Every design for Heidelberg

Heidelberg University was founded in 1386, which makes it the oldest in Germany, and the city has never stopped being shaped by it: roughly a quarter of the people here are students, and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory and four Max Planck Institutes work alongside the university.

The setting explains the rest. Right here the Neckar leaves its narrow valley through the Odenwald and opens onto the Upper Rhine Plain, so the old town is pressed between the river, the Königstuhl to the south and the Heiligenberg across the water. Heidelberger Schloss and the Baroque old town share the narrow valley floor, the Alte Brücke leads over to the Philosophers' Walk, and the Heiliggeistkirche rises among the lanes. In one of Germany's warmest corners, almond and fig trees grow outdoors, and the city has been named a UNESCO City of Literature.

Whether you came for a semester and stayed for years, or simply never got over the view from the bridge, this is your Heidelberg.