The Northern part of the German state (Bundesland) of Baden-Württemberg is largely urbanized, with important and famed cities such as Heidelberg, Heilbronn, Karlsruhe and Mannheim. They are located mostly in the western part of the area, close to the border with Hesse and France. In the eastern part, the region has more free nature, with a bit of mountains, hills and propular hiking trails, but also other larger cities like Schwäbisch Hall.

Understand

Northern Baden-Württemberg combines the northern parts of the historic lands of Baden and Württemberg, north of Stuttgart and the Black Forest. The northern part of Baden was traditionally highly urbanized thanks to the presence of the rivers Neckar and Rhine. As the industrial revolution set in, cities like Karlsruhe and Mannheim also became heavily industrialized, and to a large part remain so today. On the other hand, Heidelberg has largely preserved its historic character.

In the eastern part of the region, which historically belonged to Württemberg, is the southeastern end of the historic land of Franconia, which is reflected in the today's macroregion name of Heilbronn-Franken. Gently hilly, as a result of being a continuation of the Swabian Mountains, and including a part of the valley of the meandering river of Neckar, this part provides many beautiful natural landscapes, sprinkled with historic cities like Heilbronn and Schwäbisch Hall

The unique radial layout of Karlsruhe

Cities

• Bad Mergentheim
• Bretten
• Ettlingen
• Heidelberg
• Heilbronn
• Karlsruhe
• Mannheim
• Sinsheim
• Schriesheim
• Schwetzingen
• Schwäbisch Hall
• Weinheim

Other destinations

• Hockenheim
• Tauberbischofsheim
• Wertheim

Talk

In rural areas you can encounter people speaking Kurpfälzisch, a traditional variation of German very different from Hochdeutsch. Regardless of the variation of German spoken everyday, almost everybody you meet should speak German. The larger cities are the seats of many companies with international reach, as well as internationally-renowed universities, while tourism is also an important sector for this wealthy region, so finding speakers of English and French should not be a problem either.

Get in

There is no major airport within Northern Baden-Württemberg, so arriving by plane requires using one of the nearby airports. Many cities in the region lie on the railway line between Frankfurt and Stuttgart, which both have busy international airports. Stuttgart also has a number of smaller railway lines radiating from it throughout the region. Karlsruhe is also served by the minor Baden Airpark in Baden-Baden.

Get around

The most common way to get around the region is by train, as the public transport system is pretty good here. The different regions and cities have different public transport companies with different tickets and pricing. The most important ones are:

• Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Neckar (Mannheim, Heidelberg and Odenwald),
• Karlsruher Verkehrsverbung (Karlsruhe, Rastatt, Bruchsal),
• Heilbronner Verkehrsbetriebe (Heilbronn).

There is also a special ticket, which is valid for all regional trains (referred to as S,RB or RE) in Baden-Württemberg, the "Baden-Württemberg Ticket". This is a good choice when travelling across more than one region.