Germany (Lonely Planet, 6th Edition) - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [365]
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Information
ATMs Around the Hauptbahnhof, Eberhardsbrücke and Am Markt.
Osiander ( 920 10; Wilhelmstrasse 12-14) Purveyor of books since 1596.
Post office (cnr Hafengasse & Neue Strasse) In the Altstadt.
Tourist office ( 913 60; www.tuebingen-info.de; An der Neckarbrücke 1; 9am-7pm Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm Sat, plus 11am-4pm Sun May-Sep) South of Eberhardsbrücke. Has a hotel board outside and can provide details on hiking options (for example to Bebenhausen or Wurmlinger Kapelle).
Vutel (Mühlstrasse 14; per hr €2; 10am-10pm Mon-Sat, noon-10pm Sun) Two other internet cafes are located on the same block.
Waschsalon (Mühlstrasse 18; 8am-10pm Mon-Sat) Self-service laundry.
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Sights & Activities
On its fairy-tale perch above Tübingen, the turreted 16th-century Schloss Hohentübingen (Burgsteige 11) overlooks the Altstadt’s red rooftops. An ornate Renaissance gate leads to the courtyard and the laboratory where Friedrich Miescher discovered DNA in 1869. Inside, the archaeology museum ( 297 7384; adult/concession €4/3; 10am-6pm Wed-Sun May-Sep, 10am-5pm Oct-Apr) hides the 35,000-year-old Vogelherd figurines, the world’s oldest figurative artworks. These thumb-sized ivory carvings of mammoths and lions were unearthed in the Vogelherdhöhle caves in the Swabian Alps.
Half-timbered town houses frame the Altstadt’s main plaza Am Markt, a much-loved student hang-out. Rising above the hubbub is the 15th-century Rathaus, with a riotous baroque facade and an astronomical clock. Statues of four women representing the seasons grace the Neptune Fountain opposite. Keep an eye out for No 15, where a single white window frame identifies a secret room where Jews hid in WWII.
Head east along Kirchgasse to the late-Gothic Stiftskirche (Am Holzmarkt; admission free; 9am-5pm), which shelters the tombs of the Württemberg dukes and some dazzling medieval stained-glass windows.
Facing the church’s west facade, the Cottahaus is the one-time home of Johann Friedrich Cotta, who first published the works of Schiller and Goethe. A bit of a lad, Goethe conducted detailed research on Tübingen’s pubs during his weeklong stay in 1797. The party-loving genius is commemorated by the plaque ‘Hier wohnte Goethe’ (Goethe lived here). On the wall of the grungy student digs next door is the perhaps more insightful sign ‘Hier kotzte Goethe’ (Goethe puked here).
Neckargasse links Holzmarkt to the Neckar, the Eberhardsbrücke and Neckarmüller, one of Tübingen’s liveliest beer gardens.
Steps lead down from the bridge to Platanenallee, a leafy island on the Neckar shaded by plane trees, where there are views up to the pastel-painted mansions spilling down the hillsides to the river.
On the Neckar’s banks sits the silver-turreted Hölderlinturm, the former abode of 19th-century German lyric poet Friedrich Hölderlin. Across the river just east of the bridge is Bootsvermietung Märkle ( 315 29; www.bootsvermietung-tuebingen.de, in German; Eberhardsbrücke 1; 11am-6pm Apr-Oct, to 9pm in summer). An hour of splashy fun in a rowboat, canoe, pedalo or 12-person Stocherkähne (punts) costs €7.50, €7.50, €10 and €48 respectively. Or sign up at the tourist office for an hour’s punting (adult/under 12yr €6/3; at 1pm Sat & Sun May-Sep) around the Neckarinsel, beginning at the Hölderlinturm.
Green-fingered students tend to the Himalayan cedars, swamp cypresses and rhododendrons in the gardens and hothouses of the serene Botanischer Garten (Botanical Garden; 297 8822; Hartmeyerstrasse 123; admission free; 8am-4.45pm daily, to 7pm Sat & Sun in summer), 2km northwest of the centre. Take bus 5, 13, 15 or 17.
In the same neighbourhood, the streamlined Kunsthalle ( 969 10; Philosophenweg 76; www.kunsthalle-tuebingen.de; admission €6; 10am-5pm Wed-Sun) stages worthwhile exhibitions of mostly contemporary art.
A great hike is the Kreuzweg (way of the cross) to the 17th-century