We have to attend a 1 day seminar at Mannheim in the middle of May. First trip to Germany. Will not have a car but will rely on public transportation. Where should we stay (we will have a 22 month old child with us). Heidelberg has been mentioned to us. What to visit? We will be going to Prague from here for another 4 days. So if there is a series of things we can do that will take us towards Prague?
|||
Of course Heidelberg is nearby to Mannheim which incidentally has the largest Baroque palace in Germany, but unfortunately only two interior rooms were completed in the original style when it was rebuilt. Both Speyer and Worms are nearby. There are palaces in Schwetzingen (also gardens) and at Bruchsal. Hockenheim is home to a famous race course with museum, and both Speyer and Sinnsheim have technical museums. Along the Neckar River from Heidelberg to Heilbronn are many vineyards, castles and nice old towns such as Bad Wimpfen, and a trip up the river from Heidelberg is nice. You are also fairly close to the most scenic part of the Rhine between Ruedesheim and Koblenz. There are also many other excellent places to visit that are fairly close such as Baden Baden and the Black Forest. If you stay within Baden-Wuerttemberg you can use the Baden-Wuerttemberg group day ticket for 28€ which covers all transportation within this state with two exceptions, no travel before 9AM on a weekday, and only local or regional transportation can be used (no ICEs, ICs or ECs). Many of the places I have mentioned can also be reached even less expensively by a day ticket from the local transportation agency.
For information on Baden-Wuerttemberg see www.tourismus-bw.de and for the excellent palaces, castles, medieval monasteries and gardens operated by this state www.schloesser-und-gaerten.de . Information on the places mentioned can also be found at www.PLACENAME.de, substituting the place name desired.
|||
We live in Mannheim, and love it. Shopping downtown is good. Public transportation is efficient, and will take you anywhere you want to go. My children are 3 and 5 and love it here. They think riding the train is the best fun ever. There is a large park called the Luisenpark. There is a zoo, boatrides, and playgrounds (amazing playgrounds) along with a restaurant at the top of a space needle (Skyline Restaurant-reservations are a good idea). The market downtown on Saturday mornings is a must. Ladenburg is a great little town (about a 10 minute drive). Many beautiful half timbered buildings and great restaurants. Die Kartoffel (The potato) is amazing. You cook your own meat on a hot lava rock, and it comes with a HUGE baked potato. Their Argentinian steaks are so good. Heidelberg is also great. My kids love the castle. We%26#39;ve been there twice, and they still find it exciting. The views of the city from the castle are awesome. The town center in Heidelberg is very quaint, although a little touristy. If you%26#39;re a fan of German beer, then try the Franziskaner Restaurant. Daytrips we have taken from here include Strasburg, France; Stuttgart, Germany; Maastricht, The Netherlands; Rottenburg ADT, Germany; We are checking out the Technology museum Sinsheim next weekend along with a daytrip to Tongeren, Belgium for the flea market. The technology museum has an awesome flea market and looks to be alot of fun for kids. There is also a zoo in Heidelberg, although we haven%26#39;t been there yet. You could also drive to the Alps in about 3 hours for a daytrip see the sights there (not sure about train times). Local train tickets for the strassebahn can be bought at any stop from the machines. Longer trips are best booked in advance. They can get expensive at the last minute. If you are planning to do alot of traveling, you might want to consider a eurorail pass.
|||
There is nothing wrong with staying in Mannheim itself. It%26#39;s the travel hub of the region and you don%26#39;t have to pay the tourist prices like in Heidelberg.
Must sees:
Heidelberg (old town, castle)
http://www.heidelberg-marketing.de
Speyer (old town, imperial cathedral)
www.speyer.de/de/tourist/sehenswert…
Than there are of course the places listed in the previous answers. Neckar valley with its castles is also nice. E.g. Neckarsteinach with 4 castles, which are not far and rather easy to access from Neckarsteinach S-Bahn stop.
VRN - the local public transport network of this region.
vrn.de/imperia/md/content/service/informatio…
You can buy mini group (2-5 persons) 24 hour tickets. Good to the above listed places. Price depends on number of VRN zones you need. If bought on a Saturday these 24 hours ticket are valid till the next workday 3am (thus covering also Sunday).
VRN tickets cover all local public transport: regional trains (RB,RE,OEG/RNV), S-Bahn, trams and buses.
With a ticket for the whole VRN network you can travel as far as Würzburg (on your route to Prague).
wuerzburg.de/en/…index.html
VRN tickets cover only the trains to Würzburg (connection via Osterburken), not the trams and buses there (as Würzburg is actually not inside the VRN).
Another ineresting city on the route to Prague is Nuremberg.
www.nuernberg.de/internet/portal_e/index.html
From Würzburg to Nuremberg you can use the Bavaria Ticket: EUR 28,00 for 2-5 persons.
From Würzburg or Nuremberg to Prague you use a Bavaria-Bohemia Ticket (EUR 33,00 for 2-5 persons) covering the route as far as Plzen/Pilsen. On the train you can buy from the Czech conductor tickets for the remaining part of the trip from Plzen/Pilsen to Prague. CZK 145 pp. (~ EUR 5,12).
Bavaria/Bavaria-Bohemia Tickets cover like the VRN tickets local public transport. Regional trains. In Würzburg the trams and buses and in Nuremberg S-Bahn, U-Bahn, trams and buses. Validity of the Bavaria/Bavaria-Bohemia Tickets is
Mo-Fr: from 9am till 3am next day
Sa,Su: from midnight till 3am next day
You can buy all these tickets on spot from ticket machines.
|||
-:- Message from TripAdvisor staff -:-
This topic was inactive for 6 months and has been closed to new posts. We hope you'll join the conversation by posting to an open topic or starting a new one.
To review the TripAdvisor Forums Posting Guidelines, please follow this link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/pages/forums_posting_guidelines.html
We remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason.
Removed on: 8:21 pm, October 11, 2009
No comments:
Post a Comment