Can feel cramped, virtually everything squashed into old town
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yes
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If you're arriving in Heidelberg by train, the town does not seem particularly inspiring as you step outside the Hauptbahnhof - hemmed in by the main road and the tram lines with new offices rising all around, this does not seem to be the beuatiful mediaeval city the tour guides rave about. Take the number 1 tram to Bismarckplatz however, and you will begin to see what everyone was going on about - the wooded hills soar high up to your right, and as you walk down the Hauptstrasse to the old town, the castle looms out of the mist, perched high on the hillside overlooking the old main square and the tangled mass of cobbled alleyways that constituted the Heidelberg known to the electors of the Holy Roman Empire. The Alte Bruecke (Old Bridge) still spans the River Neckar, painstakingly rebuilt after its destruction on the last day of WW2, and from there you can find any number of local bars and restaurants withing a few minutes' walk. Good place to seek out are Vetters restaurants, typical German hostelries serving large locally-brewed beers and serving good, hefty portions of pork, steaks, wurst and sauerkraut. Try the new Kulturbrauerei for similar fare, or on the Hauptstrasse itself you can find the Biermuseum, which prides itself on having the widest selection of beers (bottled and on tap) in Europe, as well as Sean Og's Irish Bar, a popular haunt for expats which is open until 3am at the weekends, as is Napper Tandy's, just a minute's walk from the Old Bridge. The Untere Strasse is host to a wide selection of bars that are popular with the town's large student population, and are therefore cheap and normally busy. If you want to recapture that old student union atmosphere, seek out the Bar am Marstallhof, just round the corner from the Marstallstrasse bus stop, which offers food and drink at ridiculously subsidised prices and is open to all, no student ID is required... If you're after more nightlife, the Nachschicht nightclub (near the station) offers cheesy tunes most nights, or if you are feeling brave get a cab to the Schwimmbad club and mingle with the GIs from the Patton barracks! If you feel the need to walk off the excesses of the night before, then the obvious place to visit is the castle, easily accessible by the Bergbahn (funicular railway), or by a 10-minute walk straight up the hillside. It is worth a visit though, if only to see the largest wine vat in the world! In conclusion, Heidelberg is a beautiful place to visit, it can be a little on the small side but it is within striking distance of Mannheim, which has much more to offer in the way of retail therapy, and Stuttgart and Frankfurt are only an hour away by train. Come to Heidelberg for a relaxing weekend break, and experience some real German culture!
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