Eilenriede, Urban forest in Hannover, Germany.

Eilenriede is a 640-hectare municipal forest east of Hannover's centre, split into a northern part in the Zoo district and a southern part belonging mainly to Kleefeld; the Lönspark, Tiergarten and Seelhorst count as parts of it under the Eilenriede statute. It stretches about 6 km north to south in an inverted C around the city's south, reaching the Masch Lake in the southwest, and is crossed by 80 km of walking, 38 km of cycling and 11 km of riding paths.

The forest was first mentioned in 1241, when Hannover gained rights to use it; in 1371 the dukes Wenzeslaus and Albrecht of Saxony gave it to the town's citizens as thanks for their support in the Lüneburg War of Succession. At that time it covered 465 hectares, and citizens were obliged to enlarge it; by 1920 it had grown by about 210 hectares. Bombing in the Second World War destroyed roughly a third of its area, and the Messeschnellweg built in the 1950s cut a swathe through it.

The name Eilenriede comes from Erlen (alders) and Riede, an old word for marshy ground; a 1762 city plan by Ernst Eberhard Braun still called it Eyllerie. Since 2021 a 500-metre Waldgeschichtspfad near the Petrikirche in Kleefeld, laid out for the forest's 650th anniversary as a city wood, tells its story on information boards.

The forest is crossed by 80 kilometres of walking paths, 38 kilometres of bicycle paths and 11 kilometres of riding paths, so walkers, cyclists and riders have separate routes. The main north-south extent is about 6 kilometres, reaching the Masch Lake in the southwest. The Landwehr earthworks with their walls and ditches survive over several kilometres near the Pferdeturm, the Döhrener Turm and the Inselgraben behind the zoo.

Between 1924 and 1955, sections of the forest were transformed into racing circuits for motorcycle competitions. This surprising use left marks in the woodland's history, though little visible evidence remains today.