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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.