Area is a great place for outdoor ice skating. People are super friendly there and the rink was…read morevery large. The scenic view in the background was also very nice.

Fascinating This is a little jewel of a museum in the…read moregrounds of the Schloss Heidelberg (included in the Schloss entry fee). The displays were beautiful, and there was a lot of fascinating historical information (in both English and German) about the evolution of apothecaries and development of the pharmaceutical industry.

Located in the Heidelberg Castle, this is a good place to visit if you're in the medical field…read more It's included in the entrance fee if you go to the castle courtyard. It gives a background of pharmacy and of how it evolved in Germany. Has some artifacts set up in it and good English translations in it as well. It's a neat thing to see if you have the chance and are visiting the castle anyway!

Heidelberg Xmas Market is just the best. Spanning multiple locations down the busy Hauptstrasse,…read moreyou have to visit all to avoid missing out on the unique offerings. There is an ice rink right below the castle location. The church location offers the Heidelberger Fass experience, where you can chill in giant barrels. The university location has my favorite tea shop, carousel, champignon booth, and the best "steak" sandwich. Next to Cafe Extrablatt, you can get your photos taken with a fake Santa. Last but not least, you haven't lived if you haven't tried the Flammlachs (flaming lox) at the Bismarkplatz location. Maybe I'm biased because I grew up here, but in my book, this is the best Christmas market experience in Germany--period.

It was the highlight of our recent 3-day weihnachtsmarkt trip to West Germany and Luxembourg, and…read moreit was one of the best ones among seven cities (and I'm counting altogether five markets we visited in Heidelberg as one) we visited in total. We parked and started our route at Karlsplatz just under the Heidelberg Castle (photo). Fortunately, the entrance line was not too long since we arrived sort of early in the evening before the crowd. Heidelberg Christmas Markets are the only one that mandated 2G+ COVID Requirement during our trip. That meant you had to have a negative PCR test results as well as vaccination certificate. Due to that requirement the entry point was a little congested and slow for checking everyone with proper paperwork, but once you got cleared to enter, you were given a wrist band that would allow you go to enter any other markets in town. That saved us a ton of time later. There were some PCR Testing sites near some markets, but since we have gotten it done earlier, we didn't have to bother with that, either. As the evening progressed, there were long lines at both testing sites and entrances. Now, weihnachtsmarkts were wonderful. There were some very nice vendor huts and food choices. I enjoyed some potato pancakes, Glühwein and Nürnberger lebkuchen. I believe ice skate rink was very popular. All five markets were nicely placed within about three city blocks along the main street (Hauptstraße) from Karlsplatz to Marketplatz. It was very enjoyable.