Hi All, As part of my next vacation, I will be spending five or so days in Heidelberg. I have looked in Beerfly & one of my kids is in grad school there, so I will have a local guide of sorts. Since my daughter is on a student's budget, she may not be aware of all the good spots, is there anything you folks can suggest? Also, would like any daytrip recommendations if there is something that would be fun and beer related. Thanks in advance! .
I stayed in the Kulturbrauerie Hotel and their beer is pretty good if a tad expensive. Make sure you head to the Schnitzelbank for food. Really unassuming place but fantastic food and beer/wine on offer there. Don’t eat much the day you go as portions are huge.
I like Vetter's Brauhaus. It's in the Altstadt, between the church and Alte Brucke (the bridge). Good location, good food.
Hello @Gutes_Bier ! He lived in HD (Heidelberg) for a couple of years. Though it was a few years ago, maybe not much has changed? I live in FfM (Frankfurt) and can't think of a single beer reason to go their. HD is touristy as hell, but unfortunately as the only main German city that wasn't utterly bombed to smithereens due its complete lack of industry, it's a gem of a city... basically what all German cities were like pre-WWII.
Yes, @boddhitree is correct, I was there from 2010 - 2014, four years almost to the day I think. As hard as it is to believe, the day is soon coming that I have been gone longer than I was there. So all of this with a big ol' grain of salt... The big thing to do is to understand or at least be aware of your region. In HD, the regional drinks are Pils, Export, and Weizen (usually a Weizen Hell), and Pils is the king. You should not go expecting to see crazy and creative tap rooms with 40 different beers on tap. Restaurants will most often have a Pils and Export on tap, and a Weizen bottled. This is not such a bad thing once you realize how good* the pils is vom Fass. (*usually - Heidelberger does not have a good reputation with the locals which should speak volumes. Also beware of locally produced Eichbaum and do not drink the Klosterhof) The two brewpubs have already been mentioned, Vetter's and Kulturbrauerei. Both are in the tourist district and both are excellent. As mentioned Kulturbrauerei is a bit more pricey, particularly with the food. Kulturbrauerei has a chalkboard outside that says "Unsere Braumeister empfehlt", meaning the Head Brewer Recommends. Get whatever that beer is. It's usually the seasonal beer. Vetter's Hell is good. Kudos to @Dodger75 for mentioning Schnitzelbank. Not only is their food top-notch (their escargot is actually pretty good), but they serve Rothaus Tannenzapfle, the best beer you're likely to come across in HD. As I always note, Tannenzapfle is the Rothaus Pils in a 330 ml bottle. If a place has both on the menu, it usually means the Pils is on tap and they also have the 330 ml bottles. Schnitzelbank focuses local white wines, which are also worth exploring, by the way. Rothaus TZ is the only beer they have. I think the same people manage Schnookeloch, near the old bridge. I checked their menu online and it's all Hacker Pschorr stuff now. I remember getting a tasty beer there once but I didn't think it was an HP. Anyway they have HP Pils on tap these days, and I'm sure it tastes good. The Weisser Schwann has an interesting bottled beer list. They have Andechs Dopplebock Dunkel and Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen, which are both really rare in the region. But the reason it's rare is that no one drinks it, so the bottles may not be super fresh. Another place that may have Schlenkerla's Märzen is Hemingways. In terms of beer related days trips...I'm not sure what to recommend. Depending on the time you have you could do an extended trip to Köln (about 2 hours by the ICE) or Düsseldorf (another 15 minutes along) and drink some Kölsch or Altbier. I know there's a Craft Beer place around there somewhere but it opened after we left and I don't know much about it. (edited for grammar)
After a little googling, there seems to be a Craft Brewer that's opened in the area of HD, but not in HD. If you can read German, here's the article from Hopfenhelden blog/mag. Don't know if any of these can be found in HD, but maybe look out for them. Basically, it says: Schnorres – Bier der Pfalz - according to brewery's website, not found in HD. They're near Kaiserslautern. Bierprojekt Landau according to Google maps, permanently closed, but their website is up and running... seem to brew mostly German beer styles. Craftcell/Axlbräu - This seems to be in HD. Bunsenstraße 14, 69115 Heidelberg is the address. However, their website mentions no beers that they brew. Anyway, Heidelberger Brauerei also seems to have joined the craft beer waves by brewing their own IPA. That's all I got from Herr Google.
Thanks everyone!! I am one month out, so if you think of anything else, please let me know. Truly appreciated!
Bamberg is 3+ hours away #justsayin’ Miltenburg is a doable road trip but I wouldn’t recommend it because it’s kind of difficult if you don’t know your way around. Strasbourg is 2 hours away. Munich is 3 hours with a high speed train, Paris is 3.5 the other direction. I keep landing on Düsseldorf as my trip of choice, but honestly Cologne is probably the better recommendation...more to see, train station drops you off at the Cathedral and many Kolsch options nearby and easy to walk to. Düsseldorf requires a decent walk or local transit from the Hauptbahnhof to downtown, but I had much more fun in Düsseldorf than I ever did in Cologne.
I actually am getting a bonus day in Munich on this trip. United and Lufthansa changed their flight schedule out of Chicago so that my connection to Crete something like 15 minutes, so they moved trip from Chicago to Munich up by one day which gives me a whole day in Munich before I leave for Crete. Wonder what I can do
Thanks for all the suggestions! Had a great trip to Heidelberg. Non beer highlights included the philosopher's walk (with a nice beer garden at the top), the old bridge, the walk up the castle & a boat trip down the Nekcar River including a stop at Neckarsteinach (and another beer garden). Was having such a good time we missed our return boat and had to take the train. Beer & food wise: Had a fantastic dinner (pig knuckle) in the beer garden of Kulturbrauerei. Beer was good and they had a unfiltered lager as one of their offerings. Vetter - Only had a beer there, very enjoyable stop. We had a total of 11 in our party (two families) so could not get into either Schnitzel Bank (we would have taken almost all the tables) or the White Swan. Had a great tour of my daughter's university. Got to drink the student dining room/beer hall & beer garden. 2 euro .5 L which is a great deal. Enjoyed the old student prison and all the churches. I am planning on going back next April when she graduates and hope to hit more spots then. Thanks again for the advice!!
