senses. Hours before the competition starts, visitors are drawn to the Gardens by a colourful accompanying programme of performance and live music.

Maschsee Lake Festival

Concerts, artistry and culinary specialities: every year since 1986, the people of Hannover have been joined by guests from far away for a gigantic party. With some two million visitors, the Maschsee Lake Festival is one of northern Germany’s biggest open-air parties. Right on the banks of the lake, a number of stages offer programmes for every age and every taste. The Mediterranean atmosphere gives wings to the soul – it’s difficult to believe that it’s all taking place in northern Germany. Firework displays provide the dramatic opening and the crowning conclusion. Lights, colours and the reflections in the water blend into a single glittering image, making all eyes shine.

Marksmen's Funfair

When the people of Hannover celebrate their Schützenfest, the Marksmen’s Funfair, they really let their hair down: the biggest marksmen’s fair in the world lasts ten days and ten nights. There is hustle and bustle everywhere as uninhibited high spirits and folksy togetherness reign, and the enormous funfair keeps everybody in the best of moods with its countless attractions. This event brings the whole of Hannover out of its shell. Breathtaking rides will make you „high“ in the truest sense of the word, while the drinking of the traditional Hannover tipple “Lüttje Lage” lends a touch of merry and bibulous local colour. The traditional climax is the Grand Parade of the Marksmen, in which some 12,000 people take part: marksmen and women, marching bands, festively decorated floats and horse-drawn carriages process from the New Town Hall to the Schützenplatz fairground – while tens of thousands of people line the route to cheer them on!