Leipzig

Bach served as cantor here from 1723 until his death, and he is buried beneath a bronze slab in the chancel. The boys' choir he once led still sings motets on Friday evenings and Saturday afternoons; plan around one of those.

White columns fan out at the top like palm fronds, lighting up a pale pink and green interior. In 1989 people left its Monday peace prayers and marched as protesters, and the prayers still meet each Monday. A copy of a palm column stands outside as a memorial.

A 91-metre mass of stone raised in 1913, a hundred years after Napoleon lost the battle of 1813. Giant guardian figures leaning on swords ring the crypt, and roughly 500 steps lead to the platform at the summit. A lift covers part of the way.

A glass-roofed shopping arcade, with Auerbachs Keller below, the tavern Goethe wrote into Faust. Bronze figures of Faust and Mephisto guard the stairway, and the toe of Faust's shoe shines yellow from all the hands that have touched it.

Once among continental Europe's largest cotton mills, it is now a campus of studios and galleries. You wander between red-brick mill blocks choosing galleries to enter. On three weekends a year every studio opens at once, the chance to see rooms normally shut.

Inside a gasholder from around 1910, a 360-degree panorama by Yadegar Asisi covers the whole curved wall. The way to see it is to climb the steel tower in the middle and watch from changing heights. Every few years the picture changes to a new subject.

Citizens occupied this regional Stasi headquarters in December 1989, and it is a museum today, left much as they found it. The steam machines used to open letters in secret survive, along with jars of scent samples. There is no charge, and it opens daily.

Opened in 1915, it ranks among Europe's largest stations by floor area. Twin entrance halls mirror each other because the Saxon and Prussian state railways shared it. The two levels below the platforms are a shopping mall, and many shops trade even on Sundays.

The 19th-century businessman Karl Heine dug this canal through the Plagwitz industrial district, and old factory buildings line its banks. Canoe and boat hire sits alongside, letting you paddle your way between the mills.

An opencast lignite mine flooded and opened as a lake in 2000, reachable by bike along forest paths south of the city. It has sand beaches and a marina, and on summer weekend afternoons the car park by the north beach fills early.

Home of the Gewandhaus Orchestra, founded by citizens in 1743; the present hall rose on Augustusplatz in 1981. After dark, the vast mural across the foyer ceiling shows through the glass front, visible from the square even when no concert is on.

A glass cube opened in 2004 on Sachsenplatz, right in the old town. Its star is Max Klinger's seated Beethoven in marble, bronze and ivory. Each floor has terrace windows facing the city, a pause between galleries.

A museum on Grimmaische Strasse tracing Germany's division, the East German dictatorship and the 1989 Peaceful Revolution in objects and film. The permanent show is free. St Nicholas Church, where the Monday protests began, lies a short walk off.

Facing St Thomas Church, in the house of a merchant family close to Bach. His autograph scores hang in a dim room under low light. A listening room lets you pick pieces on headphones, which keeps even non-musicians there for an hour.

One late-1920s Art Deco building holds three museums: applied arts, ethnography and musical instruments. The instrument collection keeps what is often called the world's oldest piano. The stairwell's stained glass shows from the lobby, no ticket needed.

A giant rainforest hall opened in 2011 inside Leipzig Zoo. A treetop rope bridge crosses it, and small boats loop along a river under the roof. It is always hot and humid inside, so winter visitors end up hunting for a coat locker.

Completed in 1905 where Pleissenburg castle once stood, its 114.7-metre tower is the tallest of any German town hall. Guided climbs take the stairs to the top, which overlooks the old town. The great hall and corridors are open during office hours.

An Orthodox church consecrated in 1913, the battle's 100th anniversary, for some 22,000 Russian soldiers killed at Leipzig in 1813. Its gilded onion dome rises over the houses south of the centre. Inside, the icon screen runs up to the ceiling.