Saarland

Saarland is a small federal state in western Germany, covering an area of 2,572 km² and home to approximately 1 million inhabitants. It is the second least populous German state and shares borders with both France and Luxembourg. Its name is derived from the Saar river, which flows through the region before joining the Moselle in Rhineland-Palatinate. While the state was heavily industrialised from the 18th century onwards due to its rich coal deposits, it has transformed into a region that combines industrial heritage with significant natural landscapes. Its position at the crossroads of European cultures makes it a distinct and worthwhile destination.

• 49.23333371 Saarbrücken – the state capital, located directly on the border with France. It features the notable Baroque-style Ludwigskirche and offers a mix of urban culture, history, and proximity to the Saar river.
• 49.3278077.3350912 Homburg – best known for the Schlossberg Caves, the largest red sandstone caves in Europe. The city also features the historic site of the former Hohenburg fortress.
• 49.4489596.6437843 Merzig – situated in the middle of the Saar valley, this town is known for the "Garden of the Senses" (Garten der Sinne) and its position as a central point for regional cycling and hiking routes.
• 49.4954576.5835034 Mettlach – famous as the headquarters of the Villeroy & Boch ceramics company. The town is located near the "Saarschleife" (Saar Loop), a prominent natural landmark.
• 49.3501777.1788795 Neunkirchen – a former center of the steel industry that has transitioned its industrial sites into cultural and shopping spaces. The Stummsche Reithalle and the industrial museum reflect the city's heritage.
• 49.3063226.7559056 Saarlouis – founded by Louis XIV of France as a fortress city, it retains its historic Vauban-style star-shaped layout.
• 49.4666677.1666677 St Wendel – named after Saint Wendelin, whose grave is located in the town's late Gothic basilica, making it a historic pilgrimage site. The town is also known for its well-preserved medieval center and its annual international street theater and magic festival.

Saarland is in fact the second-smallest state by population, ahead of only the Free City of Bremen, and has the smallest area of all states but the three city-states of Berlin, Bremen and Hamburg. Within Germany, it is entirely surrounded by Rhineland-Palatinate.

Historically, Saarland as a distinct entity did not exist until the 20th century, although settlements like Saarbrücken and Saarlouis have existed for centuries, with Saarbrücken dating back to Roman times. The territory of today's Saarland fell under various spheres of influence and was for long periods a patchwork of small territories belonging to various German states and France.

Unified Saarland was created in 1920 by the Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I, as "Territory of the Saar Basin" (or Saargebiet) under the auspices of the League of Nations, but under de facto French administration. Following a 1935 referendum held under Nazi rule, over 90% of the population voted to join Germany. After World War II, French authorities established the autonomous Saar Protectorate, which existed until 1957. Following another referendum, the territory finally rejoined Germany as a federal state on January 1, 1957.

France was historically interested in the Saar region primarily because of its rich coal mines, which supplied a vital share of Germany's coal production and fueled its heavy industries. However, from the 1980s onward, the heavy industries faced a severe structural crisis, becoming heavily dependent on government subsidies due to regional employment and energy policy considerations.

Even today, as a consequence of its early industrialisation, the Saar retains several traditional industries besides steel production, such as automotive components and ceramics. Furthermore, Saarland has developed into an important hub for software development. The region not only manufactures cars, but also boasts the highest number of cars per capita in Germany.

• Saarland tourism website

Locals in Saarland speak Saarländisch, a distinct German dialect that is hard to understand even for proficient German speakers. The different variations of Saarländisch fall into Rhine Franconian and Moselle Franconian varieties, both of which have numerous differences in grammar, pronunciation and writing from standard German. Moreover, Saarländisch is rife with vocabulary acquired from French, although sometimes pronounced in a way the French would not understand either.

However, standard German is spoken universally alongside the dialect, so visitors will have no trouble communicating. The region also places a strong emphasis on cross-border ties, with French widely taught in schools as a key foreign language. This makes the Saarland unique in Germany for its early and pervasive integration of French language education.

Airports in or close to Saarland include those in Saarbrücken (SCN ^IATA), Luxembourg (LUX ^IATA) and Hahn (HHN ^IATA). As Hahn is served only by no frills airlines like Ryanair, and Saarbrücken has only a limited number of scheduled flights, these airports may not be your best bet. If you are flying transatlantically or from even farther away, flying into Frankfurt Airport or Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport might be necessary and thanks to the excellent train connections, making use of a rail air alliance might work out cheaper, more comfortable and even faster than a connecting flight.

Saarland is well-integrated into the European railway network and at some point it had the most kilometres of railway lines per square kilometre of gross area. As it lies right between the heart of Germany and France, the high-speed ICE/TGV trains between Paris and Frankfurt call at Saarbrücken five times daily. Within Germany, IC and ICE trains can take you to Saarbrücken from Dresden, Mannheim, Munich, and Stuttgart to name a few.

Long-distance trains stop in Saarbrücken only for the most part; the only other station that sees the occasional long-distance service is Homburg. All the other stations can only be reached by local and regional trains. Regional trains generally travel beyond Saarland (as Saarland is really small), mostly to Rhineland-Palatinate (e.g. Kaiserslautern, Koblenz or Mainz), but also to Metz in Lorraine, France and even as far as Strasbourg in Alsace.

Prices for buses tend to be lower than for trains (though shopping around is always a good idea, especially for groups), but travel time tends to be longer and service and comfort (such as seat pitch) worse.

Public transit is provided within the framework of Saarländischer Verkehrsverbund (Saarland's Transport Union), referred to as SaarVV in short. The SaarVV covers the entirety of Saarland and provides a unified fare structure over the public buses and trams in the region. It also partners with Deutsche Bahn with regard to railway services, so that travelling by local trains within Saarland is also covered by the same fares.

The fare system relies on zones to calculate the fare. Saarland is divided into numerous zones (see map^{[dead link]}, and every journey's cost depends on how many zones you travel through, regardless of your origin or destination, the number of interchanges or the means of transportation used. The territory of the city of Saarbrücken (zone 111) counts as two zones.

As of Oct 2020, the cheapest single-zone ticket^{[dead link]} for an adult costs €2.70, while a weekly card^{[dead link]} for the entirety of Saarland is €69.80.

While it doesn't market its industrial heritage as aggressively as Ruhr and is indeed not as widely known for heavy industries, there is still a lot that remains from the heydays of coal and steel. This of course means that the originally beautiful nature has suffered a lot, but thanks to strict German environmental laws and the demise of the "dirty" heavy industries, nature is recovering and pleasant to look at.

• Völklinger Hütte, 13 km west of Saarbrücken, huge disused ironworks complex which was operated from 1873 to 1986 and which used to cover the whole production cycle from raw iron ore and hard coal to pig-iron. It was inscribed as part of the UNESCO World Heritage in 1994, being an exemplary piece of industrial heritage in the Saar-Lorraine-Luxembourg region.
• Celtic hill fort of Otzenhausen (in the northernmost tip of Saarland, 16 km northeast of Wadern)
• Besseringen B-Werk, completely preserved fortification part of the World War II German defensive "Siegfried Line" ("Westwall") near Merzig.
• Villeroy & Boch Discovery Centre, ceramic company founded in 1748 moved to their newer location of Mettlach in 1812.
• Ludwigskirche, Lutheran Baroque-style church in Saarbrücken
• Remains of the fortification in Saarlouis that dominated the city's hexagonal floor plan.
• Schlossberghöhlen - a system of red sandstone caves in Homburg
• View of the river Saar, such as at the Saarschleife, loop in the river Saar, near Mettlach.

Saarland is the German state with the most Michelin Stars per capita. In theory, the cuisine of Saarland should be a mixture of French and German ones, but in practice you will mostly find typical heavy German dishes prevailing, although under amusing local names. Some local favourites include:

• Dibbelabbes - a potato soufflé with bacon
• Kappes und Grumbeere - white cabbage and potatoes
• Gequellde - potatoes cooked in their skin
• Gefilde - dumplings in a creamy bacon gravy
• Ringelweck - a Snack with Lyoner in the traditional "Ringel-Form"
• Lyoner - a ring of pork sausage is eaten with "Kerschdscher" - raw potato cubes fried in hot lard
• Grumbeersalat - potato salad with mustard and a roll
• Schwenker - marinated pork cutlets grilled

There is also some French influence in the form of delicacies such as cured veal cheeks with fried goose liver, coq au vin (capon cooked in wine), and slices of turbot stuffed with shrimp.

There are many drink festivals around Saarland all year long. Merzig has fantastic cider and is honoured at the Viez festival. An entire "wine summer" is dedicated to the grape. The wine of the Saar is made in the upper Moselle valley. The wine is made from Elbling grapes and grapes from Auxerrios and Burgundy vines.

The accommodation base is adequate if not quite abundant, and consists of some mid-price to economic chain hotels, as well as small local independent hotels and guest houses. Staying anywhere within Saarland affords good opportunities to visit the entirety of the region, as no destination is ever more than 100 km, or 1 hr 30 min, away.

• Rhineland-Palatinate surrounds Saarland from the north and east and there are good connections between the two Länder.
• Saarland borders the French region of Grand Est to the south. Local trains take one hour to get from Saarbrücken to Metz.
• Luxembourg shares a short border to Saarland's west. There are hourly intercity buses between Saarbrücken and Luxembourg City as well as the SaarLuxBus linking the border regions of both states.