The castle & surrounding community are gorgeous. Worth a look for sure…read more There is a funicular to get you from town to the castle - save you the hike. Can't add more than the rave reviews of others. It's cool. You won't regret it. Couple of restaurants up at the castle too, so a snack if you need.

Wow. The castle is stunning!!!! Our daughter lives in the area and we decided to walked up to the…read morecastle when we visited. It is steep walk up but very doable. It took us less than 10 min to get to the top. The grounds where buzzing with tourists but even tho there where a lot of people it didn't feel crowded. We walked around the grounds for a while and I honestly couldn't get enough of the view! It is out of this world-- it is overlooking beautiful, historic Heidelberg and Neckar river!!! To get the whole experience we opted to tour the ruins and castle courtyard. The 11Euro to go inside the castle is totally worth it. The giant wine barrel in one part of the castle is insane-- it is so big that the is even a dance floor on top of it! Overall, an unforgettable experience and a must-see if you're in the area!

This is an interesting place to visit if you are in Heidelberg. It is the old student jail where…read morethey used to put students who had broken university, and also town, laws (the university was in charge of punishing students for their misdemeanours, unless they were of a very high charge). The incarcerated students spent their time covering the walls of their cells in graffiti, which has been well preserved. So when you enter now you can see the names the students gave each room, along with slogans scrawled on the walls and lots of amusing scenes.

Heidelberg Xmas Market is just the best. Spanning multiple locations down the busy Hauptstrasse,…read moreyou have to visit all to avoid missing out on the unique offerings. There is an ice rink right below the castle location. The church location offers the Heidelberger Fass experience, where you can chill in giant barrels. The university location has my favorite tea shop, carousel, champignon booth, and the best "steak" sandwich. Next to Cafe Extrablatt, you can get your photos taken with a fake Santa. Last but not least, you haven't lived if you haven't tried the Flammlachs (flaming lox) at the Bismarkplatz location. Maybe I'm biased because I grew up here, but in my book, this is the best Christmas market experience in Germany--period.

It was the highlight of our recent 3-day weihnachtsmarkt trip to West Germany and Luxembourg, and…read moreit was one of the best ones among seven cities (and I'm counting altogether five markets we visited in Heidelberg as one) we visited in total. We parked and started our route at Karlsplatz just under the Heidelberg Castle (photo). Fortunately, the entrance line was not too long since we arrived sort of early in the evening before the crowd. Heidelberg Christmas Markets are the only one that mandated 2G+ COVID Requirement during our trip. That meant you had to have a negative PCR test results as well as vaccination certificate. Due to that requirement the entry point was a little congested and slow for checking everyone with proper paperwork, but once you got cleared to enter, you were given a wrist band that would allow you go to enter any other markets in town. That saved us a ton of time later. There were some PCR Testing sites near some markets, but since we have gotten it done earlier, we didn't have to bother with that, either. As the evening progressed, there were long lines at both testing sites and entrances. Now, weihnachtsmarkts were wonderful. There were some very nice vendor huts and food choices. I enjoyed some potato pancakes, Glühwein and Nürnberger lebkuchen. I believe ice skate rink was very popular. All five markets were nicely placed within about three city blocks along the main street (Hauptstraße) from Karlsplatz to Marketplatz. It was very enjoyable.