July visit to Germany

If you have the time and interest, although I don't think Mannheim is on anybody's list of places to see in Germany. Heidelberg is though.

Are you driving or taking the train? Are you looking for an overnight or just a short stop? I have done both. For a real tourist stop, Heidelberg. For an overnight using trains, Mannheim.

Welcome to the forum.

Just some places just to stop and look around briefly?

• The "Bergstrasse" route: most of the towns between Darmstadt and Heidelberg on this list would be interesting.

• When you reach Baden-Baden you may wish to make it just a brief stop as well unless you are going there for casinos or spa treatments - it's not really a Black Forest town in the traditional sense at all. Are you taking the train? As a base for train outings, Baden-Baden is a weak one since the train station lies well outside of town.

• Are you driving?? And will that be immediately after clearing out of FRA airport, or after a night's stay in Frankfurt? It's generally a bad idea to drive immediately after a transatlantic overnight flight because of jet-lag and sleep deprivation. Do not dismiss the potential for becoming an impaired driver if that is your situation. The solution is easy - take the train to your first night's destination, or take the S-bahn train to Mainz or Frankfurt for the night (only 10-25 minutes.) The airport has two train stations, one for short trips and one for long-distance ones. Pick up a car the following day or whenever.

• A nice alternative to Baden-Baden is the old-world town of Gengenbach - small, adorable, and within spitting distance of some of the Black Forest's best sights. If you want a car from Gengenbach onward, pick up in Offenburg, only a few minutes away. Or you could use the trains to visit the Black Forest towns. The trains are FREE when you stay in towns like Gengenbach.

We will be taking the train from Frankfurt. Is Heidelberg accessible via train? The castle looks amazing!
Are the smaller towns such as Gengenbach accessible via train?

The castle there is in ruins; a palace-like partial reconstruction, completed around 1900, is what you see there now.

If you want to see a truly splendiferous palace, Ludwigsburg would be great. It takes roughly the same amount of time to get there as Baden-Baden (1.5 - 2 hours.)

For genuine medieval castles, FRA is the right airport... catch a train from FRA to Bingen (45-50 minutes west of Frankfurt if you catch a direct train.) There are 40 or so castles on this part of the Rhine River. You can either take the train to view/visit them or an inexpensive river boat cruise. Marksburg Castle, amazingly, is 100% intact and unchanged from medieval times. It's in Braubach, one of 4-5 very enjoyable old-world towns on the Rhine:
https://www.romantischer-rhein.de/uploads/pics/Altstadt_02.jpg
https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4143/4751924826_36d7071291_b.jpg

Yes, You can catch a train to almost anywhere in Germany, including Heidelberg and Gengenbach. If you have multiple long-distance journeys in mind, a German Rail pass is sometimes the best way, especially for first-timers, to make your way around. The GRP nowadays is valid to certain destinations outside Germany as well.

The fact that the Heidelberg castle is a ruin is what makes it so picturesque! It would be the most boring castle in the world if it wasn't a ruin. :-)

And yes, it is very easy to get to Heidelberg by train from Frankfurt. It's a one or one-and-a-half hour ride, changing trains once in Mannheim usually.

"Russ, I see very little reason to disparage Heidelberg with partially misleading replies."

?? I posted a few facts about Schloß Heidelberg and said nothing about the city of H'berg. If I'd wanted to "disparage" it, I'd have said a lot of negative stuff (or at least a lot more than nothing.) But that's not how I feel about H'berg at all.

But since I've been there several times, here's my nutshell assessment. You can do it or not, either way. H'berg might be 3 stars out of 5 in my "book" that I didn't write. It's not a bad city at all. It's just that there are dozens of cities in Germany that I find equally or more interesting. It's just OK as German cities go. But if your time is limited, you should look at the alternatives in this part of Germany. The ones I mentioned are IMHO more impressive than H'berg and worthy of your consideration, mkm.

Rick Steves, at least in his older Germany guidebooks, explicitly advises his readers to AVOID Heidelberg. Now that's a step or two much closer to "disparagement" than I want to go. H'berg is OK if you're in the area or have the extra time, IMO.

Since you're a new forum member... On this forum you will for sure find all kinds of opinions on different cities and sights - they will fall all across the "love spectrum", no matter what the city or sight might be. It's a complete crazy quilt of ideas - and it should be appreciated for its diversity. My advice is to read and evaluate the suggestions and opinions of other posters on their own merits, and in light of your own interests and needs. As for posters summarizing the views of other posters, these comments tend to be VERY unreliable and inaccurate and should probably be skipped altogether.

On making a stop: choose Heidelberg not only for the obvious tourist reasons but for the city itself.

I lived in Heidelberg for a couple years so here's my recommendation: take the time to see Heidelberg BUT, be sure to walk across the river and up to the Philosophenweg. The views of the Altstadt from up there are so spectacular that I used to tell people they had not seen the real Heidelberg unless they have seen it from up there. If you think I'm exaggerating, do a Google image search for "Heidelberg Philosophenweg view". The Heidelberg Altstadt is one of the most picturesque towns in the world but the only place you can actually see the whole thing is from the Philosophenweg.

An additional bonus is that there's an old ink drawing of what the city looked like hundreds of years ago, before the castle was destroyed and you can compare to what you are seeing now. It's fascinating.

The Castle in Heidelberg is certainly more than just some ruins and is well worth a visit if you are anywhere near. The Apotheke museum in the castle is fascinating, seeing the tower that was blown up is amazing and frankly, walking on top of the biggest wine vat in the world is just fun. The views are stunning from the castle and riding the funicular is a unique experience.
Am surprised that so few people go to the Student Prison. Read some Mark Twain and you will appreciate this even more. The main church is beautiful, but the Jesuit church is a thing of serene beauty. Heidelberg has charming little lanes to stroll along and lots of boutique type stores to shop in and student cafes to linger in to people watch.

Do wish Rick would re-visit the towns he tells people to not visit - Heidelberg, Mainz, and Wiesbaden especially.

Consider Strasbourg

There are multiple trains per day from Frankfurt to Heidelberg. It took us 1 1/2 hrs on the train last summer. The Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) has a wonderful iPhone/iPad app that makes finding trains a breeze. In July, it will be hot, and on weekends, the trains are crowded. Be sure to get your ticket and reserve seats so you are guaranteed a place to sit. Otherwise, you may stand from Frankfurt to Heidelberg. Also, if it is warm in Germany, the AC on trains struggles to keep things cool (it was 90 degrees for several days). Plan accordingly. Even if you have a rail pass, reserve seats. For my wife and I, it was around $10EU for seat reservations per trip--so worth it. I recommend it on all trains.

I lived in HBerg for 3 1/2 years. Of course, everyone wants to see the castle. And it is marvelous. There is admission to the gardens and castle itself. You can get from downtown to the castle by walking--but it is really, really steep. The incline railway is a good choice, but go early in the day (downtown--castle--Molkenkur--Koeningstuhl). A second tram goes all the way from the Molkenkur station to the Koenigstuhl. You can see 30-50 miles on clear days from up there. We rode the tram all the way up, then back down to the castle. We walked from the castle gardens to downtown (10 minutes). In town, I recommend the Church of the Holy Ghost and the Old Bridge. Check your time in HBerg as there are 3 summer castle illuminations. It is a fireworks display that marks the time when the French captured and burned the castle. In July 2017, it is on July 8 right around dusk. The best views are from a boat in the Neckar, but these illuminations draw more than 100-200K people, so it will be crowded. The Hauptstrasse (Main Street) is about 1 1/2 miles of pedestrian-only shopping. It has just about everything you could want for shopping or dining. I love the architecture of the Alt Stadt (Old City) with all of the different styles of buildings jammed into a lovely part of the city.

I hope this helps. Safe travels!