
Chaos Communication Congress is moving to Leipzig - Fronbasal
http://ccc.de/en/updates/2017/34C3-in-leipzig
======
nom
I'm really exited that they've found a new location.

Berlin was nice but was restricted to less than 4k people IIRC. Hamburg was
awesome and the Congress suddenly grew to 12k visitors. The upper floors there
still had carpet which was really cozy and the largest lecture hall spreads
across three stories and accommodates a couple thousand people. You don't get
that anywhere else here. It's really unfortunate that they have to renovate
the building, now that we've settled. Everything was working so well.

It's still going to be awesome and I hope we can grow even more, now that more
exhibition halls are available. See you there ;)

------
DanielleMolloy
Awesome choice! I live in Berlin and was close to suggesting Leipzig after
they had asked for alternatives at the congress. Now I am actually surprised
that Congress Center (or even Messe?) Leipzig agreed, given the requirements
of a hacker congress. Let's hope and make sure that it will be as good as
always.

Just a few notes:

* Accommodation will be cheaper (no holiday season, and Eastern Germany has lower costs of living in general). The city is currently extending their local transportation networks into surrounding small towns, so there should be more to choose from.

* The area is outside the city, but not remote. Trains from Berlin and from Leipzig-Halle Airport stopped at Messe Leipzig in the past (not sure whether this is still the case), which made the journey from Berlin even shorter than the 1h 15min it takes now. It is also a popular stop for cheap long-distance buses.

* I am personally not aware of halls that can hold thousands of people in the Congress Center itself like in Hamburg, but I am not sure as I have not been there in a while. Here is a hall overview: [http://www.ccl-leipzig.de/raeume-technik/raumuebersicht/](http://www.ccl-leipzig.de/raeume-technik/raumuebersicht/) I guess CCC would need to make use of the actual big exhibition halls as well for the really popular talks if they don't exist ( it would be quite cool if they could use just one of them ). Well, I always wanted to have a CCC cardboard stool (Papphocker).

* Leipzig has a vibrant cultural, art and alternative scene. Google "Baumwollspinnerei" or "Viktorianisches Picknick / Wave-Gotik Treffen".

* A start-up scene exists, but it is not as developed as in Berlin and Hamburg. In general the city feels less international (while still being home to some international audience e.g. due to having the trade fairs, the said creative people, a big university and three Max-Planck Institutes)).

* Architecture: The hall of the main station is the biggest one of a terminus station in Europe. Visitors tend to like the "Leipziger Passagen" that traverse the inner city. Völkerschlachtdenkmal. And (just saying ;) ) the computer science and math faculty of their university resides in a newly built landmark temple of glass and light with quite an interesting history ("Paulinum").

~~~
TheHippo
Yes, it's outside, but it's 8 minutes by train ride from the central main
station.

------
teilo
Leipzig is a great town. Especially if you are a Bach-head like me.

~~~
rhblake
Or if you're into printing and typography! Museum für Druckkunst - "Museum of
the Printing Arts" \- is really cool ([http://www.druckkunst-
museum.de/Museum_en.html](http://www.druckkunst-museum.de/Museum_en.html)).

~~~
teilo
I missed that one, and I've been in the printing industry most of my life.

------
kevingrahl
I'm wondering why they didn't choose Hannover as it is somewhat in the middle
of Germany, has an international airport, is accustomed to heavy spikes in
tourism and has the world largest fairground due to the Expo in 2000. Hannover
also is a major crossing point of railway lines and highways (Autobahn).

~~~
mmarx
Hannover itself may be centrally located and quite reachable, the
Messegelaende in Hannover is not. There is, for example, no tram service going
from Messegelaende to the city center between 2130—0400. With the last talks
of the day usually lasting until after midnight, that's clearly unacceptable.

------
aibottle
Make sure to visit the "Runde Ecke" in Leipzig to get a feel for what happens
when we let the government create unlimited surveillance.

------
faragon
I hope the CCC rotates among other German cities in the future, so with the
excuse of the CCC we could also enjoy other beautiful cities in Germany :-)

------
superplussed
Is it feasible to attend the CCC as a non-German with only a basic grasp of
the language? I've always had the impression that it was very German-language
oriented, but seeing the amount of English in this thread has me
reconsidering.

~~~
rhblake
I don't speak German and I've been to every Congress since 2009. My favorite
event every year. As mentioned most - or at least the majority - of the talks
are in English, and the organizers very much cater to non-German-speaking
visitors (e.g. the official wiki - main source of information - is mainly in
English; here's last year's:
[https://events.ccc.de/congress/2016/wiki/Main_Page](https://events.ccc.de/congress/2016/wiki/Main_Page)).

Also the price (iirc 100 EUR for a standard 4-day ticket last time) is
ridiculously low given the massive amount of talks, often very high-caliber,
and very varied. Check out last year's schedule to get an idea:
[https://fahrplan.events.ccc.de/congress/2016/Fahrplan/schedu...](https://fahrplan.events.ccc.de/congress/2016/Fahrplan/schedule.html)

And there's _so_ much more besides the talks! They typically open the venue
the evening before (26th), and then it goes on 24/7 non-stop until the 30th.
Go if you can. I've persuaded various people to come over the years - techies
and non-techies alike - and everyone's had a blast.

------
einrealist
I love it.

Leipzig is a great city. The attendees will like it here, although the
congress is always at the worst season of the year.

Moved back to Leipzig over a year ago (from Berlin). I guess, I can attend
again without discomfort.

~~~
rawfan
Be sure to make room to acommodate people. ;-)

------
ruiseal
Can't say I'm too happy as being in Hamburg and Berlin were integral parts of
CCC. But hopefully will be as good as ever.

------
the_mitsuhiko
I get that people like Leipzig but getting there is bad for almost anyone who
is not from Germany.

------
alltakendamned
Flights of 5 hours with stopover from Sweden :(

~~~
rhblake
Fly to Berlin and take the train to Leipzig (1h30m).

~~~
the_mitsuhiko
Sadly I can only recommend against that. Because you can't book them together
you need to plan in a lengthy stop in case of delays. I made that mistake
twice and both times I was badly burned.

~~~
whyever
There is a train every hour. If you don't buy a discounted ticket, you can
take any train you want.

You can also take the bus, which is a lot cheaper but takes longer.

------
johansch
Are the hotels cheaper there than in Hamburg?

~~~
Roritharr
Yes. It's also not much of a general holiday destination for the time, so
it'll be cheaper all-round, just much worse to get there.

I would have preferred Frankfurt, but I heard the local fair company didn't
understand what they are missing out on.

~~~
_wmd
Not much more difficult than Hamburg, 1:30 train from Berlin or a direct
flight from Stansted (although not sure if that Ryanair flight runs over
Christmas)

------
lionradio
Great news as Hamburg is the most boring town there is in Germany.

~~~
rvense
Congress is the best thing in the world, it doesn't matter where they put it.

