Sun worshippers bask in white sand, on the horizon you see elegant surfers and sailors gliding over the waves. No, you are not in Spain’s Costa del Sol but on the “Costa Cospuda” south of Leipzig, Saxony’s longest sandy beach. The “Cospudener See” has a surface of only five square kilometres but is the favourite place for relaxation and refreshment of the locals.

The former excavation pit is the centre of the “Leipziger Neuseenland“ (Leipzig’s new lake land), a beautiful landscape consisting of 17 lakes and ponds south of Leipzig to be further developed in former brown coal mines over the next few years. Marinas, beaches, meadows, waterways and newly planted floodplain forests will then make the scars of the 300 years of brown coal mining finally disappear. Eight lakes of the future new big lake land, measuring more than 70 square kilometres have already been designed and give their visitors the feeling of spending the day by the sea with all the related sports and activities - and this right in the centre of Saxony!

Located in front of the city gates and right in the middle of Leipzig’s emerging Neuseenland the Belantis Leisure Park doesn’t make only children beam with joy. On an area of about 27 Hectares, an excursion through six variously themed worlds awaits the visitors. You can feel like an archaeologist in the “Valley of the Pharaohs” when you follow the tracks of old Egypt inside the huge pyramid and - hit by the “Pharaoh’s curse” - speed down a waterfall in a boat. Or you go to the “Island of the Knights”, where you can protect the castle against the attacks of the Black Knight from one of the chariots of the more than 600 metres long roller coaster. Or you might prefer to try your luck in the “Earl’s Country” where you first try silver rinsing and then have a go on the 15 metres high giant slide?

Dessau is characterised by the Bauhaus style and the famous artists Gropius, Kandinsky and Feininger. It is synonymous with avant-garde art and modern architecture. After the banning of the Bauhaus, the most famous school of design of the classical modern period, from its town of foundation, Weimar, the new Bauhaus building was erected in Dessau according to the plans of Walter Gropius in 1925/26. In the year of its inauguration, the conception of the three-winged complex with its huge glass curtain façade and the complete lack of ornaments was revolutionary. Today, the building is part of UNESCO’s World Cultural Heritage. Together with the Bauhaus building Gropius created a small residential estate with houses and ateliers for the teachers of the design school who were called “Meister” (masters). The “Meisterhäuser” are considered the highlight of Walter Gropius’ work and are worth visiting above all for their exceptional interior colour design. Like the Bauhaus building the Meisterhäuser are also recorded as UNESCO World Cultural Heritage

Mad Max, Big Wheel, Medusa, Mosquito and Gemini. What sounds like the titles of Hollywood movies are the names of five giant excavators. These remnants of 150 years of brown-coal mining in the area of Gräfenhainichen are now part of a completely unique open-air museum. Go on a trip to the exceptional: located on an artificial peninsula in the middle of the newly created Gremminer lake you find Ferropolis, the city of steel. The five excavators on display are all more than 100 metres long and about 30 metres high. Together they form a circular arena with space for 25,000 people. However, Ferropolis is worth seeing also without visiting a concert or similar event. For children there is a great playground with functioning excavator replicas and a big climbing frame designed on the model of the former mining and conveyor equipment where not only the younger ones can run riot in front of a breathtaking setting. Those who don’t get giddy and are able to watch their steps can climb the 60 metres long boom of the Gemini excavator or choose another of the giants to abseil down from under supervision.