Cottbus

Cottbus (Sorbian: Chóśebuz) is a city in the southeast of Brandenburg state, in Germany. It is the state's second-largest city and is considered one of the cultural centres of the Sorbs, a Slavic ethnic minority in eastern Germany. Cottbus sits on the southern edge of the famous Spreewald and north of the developing man-made Lusatian Lake District. After the flooding of the Cottbus-Nord surface mine, the city will lie on the shore of Germany's largest artificial lake by surface area. Also to the north is the beautiful Schlaube Valley, which can easily be reached by day trip.

Understand
The name of the city comes from "Chotibuz" from the Sorbian (Wendish) language, which is itself a derivation of Choitische Budky, meaning approximately "pretty little houses".

Modern Cottbus is a small city, in what used to be East Germany (GDR), and due to high unemployment the city has suffered from the "brain drain" to more prosperous German cities. Its proximity to Berlin allows a lot of people to commute between the two cities. Today, it is most associated with coal mining, Communist-era prefabricated buildings, and the nearby Spreewald forest, but the city has much more to offer visitors than drab East German nostalgia.

The city first reached a population of more than 100,000 (the lower limit for the German term Großstadt) in the 1970s and peaked at over 130,000 during the East German period. Cottbus had about 100,000 inhabitants in 2019. While it seemed that after Reunification that it would lose the designation Großstadt once and for all, the population is rising again, fitting a Germany-wide trend of people moving into cities.

The city's history is inexorably linked to its expansion during the industrial revolution. Today, it offers a beautiful and well-preserved medieval core and its surrounding 19th century districts that arose during the city's textile boom. There are many parks in and around the old city centre which give the city a "green" reputation. The Soviet-era suburbs do not have much to interest tourists, but significant efforts to refurbish these districts and make them more attractive are being undertaken.

Historically, Cottbus is renowned for three specialties: cloth, grain and beer, and "Baumkuchen" (lit. tree-cakes), a traditional circular layer cake that resembles tree rings.

Starting in around 1860, the arrival of the industrial revolution granted Cottbus huge economic benefits. The first clothmaking factory and the first military barracks were founded here during that time. Then, in 1865, the railway connecting Berlin to Görlitz was built through Cottbus, which resulted in an industrial and economic boom. Other railway companies eventually connected their lines through the city as well, interconnecting the city with the nearby clothing mill towns of Guben and Forst, as well as Wroclaw.

Dr. Carl-Thiem, the father of trauma surgery in Germany, founded a private clinic in the city in 1885, where it still resides. In 1886, the first telephone system was installed, and after a merger of the three largest German carpet manufacturers, a public textile college was also founded.

By bus
Cottbus can be reached on the regional bus network that serves Brandenburg and the surrounding areas, the Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg. The regional bus terminal is now part of the train station.

By car
Cottbus is on the federal Autobahn Route A15 (E36), which runs west to Lübbenau, where is connects with A13 (E55) running northbound to Berlin and southbound to Dresden with a and Spur towards Dresden. Eastbound, the route terminates at the border with Poland and connects on to the Polish highway network. This motorway has two exits to the city Cottbus-West (16), and Cottbus-South (17).

Secondary regional route connecting to Cottbus are B97 from Guben to Spremberg and Hoyerswerda, B115 from Bad Muskau and Görlitz to Lübbenau and Lübben, B122 from Forst, and B169 from Senftenberg

Get around
The Cottbusverkehr GmbH (Cottbus Transit Authority) operates a network of four streetcar lines and eight primary bus routes in the city, in addition to three nighttime bus lines. Late night service runs from 21:00 to 04:30 daily. It's operated by three bus lines (2N, 3N, 4N). They busses always meet at the train station.

Due to the compact size of the city, most destinations are easily reachable by bicycle or on foot.



See




Buy
There is a Saturday market in Oberkirchplatz from 07:00 until about midday. You can buy delicacies from the nearby Spreewald, sold in person by the producer. A slimmed-down version of the market takes place on Wednesdays in front of the city hall and on Thursdays in the Sprem (shopping area near the Old Market). Elsewhere, the Blechen-Carre is a large shopping centre containing the usual retail chains to be found across Germany.

Meanwhile, dedicated shopaholics should explore the old town, where there are many small shops and specialist boutiques.
 * In the hamlet of Hornow at Spremberg (about 20 km south-east of Cottbus) chocaholics are guaranteed to find something in the fine Felicitas confectionery store, which sells real homemade chocolates.

Mid-range

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Stay safe
Personal safety is generally not a concern, though you may encounter drunk youth on weekend nights and after games of the local football club FC Energie Cottbus. Don't provoke, use common sense and you should be fine.

Being a flat and compact city, many people commute by bike. Watch out for cyclists racing along sidewalks and around blind corners, often in dark clothes and unlit. Don't expect priority to be given to pedestrians even when required by law. Bike theft (or parts thereof) can also be a concern.

Go next
The city of Cottbus is surrounded by a dense network of cycle paths that can quickly take you deep into attractive countryside. For the adventurous, a selection of bicycle tour routes of varying distances can be found in a dedicated German Wikivoyage article.

Only a few kilometres north of the city is the Spreeaue, a 160-ha (400-acre) area along the course of the Spree river has been reclaimed as a nature reserve. Meadows and traditional villages invite you to explore on foot or by bike.

Burg (Spreewald), the southern gateway to the Spreewald, lies about 15 km northwest of Cottbus. The route there runs through the low-lying, rural Spreewald foothills. The Spreewald is very well developed for tourism and offers an ideal starting point for boat, paddle and bike rides. Lübben and Lübbenau are two other major points of departure to visit the Spreewald area.



About 40 km to the north-east in the former hat-making town of Guben you can find the Plastinarium, the demonstration workshop of the internationally renowned/notorious "Body Worlds" exhibitor, Gunther von Hagen. Daily 10:00-18:00 (last entrance 16:00), admission starting from €12 per person, concessions €8. Uferstraße, 03172 Guben,.

About 20 km west of Cottbus in Slawenburg Raddusch you can find a mock castle built as part of an international building exhibition. The model houses a museum and reflects castles of 1000 years ago built by the then Lusizi (ancestors of today's Sorbian/Wendish minority). Opening times from April to October 10:00 to 18:00, November to March 10:00 to 16:00. A15 exit Vetschau.

Further afield lie the fascinating cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Berlin.