Heidelberg Transportation Tips by Nemorino Top 5 Page for this destination

Heidelberg funicular railways

The ugly building in this photo was built in 2004/2005 and is the new lower station (Kornmarkt) of the Heidelberg funicular railways.

The building also includes a hotel and a huge parking garage for automobiles, so motorists can avoid getting even the slightest bit of exercise on their visit to Heidelberg. (The nearest hospital is several blocks away, however.)

From this station you can catch the lower funicular railway, which they say is "the most modern funicular railway in Germany." They forgot to mention that it is also the least interesting one, since it goes through a tunnel to get up to the castle.

Apparently it leaves the tunnel after that, but I have only taken it up to the castle, and the only reason I even took it was that I had an opera ticket for a performance in the castle courtyard, and a ride up on the funicular was included in the ticket price.

After the castle, the lower funicular goes on to a station called Molkenkur, where you can change to the upper funicular, which they say is the oldest funicular railway in Germany, having gone into operation in 1907.

Mode: AROUND

Type: Train

Website: http://www.bergbahn-heidelberg.de/

Bicycles at the Central Station

Lots of people travel by bicycle in Heidelberg, as is obvious from this massive collection of bicycles parked in front of the Central Station in 2004.

For a long time Heidelberg did not have a bicycle parking garage at the station, but after years of lobbying by the Heidelberg chapter of the ADFC (the General German Bicycle Club) a new bicycle station was opened in July 2008 right next to track 1b, near the Ibis Hotel.

I haven't tried them yet, but they say they repair, wash and rent bicycles, as well as storing them.

Also there are now lots of new bicycle stands at the main station, so bicycle parking now (as of 2010) looks quite orderly compared to the chaos of 2004.

Mode: AROUND

Phone: 0 62 21 / 89 37 345

Type: Bicycle

Website: http://www.fahrrad-heidelberg.de/index.php?menuid=18&reporeid=26&getlang=en

Take the tram

The walk from the central station to the old town is not terribly interesting, so after you have gone over and seen the S-Printing Horse you would be best off taking the tram to Bismarckplatz, which is where the main street begins.

For this short journey you only need a "City-Ticket", which used to cost only one Euro but has now gone up to 1.10 (still a bargain!) as of 2010.

The tram in the photo is going in the opposite direction, I must admit, but it was the only one that happened to be there when I wanted to take the picture. (The photo looks rather fuzzy in its reduced form, by the way. I don't know why that is, but if you click on it to enlarge it it's perfectly all right. Maybe someone can tell me why this occurs.)

Mode: AROUND

Phone: (0 62 21) 5 13 20 00

Type: Train

Website: http://www.vrn.de/