Neckar: from the source to Heidelberg

Along the river of poets

The Neckar Bike Trail: From Villingen to Heidelberg.

Spend your bicycle vacation in one of the most famous wine growing region of Germany along the beautiful river of Neckar. Discover famous towns like Tübingen, Marbach, Eberbach and Heidelberg. Your bike tour ends in Heidelberg which is a very charming city. Steeped in tradition, this town is home to seemingly contrasting worlds. This makes it exciting and keeps it young at heart. Take some time to get to know the city and discover its many facets. You'll be inspired.The Neckar bike trail is well-signposted leading for the most part along asphalted roads, quiet country roads and bike paths.

1. day Villingen-Schwenningen arrival

Look forward to Villingen-Schwenningen, which is located on the edge of the Middle Black Forest, directly in the headwaters of the Neckar and Danube. Marvel at the historic atmosphere of the Zähringer town with its many churches and monasteries, the magnificent cathedral, the defiant city wall and the mighty defense and gate towers.

2. day Villingen-Schwenningen - Sulz/ Glatt 50 km

On the first day of cycling, a dreamy and romantic landscape awaits you directly from the source of the Neckar on the watershed between the Rhine and the Danube. You cycle to the free imperial city of Rottweil, known for its wonderful urban ensemble. Stroll between bay-decorated town houses, fountains and old facades before you get back on your wheels. In the beautiful Neckar Valley, marvel at the stately castle ruins on the young river. The overnight stay takes place in Sulz or Glatt.

3. day Sulz/ Glatt - Tübingen 50 - 60 km

Look forward to the fun-loving Swabian university town of Tübingen with its considerable "student density". There is plenty to explore: Bebenhausen Castle, Hohentübingen Castle, the Hölderlinturm, cozy half-timbered houses in narrow streets and quaint student pubs.

4. day Tübingen - Esslingen 55 km

Today you will experience a charming landscape, because the Neckar leads you on beautiful bike paths through gardens and small towns. Numerous swimming lakes, the picturesque town of Nürtingen and the Hundertwasser rain tower in Plochingen will inspire you.

5. day Esslingen - Marbach/ Freiberg 40 - 45 km

Today has many highlights in store. A visit to the famous Mercedes-Benz Museum, the beautiful and diverse state capital of Stuttgart, with the architecturally exciting and animal-like Wilhelma Zoo will win you over with a first-class bicycle network. We continue to the baroque town of Ludwigsburg, where the beautiful residential palace invites you to visit and, last but not least, the picturesque Marbach with the Schiller National Museum. The overnight stay takes place in Marbach or Freiberg.

6. day Marbach/ Freiberg - Heilbronn 40 - 45 km

Now the wine has finally captured you! Surrounded by vines, you cycle to the pearls of the Neckar: Besigheim with the famous Enzpartie, Lauffen, birthplace of Hölderlin, and the seedling town of Heilbronn. Round off your wonderful day with a stroll through the old town and admire the Gothic Kilianskirche and the town hall, which is one of the most beautiful in Germany.

7. day Heilbronn - Eberbach/ surroundings 35 - 55 km

A day of castles! In the morning you cycle over the castle road to Neckarsulm, where the German Bicycle Museum is waiting. Let yourself be impressed by the splendid city silhouette of Bad Wimpfen, visit Burg Guttenberg with a ornithological station and marvel at Burg Hornberg, where Götz von Berlichingen lived. Past Zwingenberg Castle you will roll into the old city of Staufer Eberbach.

8. day Eberbach - Heidelberg 35 -55 km

Another spectacular highlight has been saved until the end of the trip! The Neckar winds in a wildly romantic way through the mountain ranges of the Odenwald. You will be amazed by the picturesque town of Hirschhorn with a knight's castle, the four-castle town of Neckarsteinach and the medieval Neckargemünd. We continue to the old university town of Heidelberg with its impressive Heidelberg Castle and the small, dreamy alleys in the old town, with its well-known and lively pub culture, where you can end your impressive bike trip on the Neckar with a cozy evening.

9. day Heidelberg departure

After breakfast it is time to say goodbye to the river of the poets.

Worth knowing about your bike trip Neckar-Radweg Quelle - Heidelberg

Please find more information about your bike trip below. If you have any further questions feel free to contact us by phone: 0049 - (0) 6421 - 886890.

Arrival by train

Villingen is easily accessible from all major cities in Germany by train. We recommend to take a taxi from the station to get to our partner hotels. Current schedule information and price information can be found at:

Train schedule information

Parking facilities at the hotel

Some of the hotels have parking facilities directly at the building for a fee of € 6.50. There is a public car park in the vicinity (special price for hotel guests: € 5 per day) and a public car park. Heidelberg: Depending on the house, underground parking spaces are partially possible, including parking spaces from 8 to 15 euros per day.

Condition of cycle paths

The cycle route does not always run directly near the river, so that slight climbs are inevitable. However, there are only a few short, steep climbs. The route runs mostly on quiet country roads or separate bike paths. Short sections run on roads with a little more traffic, especially when driving through town.

Return transfer to Villingen-Schwenningen

Every Sunday we offer a return transfer at 9:00 a.m. for a surcharge, during which you will be picked up from your hotel and brought back to Villingen-Schwenningen in around 2.5 hours. Alternatively, you can travel on your own, e.g. by train, which goes back to Villingen-Schwenningen every hour with two changes in approx. 3 hours (approx. € 50 + bike ticket approx. € 9).

Available rental bikes

If you would like a rental bike for the tour, we will bring it to your starting hotel and pick it up at your destination. You can choose from 24-speed unisex bicycles with free-wheeling and 8-speed unisex electric bicycles with hub gears and free-wheeling. The rental bikes are equipped with a waterproof, spacious saddlebag as well as a tool set, an air pump, an odometer and a lock. You will also receive a handlebar bag per room. On request, we will be happy to provide a second saddle bag for you. Simply state your bike requirements when booking.

Extra costs that are not included in the tour price

A certain applicable tourism tax is not included in the travel price and has to be paid at the hotel on site.

7 day hotline service

Just in case the bike chain breaks, flooding makes it impossible to continue your tour or any other nasty surprise: You can reach us seven days a week and we will do anything to help you as fast as possible.

Passport and visa requirements, health regulations

For EU citizens, there are no special passport or visa requirements and no health formalities to be considered for this trip.

Corona travel information:
Before booking your trip, please inform yourself about the measures in place to contain the Corona pandemic.

Information on current decisions of the German Federal Government can be found here:
https://www.bundesregierung.de/corona-these-rules-and-restrictions-apply

Current information on entry requirements to Germany can be found here:
https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/en/coronavirus

You can also find more information on our website at:
Corona virus and holiday planning

Travel insurance

The tour price already includes the statutory insolvency insurance. In addition, we recommend that you take out travel cancellation insurance upon receipt of your travel confirmation in order to protect yourself against financial disadvantages in the event of travel cancellation, interruption of travel, illness or accident.

Villingen-Schwenningen

Villingen and Schwenningen trip simultaneously off the tongue, yet each town has its own flavour and history. Villingen once belonged to the Grand Duchy of Baden and Schwenningen to the duchy of Württemberg, conflicting allegiances that apparently can’t be reconciled. Encircled by impenetrable walls that look as though they were built by the mythical local giant, Romäus, Villingen’s Altstadt is a late-medieval time capsule, with cobbled streets and handsome patrician houses. Though locals nickname it the Städtle (little town), the name seems inappropriate during February’s mammoth weeklong Fasnet celebrations.

Villingen-Schwenningen

Museum of Clockmaking, Schwenningen

"Rottweil you walk like a hard" - the words of Kurt Georg Kiesinger sound like a eulogy to the oldest city in Baden-Wuerttemberg. And they invite you to experience this festival itself: on a tour of the historic city center with magnificent bay windows decorated town houses, quiet streets and dreamy impressive churches. The Roman period comes to life in the Dominican Museum, the City Museum documents the imperial city time. Art and culture are ubiquitous - from the past to the present day. 
Pleasant and alive - historical and contemporary - Rottweil is always an experience. Not only at the carnival when thousands of spectators line the streets to experience first hand the famous Rottweiler fools jump, one of the highlights of the Swabian-Alemannic carnival.

Museum of Clockmaking, Schwenningen

Rottweil

Rottweil's historic downtown takes the visitor back to a bygone era. The Old Town Hall with its late-Gothic façade and the representative council chamber from 1521 still tells of the proud imperial city time. Artfully designed fountains, the Black Gate and the High Tower, preserved parts of the city walls are like windows in different epochs. Powerful town houses with unusual bay windows and original piercing signs characterize the cityscape. Off the busy main streets in the small alleyways, time seems to have stood still and yet Rottweil is not a museum city, but lively, open-minded and modern.

Rottweil

Rottweil, test tower

The 246-metre-high tower is used to test as well as certify lift innovations, helping to significantly shorten the development time of future skyscrapers and those already in the construction phase around the world With 12 shafts and driving speeds of up to 18 m / s provides the tower ways to solve upcoming challenges. 3 shafts are provided for the ropeless MULTI elevator. At 232 metres, the highest public visitor platform in Germany offers a 360° panoramic view and is thus an spectacular attraction. Despite the imposing height of a light and filigree appearance is maintained. The architect Helmut Jahn and Werner Sobek disguise the concrete shaft with a cover made from glass fiber fabric. The tissue begins at the foot closely, are more and more towards the top of the tower award and reflects the light at different day and seasons different - by the tower gets depending on weather conditions and time a different appearance.

Rottweil, Test Tower for Elevator Innovations

Horb

Horb am Neckar is often referred to as the Gateway to the Black Forest. It sits right on the edge of the legendary wood, where the Neckar and Grabenbach rivers come together. The rivers slice through the landscape, providing hills and valleys which with a little imagination can become the nooks and crannies of the Grimm Brother’s tales. Hiking around Horb am Neckar it is easy to mentally escape. You look down at the town and see the tops of the buildings, their peaked roofs and old stonework like something from another age. This is, of course, because they have been saved from another age.

Horb

Tübingen

Small steps, narrow alleys and pointed gables shape the silhouette of old Tübingen on the way up to its castle. The Swabian university town of 86,000 inhabitants and 27,000 students combines the flair of a lovingly restored medieval centre of town with the colorful bustle and typical atmosphere of a young and cosmopolitan students' town. Numerous sidewalk cafes, wine taverns and cozy students' pubs, special shops, restaurants and taverns invite visitors to stroll around and to pause here and there. Taking a boat trip in a famous „Stocherkahn“ – the boat exclusive to Tübingen navigated by a long wooden pole – offers a scenic view of the picturesque Neckar waterfront with the famous Hölderlin Tower.

Tübingen

Esslingen

Discover the romantic old town with its half-timbered houses, stroll through winding streets and enjoy the flair of a city on the river:

Only a few kilometers from Stuttgart is Esslingen am Neckar. A tour of the historic old town is like a journey through twelve centuries. Gothic churches, medieval half-timbered buildings, baroque aristocratic palaces ... After all, the former imperial city looks back on a 1200-year history. Worthwhile is definitely a climb over the 314 steps of the medieval Burgstaffel to the thick tower of Esslingen "castle". There, an impressive view. Parts of the old town fortifications, city gates and towers as well as imposing churches and numerous nursing homes are an extremely impressive cultural heritage.

Esslingen

German Literature Archive Marbach

The Schiller National Museum was intended as a memorial to Friedrich Schiller, who was born in Marbach, and other poets from Swabia, and was built from 1901 according to the plans of the Stuttgart architects Ludwig Eisenlohr and Carl Weigle. The focus of the permanent exhibition is on the life and work of Schiller as well as German literature of the 18th and 19th centuries. The focus of the exhibition at the Modernist Literature Museum is German-language literature from the 20th century to the present day.

"Literaturmuseum der Moderne"

Schiller National Museum

Burg Hornberg

It stands there as if chiseled on the steep rock spur "Hornberg" above the Neckar: the dream castle of Götz von Berlichingen, the largest and best-preserved castle ruin on the Neckar. For castle researchers, it is the prototype of a medieval castle. Only a few weir systems can hold a candle to it, as it still has a complete core castle that is safely accessible.

Explore the Hornburg on a 24-stop tour and enjoy the castle's own wine from the second oldest winery in the world.

Burg Hornberg

Heidelberg

The landmark of the city is located about 70 meters above the Neckar on the slope of their local mountain, the Königstuhl. The ruins of the Electoral Palace are among the most impressive things you can marvel at on a trip to Germany. The princely wine cellar houses the world's largest barrel with a capacity of 221,726 liters. 

The most beautiful building of the castle, the Ottheinrichsbau, houses the German Pharmacy Museum. This Europe's largest collection of pharmacy-historical exhibits is just one of over 30 museums and collections. The spectrum ranges from the famous Riemenschneider Altar of the Kurpfälzisches Museum to the Prinzhorn Collection with works by psychiatric patients, from the mummies of the Egyptology Museum to the original cigarette box from the "Titanic" in the German Packaging Museum.  And no one who has taken a walk on the Philosopher's Path will forget the sight of the river, city and castle from there.

Heidelberg