Excursions
Each semester, the International Relations Office at Heidelberg University offers a diverse programme of cultural activities for international students. Our day trips give you the opportunity to discover numerous German towns and cities - a great way to familiarise yourself with Germany’s cultural diversity.
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Registration for the individual trips takes place in person on site at the following times:
Campus Altstadt
Service portal for international students
University Administration, Seminarstraße 2, room 33
Tuesday: 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Thursday 12 to 14 p.m.
Campus Im Neuenheimer Feld
Info-Point at the Zentralmensa, INF 304
Wednesday, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Important information on registration:
- Please see the individual trips below for the start of registration.
- The number of bookings is limited! Reservations by e-mail are not possible.
- Please bring your student ID with you when registering. –
- Payment is made on site and is only possible in cash.
- Students who cannot come in person on the registration days should contact the program coordinator by e-mail in advance.
Excursions
OCTOBER 13, 2024 - SPEYER AND WINE FESTIVAL IN NEUSTADT
The first trip of the new semester takes us to Heidelberg's most beautiful neighboring region: the Palatinate. We will explore the old imperial and episcopal city of Speyer. You can expect a two-hour guided tour of the city and the imperial cathedral in German and English.
We then travel along the German Wine Route into the picturesque wine landscape of the Palatinate. At the end of the day, you will experience Palatine conviviality and joie de vivre at the German Wine Harvest Festival in Neustadt. Germany's largest wine festival parade attracts visitors with numerous floats and floats, music groups and the German Wine Queen in the traditional half-timbered wine village.
Price: € 25 (incl. trip, guided tours and admission)
Departure: 8.00 am at the Kurfürstenanlage bus platform, Heidelberg main station
Registration for this trip will take place on Friday, October 11, 2024 from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. in the service portal for international students.
OCTOBER 19, 2024 - HIKE ALONG THE BERGSTRASSE
We take advantage of the golden autumn for an extended hike along the popular Bergstrasse vacation region on the edge of the Odenwald.
The tour starts in Zwingenberg, north of Heidelberg. Auerbach Castle towers high above the town. ANOTHER THING. Our route takes us along the Burgensteinweg and the Blütenweg to the Fürstenlager state park. We spend our lunch break here.
We then head to nearby Bensheim. Numerous cafés and wine taverns await you in the pretty little half-timbered town, where you can round off our excursion.
Meeting point: 10 a.m. in Zwingenberg, main station. You will receive information on how to get there individually when you register.
Registration possible from Tuesday, October 15, 2024
Practical information: The excursion itself is free of charge. However, registration is required. The journey by public transport is to be paid for by yourself.
Please remember to wear clothing and shoes that are suitable for the weather. You also need to bring your own picnic for the lunch break.
OCTOBER 26, 2024 - LUDWIGSBURG CASTLE
Let yourself be swept away to the magnificent Baroque era in one of the largest palaces in Europe.
After the guided tour of the palace in German and English, we will take a walk together through the magnificent “Blooming Baroque” gardens.
Afterwards, you will have enough time to explore the world's largest pumpkin exhibition on your own or visit one or more of the museums housed in the palace: LINK
Price: €25 (incl. transportation, guided tours and admission)
Departure: 8.00 am at the Kurfürstenanlage bus platform, Heidelberg main station
Registration possible from Tuesday, October 15, 2024
1 to 3 NOVEMBER 2024 - BREMEN AND HAMBURG
The trip to the two famous port and Hanseatic cities of Hamburg and Bremen is certainly one of the highlights of our excursion program.
During our varied three-day program, you will have the opportunity to discover a completely different side of Germany.
We will spend Friday afternoon with a city tour through the oldest German port city: Bremen. After a leisurely stroll through the pretty Schnoor district, we continue on to Germany's second largest city.
In Hamburg, a city tour by coach, a harbor tour and two city tours await you. You won't miss any of Hamburg's many sights: the impressive town hall with the stock exchange, St. Michael's Church with the world-famous Hamburg “Michel”, the Speicherstadt (the world's largest historic warehouse complex and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2015) and, of course, the legendary St. Pauli district with the Landungsbrücken. Our stay in Hamburg ends with a visit to the traditional fish market.
Price: € 160 (incl. travel, city tour, harbor tour, city tours, admission, 2 nights with breakfast at the Meiniger Hotel in Hamburg-Altona)
Departure: 7.30 am at the Kurfürstenanlage bus platform, Heidelberg main station
Registration possible from Tuesday, October 22, 2024
NOVEMBER 9, 2024 - NECKARELZ (CONCENTRATION CAMP)
On this particular day in German history, we will focus on a serious topic and visit the concentration camp documentation center in nearby Neckarelz. After a guided tour of the memorial exhibition by members of the documentation center we will take part in an interactive workshop. When the weather is suitable, there will then be a guided tour of the “Goldfish” history trail.
The project day can be held in German or English. Language preference will be asked for at registration.
Price: 5 €
Meeting point: 8.45 am at Heidelberg main station, Willy-Brandt-Platz entrance
Please note: Train tickets for this trip must be purchased separately.
Registration possible from Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Practical information: Please wear sturdy shoes and bring enough water and snacks for the lunch break.
NOVEMBER 16, 2024 - COLOGNE
“Cologne is a feeling” - the fourth largest city in Germany attracts millions of visitors every year with its cosmopolitanism, tolerance and the Cologne Carnival.
Discover over 2000 years of history in the Rhine metropolis on a tour of the old town. In addition to the city's best-known landmarks, Cologne Cathedral (UNESCO World Heritage Site), the Romanesque church of St. Martin and the famous houses on the fish market, our city tour takes you past many Cologne originals. Find out who Tünnes and Scheel are, where the only monument to carnival in Germany is located and who drove the Heinzelmännchen out of the city.
The afternoon is free for individual visits to the city's numerous museums or for an extensive shopping tour in one of Germany's longest pedestrian zones.
Price: €25 (incl. transportation and city tour)
Departure: 8.00 a.m. at the Kurfürstenanlage bus platform, Heidelberg main station
Registration possible from Tuesday, November 12, 2024
NOVEMBER 30, 2024 - CHRISTMAS MARKET IN NUREMBERG
We kick off the Christmas season with a visit to the “Christkindlesmarkt” in Nuremberg, Germany's most famous and most beautiful Christmas market. But the old “free imperial city” has even more to offer than gingerbread and Nuremberg roast sausages.
Our city tour takes us past the Imperial Castle, the Tiergärtner Gate as part of the impressive city wall and the two city churches of St. Sebaldus and St. Lorenz and ends at the “Beautiful Fountain” on the market square
After an extensive lunch break at the “Christkindlesmarkt”, you have the opportunity to escape the wintry temperatures with a visit to the Toy Museum or the Albrecht Dürer House.
Price: € 25 (incl. transportation, city tour and admission fees)
Departure: 7.30 am at the Kurfürstenanlage bus platform, Heidelberg main station
Registration from Tuesday, November 26, 2024
DECEMBER 7, 2024- CHRISTMAS MARKET IN ROTHENBURG OB DER TAUBER
Our trip takes us back in time: Rothenburg ob der Tauber is considered the epitome of the medieval German town and could serve as the ideal model for any fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. Discover the numerous well-known postcard motifs: the famous “Plönlein” with the Sieberstor gate, the impressive town hall and, of course, the Gothic Ratstrinkstube, whose clock plays the legendary “Meistertrunk” every hour on the hour.
After our city tour, you will have enough time to visit the “Reiterlesmarkt”, one of the most romantic Christmas markets in Germany with a picturesque backdrop. Or spend the afternoon in one of the city's numerous museums: 1000 years of European judicial history in the Medieval Criminal Museum, the history of the old imperial city in the Rothenburg Museum, the graphics collection in the Dürerhaus or Germany's only Christmas museum - there is something for everyone here.
Price: €25 (incl. transportation and city tour)
Departure: 8.00 am at the Kurfürstenanlage bus platform, Heidelberg main station
Registration from Tuesday, November 26, 2024
DECEMBER 14, 2024 - CHRISTMAS MARKET IN TÜBINGEN
In Tübingen, Swabian coziness meets a cosmopolitan university town. “Tübingen doesn't have a university, Tübingen is a university” is the motto in this small town on the Neckar.
The city tour through the historic heart takes you past the foot of Hohentübingen Castle, the famous Hölderlin Tower and the old university buildings Burse, Tübingen Abbey and the Old Assembly Hall.
Afterwards you can plunge into the hustle and bustle of Tübingen's unique Christmas market.
Price: € 25 (incl. transportation and city tour)
Departure: 8.00 am at the Kurfürstenanlage bus platform, Heidelberg main station
Registration possible from Tuesday, December 10, 2024
DECEMBER 21, 2024 - CHRISTMAS MARKET IN MICHELSTADT
We will spend the end of the Christmas season at one of the most beautiful Christmas markets in the region in the nearby Odenwald. The entire town of Michelstadt offers a fairytale setting with over a hundred wooden stalls and the famous life-size wooden figures scattered throughout the market.
Meeting point: 9.45 am at Heidelberg main station, Willy-Brandt-Platz entrance
Registration possible from Tuesday, December 10, 2024
Practical information: The excursion itself is free of charge. However, registration is required. You will have to pay for the journey by public transport yourself.
11 JANUARY 2025 - STUTTGART
We start the new year with a visit to the state capital of Baden-Württemberg.
After a walk through the city center, our destination is the so-called “cultural mile” of Stuttgart. Here, in the “Haus der Geschichte” - Germany's first political-historical state museum - an exciting guided tour on the subject of “Democracy today and yesterday” awaits you.
Price: 5 € (guided tour and admission)
Meeting point: 8.45 am at Heidelberg main station, Willy-Brandt-Platz entrance
Please note: Train tickets for this trip must be purchased separately.
Registration possible from Tuesday, January 7, 2025
CALENDAR WEEK 4* 2025 - STRASBOURG
Discover the beautiful city in Alsace and experience how closely French, German and European history are intertwined in this region.
After a city tour through Strasbourg's old town (UNESCO World Heritage Site) and the former tanners' quarter “La Petite France” and a visit to the impressive Romanesque-Gothic cathedral with its unique astronomical clock.
In the afternoon, we will head to the “European Quarter” together. In addition to a walk past the numerous European institutions, a visit and lecture in the European Parliament and a discussion with an elected member of the European Parliament await us in the “Capital of Europe”.
Price: €25 (incl. transportation, city tour and admission)
Departure: 8.00 a.m. at the Kurfürstenanlage bus platform, Heidelberg main station
Registration possible from Tuesday, January 7, 2025
Practical information: A valid identity card (EU citizens) or a valid passport is mandatory for registration and admission to the European Parliament.
*The exact date has not yet been set and will be announced on this website.
FEBRUARY 1, 2025 - DARMSTADT
The last day trip this semester is an insider tip for those particularly interested in architecture and art: Darmstadt's Mathildenhöhe. The artists' colony was one of the main centers of European Art Nouveau from 1899 to 1914 and is considered a visionary pioneer of classical modernism. Experimental architecture and the merging of art and life created a special place that has rightly been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2021.
Price: €5 (guided tour and admission)
Meeting point: N.N. at Heidelberg main station, Willy-Brandt-Platz entrance
Please note: Train tickets for this trip must be purchased separately.
Registration possible from Tuesday, January 7, 2025
FEBRUARY 13-16, 2025 - BERLIN
The conclusion of our excursion program is a four-day trip to the German capital.
A varied program awaits you in Berlin with a city tour by bus past the most important sights of the city: Brandenburg Gate, Kurfürstendamm, Potsdamer Platz, the Holocaust Memorial and the “East Side Gallery”. The next day, we will explore the historic center from the Gendarmenmarkt to the Nikolai Quarter, Unter den Linden, Berlin Cathedral and Museum Island.
You will also discover the complex and multi-layered history of Germany and its capital: on a joint visit to the Reichstag with a lecture in the German Bundestag followed by a tour of the dome, on a guided tour of the “Topography of Terror” exhibition on the former site of the Gestapo and SS headquarters and on a guided tour of the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen memorial, a former “Stasi” prison.
Despite the varied program, you will also have the opportunity to explore the vibrant metropolis on the Spree on your own. Our trip naturally offers you enough time for individual visits to the city's many museums or extensive shopping tours on Ku'Damm, in KADEWE and in the numerous malls. For night owls, various trendy districts offer an almost endless choice of theaters, cabarets, bars, clubs and cinemas.
Price: 200 euros (incl. transportation, city tour, guided tours, entrance fees, three nights' accommodation with breakfast at the Meininger Hotel Tiergarten in Berlin)
Departure: 7.30 am at the Kurfürstenanlage bus platform, Heidelberg main station
Registration for this trip is only possible on Friday, January 10 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the service portal for international students.
Practical information: A valid identity card (EU citizens) or a valid passport is mandatory for registration and entry to the German Bundestag.