Jena
Jena is a city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia.
Jena is a city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a population of about 110,000. Jena is a centre of education and research. The University of Jena was founded in 1558 and had 18,000 students in 2017 and the Ernst-Abbe-Hochschule Jena serves another 5,000 students. Furthermore, there are many institutes of the leading German research societies.
Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
What Wikivoyage says to see
- 01Markt
Centre of the old town, surrounded by historical buildings.
- 02Göhre
- 03St Michael's
Main Protestant parish church of the city.
- 04Schiller's
Friedrich Schiller, one of the greatest classical German poets and playwrights lived in Jena from 1789 to 1799 with his wife Charlotte von Lengefeld, a native of nearby Rudolstadt.
- 05Schillerkirche
Schlippenstraße 32 (East Jena (Wenigenjena), Tram 2, 3, 33 "Schlippenstraße").
- 06Anatomieturm
Ruined round tower that used to be part of Jena's town fortification.
From Wikivoyage: Jena, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Things to do
- 01Zeiss-Planetarium
Am Planetarium 5 (parking space around the planetarium is scarce), order@planetarium-jena.de.
- 02Theaterhaus Jena
Schillergässchen 1, info@theaterhaus-jena.de.
- 03Jenaer Philharmonie
From Wikivoyage: Jena, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Where to eat
As Jena is a student town and a town in the east of Germany, prices are slightly lower than in Western Germany. Thuringian specialties are: Thüringer Rostbratwurst (Thuringian roaster sausage), Rostbrätel (roasted meat). These can be found at the Grillteufel food stalls.
- 01Grillteufel Goethe Galerie
Schillerstraße.
- 02Café Immergrün
A very pleasant place with student atmosphere.
- 03FritzMitte - Stefan Lindloh
Neugasse 5.
- 04Cafeteria Zur Rosen
Johannisstraße 13.
- 05Die Kneipe
Wagnergasse 10.
From Wikivoyage: Jena, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Getting to Jena
- Airports
- Erfurt-Weimar (ERF), 44 km · Leipzig/Halle (LEJ), 71 km · Karlovy Vary (KLV), 124 km
- Erfurt → Jena39 km · quickest by road, 1h 5m · €5–7
- Schkeuditz → Jena68 km · quickest by road, 1h 29m · €9–13
- Dresden → Jena151 km · quickest by road, 2h 20m · €17–24
- Plan a tripFrom anywhereThe planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.
No local-transport research exists yet for Jena
Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Jena. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.
- Get inFor day trips within the state, the Thüringen-Ticket (€35-€67) offers good value for groups, covering all regional transport in Thuringia, Saxony, and Saxony-Anhalt.
From Wikivoyage: Jena, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us; that article was last edited 2026-09.
- 01521 km
- 02574 km
- 03614 km
- 04769 km
- 05905 km
If you know how people move in Jena – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.