Germany (Lonely Planet, 6th Edition) - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [352]
ORIENTATION & INFORMATION
S-Bahn trains from Stuttgart serve the Hauptbahnhof, 750m southwest of the centre. The Residenzschloss, on Schlossstrasse (the B27) lies 400m northeast of the central Marktplatz.
Ludwigsburg’s tourist office ( 910 2252; www.ludwigsburg.de; Marktplatz 6; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri, 9am-2pm Sat) has excellent material in English on lodgings, festivals and events such as the baroque Christmas market.
SIGHTS & ACTIVITIES
Nicknamed the Swabian Versailles and almost as imposing, the Residenzschloss ( 182 004; www.schloss-ludwigsburg.de; Schlossstrasse; tours adult/concession/family €6.50/3.30/16.30; 10am-6pm, last tour at 5pm) is an extravagant 452-room baroque, rococo and Empire affair. The 90-minute chateau tours (in German with an English text) begin half-hourly.
The 18th-century feast continues with a spin of the staggeringly ornate, scarlet and gold Karl Eugen Apartment, and three museums (adult/concession incl audioguide €3.50/1.80; 10am-5pm) showcasing everything from exquisite baroque paintings to fashion accessories and majolica.
More appealing in summer is a fragrant stroll amid the herbs, rhododendrons and gushing fountains of the Blühendes Barock (Blooming Baroque; 975 650; Mömpelgardstrasse 28; adult/concession €7.50/3.60; 7.30am-8.30pm late Mar-Oct) gardens. Kids drag their parents to the fairy-tale theme-park Märchengarten ( 9am-6pm) to visit the witch with a Swabian cackle at the gingerbread house and admire their fairness in Snow White’s magic mirror. Should you want Rapunzel to let down her hair at the tower, get practising: Rapunzel, lass deinen Zopf herunter (The gold-tressed diva only understands – accurately pronounced! – German).
Sitting in parkland, a five-minute walk north of the Residenzschloss, is the petit baroque palace Schloss Favorite ( 182 004; 30min tour adult/concession €3.50/1.80; 10am-12.30pm & 1.30-5pm mid-Mar–Oct, 10am-12.30pm & 1.30-4pm Tue-Sun Nov–mid-Mar), graced with Empire-style furniture. Duke Eugen held glittering parties here.
GETTING THERE & AROUND
Stuttgart’s S4 and S5 S-Bahn lines go directly to Ludwigsburg’s Hauptbahnhof (€3.20), frequently linked to the chateau by buses 421, 425 and 427. On foot, the chateau is 1km from the train station.
There are two large parking lots 500m south of the Residenzschloss, just off the B27.
Return to beginning of chapter
NORTHERN BADEN-WÜRTTEMBERG
* * *
Straddling the French border, northern Baden-Württemberg is an intriguing mix of rural landscapes and dynamic cities. Heidelberg beckons Mark Twain lovers to its party-mad Altstadt and hypnotic castle, while Mannheim and Karlsruhe appeal to culture buffs with their world-class galleries, progressive culture and splendid baroque palaces. Detour from the well-trodden track to lesser-known towns like Schwäbisch Hall, with half-timbered town houses that mirror its lucrative medieval salt trade.
Return to beginning of chapter
HEIDELBERG
06221 / pop 145,300
Whether you go to Heidelberg to tiptoe in the footsteps of Mark Twain, who quipped about its drunken, duelling fraternities and eulogised its ruptured castle in his 1880 novel A Tramp Abroad; to see the light of William Turner in the Altstadt and the Neckar River; or to crawl the pubs Goethe-style in a quest for enlightenment, this postcard-perfect city obliges. Precisely as it does for the 3.5 million other visitors every year.
Cultured and conservative, rebellious and erudite, philosophical and frivolous, sober and smashed: Heidelberg is one city, many personalities. With an academic elite to rival the Oxbridges and Harvards of this world, this is Germany’s oldest and most famous university city, home to 32,000 students who fizz up the nightlife and uphold the longstanding reputation for academic excellence.
Return to beginning of chapter
Orientation
Heidelberg’s Altstadt spreads along the Neckar River from Bismarckplatz east to the Schloss. Europe’s longest pedestrian zone, the 1600m-long Haupstrasse, runs east-to-west through the Altstadt, about 200m south of the Neckar.