Hannover Airport lies 11 km north of the city, with three terminals side by side on one road. A private transfer meets you in arrivals, tracks your flight, and runs door to door at a price fixed before you travel.
The price is agreed before you book. No meter, no surge pricing.
About the airport
Hannover’s airport is defined by the fair rather than by the city. Messe Hannover is the largest exhibition ground in the world, and in a Hannover Messe or Agritechnica week the entire regional transport system is sized for an event it does not otherwise need — which is exactly when a car booked weeks earlier stops being a luxury.
The airport itself is 11 km north of the centre, reached by the A352, which links the A2 and the A7. That position on two of Germany’s main trunk motorways is the reason Hannover works as a regional gateway: the A2 runs east–west from the Ruhr to Berlin, the A7 north–south from Hamburg to Kassel, and the airport sits on the joint.
Terminals A, B and C have separate airside areas but stand next to each other landside: A and B have six jet-bridge gates each, C has eight and takes most of the holiday charter traffic. A fourth terminal, D, has handled overflow at peak periods since July 2023. For an arriving passenger the practical point is that the three arrivals areas are adjacent, so a wrong guess costs a short walk.
Lower Saxony behind it is large, flat and dispersed. Hildesheim, Braunschweig, Wolfsburg, Celle, Hameln and the Harz mountains are all within a straightforward drive, and the region’s industry — Volkswagen at Wolfsburg above all — sits in those towns rather than in Hannover itself.
Getting to and from the airport
The S-Bahn runs from beneath the terminals to the Hauptbahnhof in around twenty minutes, and for one person with a bag that is the sensible choice on any normal day. It is direct and cheap and we would rather you used it than paid us.
Two things change that. The first is the fair. During a major Messe the trains are full in one direction at one hour, and — more to the point — the exhibition entrances are not the Hauptbahnhof. Arriving at the right station and then queueing for a shuttle is not the same as arriving at your hall.
The second is the region. Hildesheim, Braunschweig, Wolfsburg, Celle and the Harz are all routine transfers from here and all involve a change by rail, usually with the luggage you flew in with, often at the Hauptbahnhof you have just travelled into from the airport. Wolfsburg in particular generates constant business travel that a single road journey handles far better than two trains.
Where your driver meets you
Your driver waits in the arrivals area of Terminal A, B or C — whichever your flight lands at, taken from the flight number you give at booking — holding a name sign. The three terminals have separate arrivals halls but stand side by side on a single landside road, so the walk between them is short if a gate changes late. Flights are tracked automatically, and 60 minutes of free waiting after touchdown covers passport control and baggage reclaim on a normal arrival.
Fleet
Every class includes the same service — flight tracking, meet and greet, waiting time and a fixed price. What changes is the space.
Top of the range
3 passengers / 2 bags
Mercedes-Benz S-Class or similar
A flagship saloon — the long-wheelbase, rear-seat-first kind. Booked for board-level guests, client collection and the journeys where the car is part of the impression.
The default for work travel
3 passengers / 2 bags
Mercedes-Benz E-Class or similar
An executive saloon with room to work, quiet enough to take a call, and a boot built for checked luggage rather than weekend bags. The class most corporate accounts book by default.
The sensible one
3 passengers / 2 bags
Toyota Corolla Hybrid or similar
A clean, current saloon with a professional driver. Everything that matters — flight tracking, meet and greet, a fixed price — is included; you are simply not paying for a badge.
Groups and real luggage
7 passengers / 7 bags
Mercedes-Benz V-Class or similar
Seven seats, a boot that takes seven cases, and a sliding door that makes loading at the kerb straightforward. The class families and small teams actually need.
Up to sixteen
16 passengers / 16 bags
For conference groups, wedding parties and trade-fair teams moving together. Quoted as one fixed price for the whole group rather than per seat.
Routes
| Destination | Distance | Journey time | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deutsche Messe Hannover | 30 km | 28 min | €73 |
| Hildesheim | 52 km | 41 min | €108 |
| Braunschweig | 72 km | 56 min | €140 |
| Braunschweig Hauptbahnhof | 78 km | 59 min | €150 |
| Heide Park | 83 km | 59 min | €158 |
| Salzgitter | 86 km | 1h 02 | €163 |
| Wolfsburg | 94 km | 1h 08 | €175 |
| Bielefeld Hauptbahnhof | 110 km | 1h 24 | €201 |
| Bielefeld | 114 km | 1h 25 | €207 |
| Messe Bremen | 118 km | 1h 28 | €214 |
| Bremen | 122 km | 1h 27 | €220 |
| Hamburg | 147 km | 1h 42 | €260 |
| Magdeburg | 157 km | 1h 46 | €276 |
| Münster | 195 km | 2h 14 | €337 |
| Dortmund | 217 km | 2h 24 | €372 |
| Erfurt | 233 km | 3h 03 | €398 |
| Bochum | 238 km | 2h 38 | €406 |
| Gelsenkirchen | 238 km | 2h 32 | €406 |
Prices shown are the starting fare for this route and include tolls and airport access charges. Your exact price is confirmed before you book.
City to city
Journeys that never touch the airport, priced the same way: a measured road distance between the two city centres and a fare fixed before you travel. Every one of these pages says plainly when the train is the better buy.
Straight answer
On an ordinary day, one person heading into central Hannover should take the S-Bahn from under the terminals — about twenty minutes to the Hauptbahnhof, at a fraction of the fare. That is the right answer and we will keep giving it. It stops being the right answer during a major Messe, when the trains carry a load they are not sized for and the exhibition entrances are not the station anyway; and it never applied to the region, where Hildesheim, Braunschweig, Wolfsburg, Celle and the Harz all mean a change with your luggage at the end of a flight.
At the other end
Hannover is a trade-fair city first — the Messe grounds south-east of the centre are the largest exhibition site in the world, and during a big fair the whole region books out. Outside those weeks it is a quiet, green, comfortably-sized city that most people pass through without stopping, which is their loss.
A baroque garden laid out in the seventeenth century and kept almost unaltered — geometry, hedges, fountains and a grotto that Niki de Saint Phalle covered in glass and mirror late in her life. One of the most important formal gardens in Europe.
An enormous Wilhelmine town hall on the edge of the Maschsee, with a lift that runs up the inside of the dome on a curve — it is the only one of its kind in Europe and the operator will tell you so.
A two-kilometre artificial lake dug in the 1930s next to the centre, now the city's summer. Sailing, rowing and a lakeside path the whole way round.
A red line painted on the pavement, 4.2 km long, joining the things worth seeing in the centre. It sounds like a gimmick and is the most efficient way anyone has yet devised to see a city in an afternoon.
Business travel
Most of what a company needs from a transfer is not a discount — it is knowing the number before the journey, and knowing somebody will be standing there holding the right name. Both are how this service already works.
Name a colleague, a client or a candidate as the passenger and put your own address on the confirmation. The driver holds their name at arrivals; the booking, the changes and the receipt stay with you.
The fare is fixed before you book, so it goes into an approval or onto an expense claim as a known number rather than an estimate. Traffic on the day changes the journey, never the amount.
Flight tracking moves the pickup with the aircraft, and the driver waits inside arrivals with a name board rather than texting from a car park. Someone you are trying to impress should not have to find anybody.
A group that outgrows a van is quoted as the combination of vehicles that actually seats it, priced per car and confirmed as one booking — not turned away at the vehicle list.
If your company moves people through this airport more than occasionally, it is worth a conversation rather than a form. Tell us the routes and the volume and we will tell you plainly whether we are the right operator for it.
What is included
Agreed in full before you book. Traffic, tolls and airport charges are already in it — the meter does not exist.
We watch the flight number you give us. Land early or three hours late and the pickup moves with you, at no extra cost.
Your driver waits inside arrivals holding a name sign, helps with the luggage and walks you to the car.
Free waiting time after touchdown — enough for passport control and baggage reclaim without anyone watching a clock.
From the exact address to the exact address. Not to the nearest station, and not to a rank at the end of the road.
Infant, child and booster seats specified at booking. They are not charged as an extra.
Cancel up to 24 hours before pickup at no charge. Plans change; that is not something to be fined for.
Licensed, insured, English- and German-speaking, and briefed on your journey before they set off.
FAQ
Terminal A, B or C, taken from the flight number you give at booking. The three have separate arrivals areas but stand beside one another on a single landside road, so the walk between them is short if a gate changes late.
Transfers run to the specific exhibition entrance rather than to a general address, and the price is fixed at booking — so a Messe week costs the same as any other week. That is the practical difference during Hannover Messe or Agritechnica, when the taxi rank is at its worst.
Yes, each at its own fixed price. These are the journeys where rail from the airport means a change at the Hauptbahnhof with your cases, and where a direct car covers the distance in one leg.
60 minutes of free waiting time after touchdown, covering passport control and baggage reclaim on a normal arrival. Flights are tracked, so a delay moves the pickup rather than costing you the booking.
Yes, and it is one of the most frequently booked routes from this airport. Volkswagen’s headquarters and plant generate constant business travel, and the rail alternative means a change with your luggage at Hannover Hauptbahnhof after you have already flown.
As early as you can. During Hannover Messe or Agritechnica the constraint is vehicles rather than price — a fixed price protects you from a surge but cannot conjure a car that is already booked. Outside fair weeks, a day or two is usually ample.
Guides
Germany runs the largest trade fair circuit in the world, and every stop on it has the same week-long transport failure.
At most of these airports the train wins. We would rather tell you which ones than sell you a car you do not need.
Uber exists here. It is a different product from the one on your phone at home, and the reason is a law rather than a business decision.
All three are unusually close to their own city centres. That is exactly why the interesting journeys are the ones that leave.
A shuttle is a shared bus on a timetable. Eight German airports have a real one — and at three of them you should take it.
Airports
Ready when you are
Two addresses, a date, and how many of you there are. You will see the price for every vehicle class before you commit to anything.
