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Heidel­berg Bergbahn

The Heidel­berg Bergbahnen

The Heidel­berg Berg­bahn is one of the most modern funi­cu­lar rail­roads in Ger­many. By using both moun­tain rail­roads, there is a rela­xed ascent to the König­stuhl with a unique view of the Neckar valley.
Table of contents
  • What is the Heidel­berg moun­tain railway?
  • History of the Heidel­berg moun­tain railway
  • Why should you use the Heidel­berg moun­tain railway?
  • Prices and travel times at a glance
  • Are there other attrac­tions in the vici­nity of the Heidel­berg moun­tain railway?
  • Are there any over­night accommodations?
  • More Infor­ma­tion
  • Direc­tions
  • Con­clu­sion
Heidelberg mountain railroad on the Königstuhl. With it you can get to the highest point.

What is the Heidel­berg moun­tain railway?

 

Sta­ti­ons of the Heidel­berg moun­tain railroads

The Heidel­berg moun­tain rail­road was ori­gi­nally built for the Mol­ken­kur plant. The lift was first built as far as the Mol­ken­kur. In the end, there were two moun­tain rail­way sta­ti­ons after all.

Die erste Sta­tion ist die soge­nannte Mit­tel­sta­tion. Dort befin­det sich das Schloss­ho­tel Mol­ken­kur und die ehe­ma­lige Mol­ken­kur­an­lage. Die zweite Sta­tion ist der Königstuhl.

History of the Heidel­berg moun­tain railroads

The Heidel­berg funi­cu­lar and moun­tain rail­roads, You can also see a bit of the muni­ci­pal utilities.

The history of the Heidel­berg Moun­tain Rail­way began in 1873, when the Swiss engi­neer Niko­laus Rig­gen­bach, drew up the first plans. The rail­road had its first maiden trip in 1890. In 1907, the second sta­tion to the Königs­stuhl was opened.

The total length of the line is 1491 meters. The track to the first sta­tion (Mol­ken­kur­bahn) is 471m long, while the track to the second sta­tion (Königs­stuhl­bahn) is 1020m long.

The moun­tain rail­road also goes through a tunnel. This is 210m long and the ride takes a few minutes.

During the years the rail­road was moder­ni­zed again and again. In its begin­nings, the first cable car still used the water-balast tech­ni­que. In the mean­time, the moun­tain rail­road is con­side­red to be one of the most modern funi­cu­lar rail­roads. The upper moun­tain rail­road was even listed in the monu­ment book of Baden-Würt­tem­berg in 2004. Nowa­days, more and more tou­rists use the moun­tain rail­road. Howe­ver, every now and then there is a main­ten­ance of the two cable cars. The visi­tors are noti­fied on the homepage.

Who is the inven­tor of the Heidel­berg moun­tain railroads?

Niklaus Rig­gen­bach drew up the first plans for a funi­cu­lar rail­road in 1873. This was the oldest docu­men­ted men­tion of the moun­tain rail­road. In the fol­lo­wing years, there were sub­se­quent dis­cus­sions about which plans were the better ones. It was not until 1883 that the Heidel­berg road and moun­tain com­pany Lefe­renz & Co. gra­du­ally suc­cee­ded in com­ple­ting the rail­road. It was to take ano­ther seven years. In the end, the com­pany mana­ged to finish buil­ding the rail­road. At the moment, the cur­rent ope­ra­tor is Hei­del­ber­ger Stra­ßen und Berg­bah­nen AG (HSB).

Who is the cur­rent ope­ra­tor of the moun­tain railroads?

It is not Rhein Neckar Ver­kehr GmbH as many think, but Hei­del­ber­ger Stra­ßen und Berg­bah­nen AG.

Why should you use the Heidel­berg moun­tain railway?

Unique view

By using the beau­tiful his­to­ric Heidel­berg moun­tain rail­ways, visi­tors get a unique view of the city of Heidel­berg. In winter, there is a pos­si­bi­lity to take a hike through a snowy land­scape, while in summer, on sunny days, visi­tors can enjoy the wea­ther in the castle and its sur­roun­dings. By the way, Heidel­berg with its castle is one of the most famous cities in Germany.

King’s Chair Activities

Fairy­tale para­dise on the Königstuhl

Fairy Para­dise was crea­ted by the cur­rent owner so that fami­lies have an addi­tio­nal oppor­tu­nity to have fun on the mountain.

This is a won­derful acti­vity for fami­lies with children.

Downhill from the Königstuhl

There is a great faci­lity to ride downhill legally on the moun­tain. But you have to follow the rules of the club and the city of Heidel­berg. The club has its own car, because you can not take the downhill bike in the two Heidel­berg Berg­bah­nen. But it is pos­si­ble that you can ride from the start of the track into the city. This allows you to get to the beau­tiful Neckar & Rhine plain much faster than if you were to do it on foot. The ent­rance fee is 60€ for an adult and 40€ for a teen­ager. There is also a family mem­ber­ship for which you have to pay 80€.

Hiking trails on the Königstuhl

There are seve­ral start­ing points that you can approach as a hiker. The most famous is the start at the par­king lot. Here you should arrive early so that you can still get a par­king space. On sunny days, the par­king lot is almost always full. Make sure that the con­tents of your back­pack include at least one bottle of water, because on nice days it can be gladly exhaus­ting. After the hike you can visit the Molkenkur.

Prices and travel times at a glance

 

Curr­ently there are three cate­go­ries for the tickets. These are the Pan­ora­ma­ti­cket, König­stuhl­ti­cket and the Schloss Ticket / Untere Bahn. The price of the tickets for cer­tain people is also redu­ced. The costs are in the range of 4,50€ – 40€. If there are pas­sen­gers tra­ve­ling with their fami­lies, then there are extra ticket prices. The moun­tain rail­road runs bet­ween 09:00 – 20:03 – alt­hough the ope­ra­tion has dif­fe­rent times bet­ween the two stations.
There is a pos­si­bi­lity to reserve the moun­tain rail­road indi­vi­du­ally for events and other events.

Price table (link)

Time­ta­ble (link)

Are there other places of inte­rest in the vici­nity of the Heidel­berg moun­tain railway?

With the help of the moun­tain rail­road, visi­tors can easily and quickly ascend the Königs­stuhl. This gives you more time to visit the other his­to­ri­cal monu­ments of Heidel­berg. This is, among others, the famous Heidel­berg Castle. It was par­ti­ally des­troyed by the French as a result of the 9-year War of Pala­ti­nate Suc­ces­sion. To visit the castle, you need an extra castle ticket. There is a com­bi­na­tion ticket with the Heidel­berg moun­tain rail­road. If there is enough time, then the castle cour­ty­ard is recom­men­ded to make yours­elf com­for­ta­ble on the lawn in the castle park. The castle is famous throug­hout Baden-Würt­tem­berg. You can survey the Rhine plain a few meters fur­ther over a small bridge. Howe­ver, you should take care of yours­elf when you lean over the edge. In addi­tion, you can enjoy the beau­tiful Königs­stuhl and the view of Heidel­berg. The hig­hest point of the Königs­stuhl is at a height of 569m. Every now and then there is a pos­si­bi­lity to watch parachutists.

There is also the pos­si­bi­lity to visit the Königs­stuhl by bike. If you want to ride the trails and the forest paths, you should rather use a moun­tain bike or a gravel bike. With a road bike you can ride up the normal road. As a cyclist you have to respect the 2 meters rule.

There are also good trails that are nice in the summer. If you prefer more empty trails, then it is better to start either in the mor­ning or in the evening. As a hiker, you have to watch out for cyclists. Once you have visi­ted each sta­tion, you have two opti­ons to get to the old town. In the old town there are many dif­fe­rent stores where there is some­thing for every visi­tor. You can look from the König­stuhl on good days all the way to the Pala­ti­nate Wine Route.

Are there any over­night accom­mo­da­ti­ons in Heidelberg?

There is more than one pos­si­bi­lity to stay over­night on the Königs­stuhl. At the middle sta­tion there is Schloss­ho­tel Mol­ken­kur. It is a 4-star hotel. At the second sta­tion you can even stay in the castle itself. There are events in the castle from time to time. But these usually need an extra reservation.

More Infor­ma­tion

More infor­ma­tion can be obtai­ned directly at the loca­tion of the moun­tain rail­road. If they have a fear of heights, then all pas­sen­gers with a fear of heights should look ahead. You can find the cont­act on the home­page of the Heidel­berg moun­tain railroad.

Direc­tion

There are seve­ral ways to reach the König­stuhl­bahn. If you came by train for a trip to Heidel­berg, there are seve­ral lines from the main sta­tion. The other option is to take the RNV to the Rathaus/Bergbahn Heidel­berg stop. The trip takes about 15 minu­tes with public trans­ports e.g. RNV. This can also be rea­ched by train. So it is pos­si­ble to still explore cer­tain streets in the old town of Heidel­berg. On the other hand, there is the stop HD Schloss. This can be rea­ched by bus line 30. Curr­ently there is a 9 Euro ticket for the next three months. With this ticket you have the oppor­tu­nity to use the public trans­ports all over Germany.

Par­king is also available at the Korn­markt. The cable car ride takes 9 minu­tes from Korn­markt to the two Heidel­berg cable cars.

Con­clu­sion

If you want to visit the sights in a rela­xed way, the Heidel­berg moun­tain rail­roads from the com­pany Hei­del­ber­ger Stra­ßen und Berg­bahn AG is a great option. It is also a good alter­na­tive way for older people or for people with wal­king dif­fi­cul­ties to reach the castle cour­ty­ard. So that you can also explore the rest of the sights on the Königs­stuhl, you should plan enough time. In the evening, you can still have dinner at a restau­rant of your choice in Heidel­berg before retur­ning to your hotel.