Discover Heidelberg
Heidelberg is a wonderful city to explore during a wedding weekend.We recommend walking into old town and on the surrounding hillsides, if you only have a few hours in town.
You will find a curated list of cafés, restaurants and touristic sights here!
Walking Tour
TTT - Tania takes you on a Tour
- Start/End: Park area at Neckar river side
- Distance: ca. 6-7 km
- Walking time: 1.5-2h
- Let’s start at the Neckarwiese (river side park), where we spent many evenings as teenagers and also the first years of our studies. Tania tried her first beer here. During the day, it's a lovely place to barbecue, slackline, go for a walk or a run.
- Get yourself an ice cream from Amami - Brückenstr. and take the Bergstraße to the ascent towards the Philosophenweg (philosopher’s path). The steep climb is finally rewarded with a beautiful view of Heidelberg's old town and you’ll find many benches that invite you to linger. Depending on the time of day/season, there is also a kiosk with refreshments (Thu-Sun 10am-2pm).
- Continue for about 500 m and finally turn right to take the Schlangenweg (snake path) down to the old town. Beware, the path consists of cobblestones. If you need a paved way to descend, you can continue walking for about 300 m until you turn right into Hirschgasse.
- If you have conquered the Schlangenweg, you will come out at the Alte Brücke (old bridge) with a legendary view of Heidelberg Castle. Take the opportunity for some nice pictures! There are also a couple of great viewing terraces, accessible by stairs to the left and right at the start of the bridge.
- Walk across the Old Bridge into the Old Town. To the right of the bridge gate is the bridge monkey! Here, you MUST take a picture with the monkey that is as ridiculous as possible. Stick your head in it, make faces, whatever comes to your mind. You can be sure that every student has some kind of NSFW photos with that monkey from freshman week.
- Continue in a straight line from the bridge to Steingasse. There are many great cafes and restaurants here.
- There’s really no bad choice: Delicious burgers at Joe Molese or hearty food at Vetters with home-brewed beer, for example.
- At the end of Steingasse you’ll also find the Heiliggeist Church. The tower is also a great viewing point.
- Turn left to the market square. You can enjoy the sun in one of the many cafes just in front of city all. Attention mostly cash only payment is possible.
- After coffee at the Max Bar, continue in the direction of the castle. Pass the town hall to the right, cross the Kornmarkt with the Madonna fountain and walk diagnoally in direction of the funicular.
- Different ways to access the castle: There is a funicular that goes directly to the castle and even higher to the mountain peak - Königstuhl! With clear visibility and enough time, this is ABSOLUTELY recommended! It is then worth buying directly the ticket for the entire ascent and descent. If you are good on foot and already know the Königsstuhl, you can either take the stairs or a steep path to the castle. The ascent begins left from the funicular . We usually go up the stairs and then down the footpath across the castle grounds.
- The Heidelberg Castle is simply a beautiful place and as Heidelberg residents, we mostly only go with visitors, which is clearly not enough! The park grounds are freely accessible and already have some great vantage points. Admission to the actual castle courtyard and another great viewpoint costs money, but it is usually worth it. There are lots of little things like the witch's ring at the castle gate, the so-called knight's leap of a lady-in-waiting's fling on the castle terrace, for example. With a guided tour you get told all kinds of interesting stories.
- If you still have time, you can continue to the Königstuhl with the mountain railroad and have already bought tickets for the ascent and descent. With a clear view, you can see as far as the Palatinate!
- After the castle, you can either take the mountain railroad back to the old town or choose the stairs or footpath for the descent.
- Back in the old town, depending on your appetite, you can either stop for a bite to eat or walk back to Kornmarkt and turn left into Ingrimmstraße (parallel to the main street). You can discover many great little side streets and then arrive at the University Square with the New University. The Old Assembly Hall is wood-paneled and here the doors are opened for special ceremonies, such as doctoral degree conferrals. You might be able to have a quick look inside.
- From Uniplatz, you can walk towards the mountain/forast and then turn right to the university library, where we have spent many hours during the last years!
- Walk down Plöck, at some point you will see a playground on the right (at the corner of Märzgasse) and across the street is the Hölderlingymansium where Tania went to high school!
- After the Hölderlingymnasium/playground turn right into Märzgasse. There are some great cafés here, almost all of which work together. You can take your pizza with you to the café and have some soup next door as well as coffee.
- From Märzgasse continue straight ahead, ignore the main street and turn into Ziegelgasse, until you reach the Neckar riverside.
- Turn left at the Neckar and walk towards the Theodor-Heuss-Bridge. If you don't live in Neuenheim, you can take a bus to the left leaving from Bismarckplatz. Otherwise turn right onto the bridge and walk back to the Neckarwiese!
- On the bridge there are also great snapshots of the Neckar, the old town and the forest.
Tania and Victor's first date
Since Saturday night is already planned out, this is a suggestion for how to arrange the evening before the wedding.
- One person has to pick up the other at the accommodation. (In our case it was quite classic, Victor picked up Tania at the dorm).
- Ride a bike (or any other means of transportation) to the Thai restaurant Bay Jok and take a look at the menu hanging outside. Decide a bit hesitantly that the prices are a bit too high.
- Alfredo's Pizzeria is suggested as an alternative. You've been paying attention in the months of conversations leading up to this, and now at the latest you know: It is the first date!
- Ride a bike together to Alfredo's in Untere Straße and sit down at the last table. Enjoy some pizza!
- The night is still young, so you decide to walk to Bar Orange afterwards. Maybe you'll meet some familiar faces!
- We leave the rest of the evening to you - how our’s ended is clearly a bit private …
