Germany (Lonely Planet, 6th Edition) - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [364]
Eating & Drinking
Gelatarias, bistros and bars vie for attention on Neue Strasse and riverfront Haalstrasse.
Café Am Markt ( 66 12; Am Markt 9; cakes €2-3; 8am-6pm) When the weather warms, nab a patio table facing the church to indulge your sweet tooth with delectable pralines, ice cream and cakes like vanilla-rich Schmandkuchen (rich sour-cream cake).
s’Hällische ( 946 6521; Neue Strasse 2; lunch plates €4.80; 8am-6.30pm Mon-Fri, 8am-1.30pm Sat) Great-value lunches like roast chicken and barbecued sausages lure midday crowds to this butcher-deli, famed for its succulent, organic meat.
Olli’s ( 946 3238; Sparkassenplatz 9 & Untere Herrngasse 2; light meals €3.50-7.30; cafe 9am-6pm, bar 5pm-1am) Make for this hip cafe and bar duo for appetising salads and snacks by day, or mojitos on the pavement terrace by night.
Sudhaus ( 946 7270; Lange Strasse 35; mains €11-24; 9am-midnight) Part of Kunsthalle Würth, this redbrick microbrewery churns out home brews and Swabian classics like lip-smacking roast suckling pig in beer sauce. Retreat to the beer garden on balmy days or the roof terrace to see the Altstadt twinkle.
Ratskeller ( 946 7270; Lange Strasse 35; mains €18-32) Dine under wood beams on seasonal French-style dishes at Der Adelshof’s elegant restaurant.
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Getting There & Around
The town has two train stations: trains from Stuttgart (€13.30, 1¼ hours, hourly) arrive at Hessental, on the right bank about 7km south of the centre and linked to the Altstadt by bus 1; trains from Heilbronn go to the left-bank Bahnhof Schwäbisch Hall, a short walk along Bahnhofstrasse from the centre. Trains and buses shuttle regularly between the two.
Outfits hiring bikes include 2-Rad Zügel ( 971 400; Johanniterstrasse 55; per day €10; 9am-12.30pm & 2-7pm Mon-Fri, 9am-2pm Sat), north of the centre on the B19.
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SWABIAN ALPS & AROUND
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Castle-topped mountains cloaked in fog, prehistoric dripstone caves, Jurassic fossils and two legendary rivers – the Neckar and Danube – give the Swabian Alps an air of mystery. Stretching south of Stuttgart and east of the Black Forest, this region of limestone plateaus, luxuriantly green forests and gently rounded hills is the soul of Schwabeländle (dear old Swabia).
Famed as being as tight as their valleys, the locals treasure their rural roots and age-old traditions. Pepping up this vision of pastoral bliss are feisty university cities like party-loving Tübingen and Ulm, birthplace of Einstein. For information and maps, visit the website http://en.s-alb.de.
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TÜBINGEN
07071 / pop 83,800
Liberal students and deeply traditional Burschenschaften (fraternities) singing ditties for beloved Germania, eco-warriors and punks – all have a soft spot for this bewitchingly pretty Swabian city, where cobbled alleys lined with gabled town houses twist up to a perkily turreted castle. As did some of the country’s biggest brains. It was here that Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, lectured theology in the late 1960s before fleeing to Bavaria, scandalised by Marxist-inspired student radicalism; and here that Friedrich Hölderlin studied stanzas, Johannes Kepler planetary motions and Goethe the bottom of a beer glass. Today the hybrid-driving mayor, Boris Palmer, is on his own green mission to cut emissions with clean transport and renewable energy policies.
The finest days unfold slowly in Tübingen, with leisurely brunches in Altstadt cafes, punting on the willow-lined Neckar River and pretending, as the students so diligently do, to work your brain cells in a chestnut-shaded beer garden.
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Orientation
The Neckar River divides Tübingen from east to west. Karlstrasse leads south to the Hauptbahnhof (500m) from Eberhardsbrücke. North up the hill is Mühlstrasse and, to the west, the compact, largely pedestrianised Altstadt. The main university area lies further north (about 1km from the river) along Wilhelmstrasse.
Most of Tübingen’s sights concentrate in the