My ultimate list of Heidelberg recommendations!

Favourite cafés, thrift shops, cultural events and more gathered from 1 year living here

Aug 03, 2025

I have moved away from Heidelberg, Germany, today, and I am leaving behind a beautiful city with lots of cute cafés, yummy restaurants, secret gem thrift shops and more. Of all the cities I’ve lived in, Heidelberg is also probably the city with the biggest cultural offer. It’s popular with tourists for a reason, so if you come by here, don’t miss out on these special places!

Cafés & bars

Mildner’s: your typical chill student café. Bring your laptop, a magazine, or your friend for a coffee date. Power plugs provided.
Sternweiler: small coffee shop named after a Jewish family that lived in the building before they were deported. This is the place for a prettily curated selection of specialty coffee beans.
Coffee Nerd: Choose from 2 weekly changing specialty coffees for your drink, or try their matcha latte (it’s good, I promise). Waiting for their pastry fresh out of the oven is also worth it.
Sunday: Newly opened across from the theatre. Incredibly creamy milk foam and gorgeous cakes. Take your order to the Theaterplatz right next to the café and enjoy in the shade of plane trees.
Moro & More: classic Italian coffee shop aesthetic with wooden cupboards, golden handles and green marble tabletops. The subsidiary in Neuenheim (across the river) is nicer than the one in the old town, but you might want to book ahead on weekends for larger parties.
ZKB: Zimmer, Küche, Bar – bedroom, kitchen, bar. A chill café/bar right on market place, plays quiet music in the evening. The friendly staff doesn’t mind if you journal there until 11 pm, ordering only a hot chocolate.
Bent Bar: Pared-down, narrow, intimate cocktail bar for dates or cozy evenings with friends. Cocktails are excellent.
a drink called Joanna at Sunday and an oat cappuccino at Moro & More

Food

Heimway Noodles: My go-to lunch place, not just because it was in my street. Homemade refillable Chinese noodles and delicious fried appetizers. Simple but hits the right spot. My special recommendation: their soy paste noodles and the osmanthus pudding for dessert.
Min Ramen: Always full, so book ahead. Cute, dimly-lit interior and good, fatty ramen.
Kilimanjaro: Ethiopian Injera served in a cozy restaurant next to the river.
Restaurant ON: I might be partial to this one due to its name, but I whole-heartedly recommend this Korean place, also near the river, as a much cozier alternative to Soban. A little pricy.
Chambino: Same neighbourhood, luxurious tapas. Only four tables, rustic-raw interiors, jazzy atmosphere. Perfect for a date night with shared finger food.
Da Pasquale: the best Pizza in town, according to me. Small, stuffy place with bar seats and pictures of Italian legends eating spaghetti. Open all day for morning coffee, lunch pasta and pizza dinner (very popular with theatre staff).
La Locanda 26: the best pizza in town, according to everyone else. Fancier interiors, high ceilings, large art nouveau windows, outside terrace. It’s in a quieter neighbourhood across the river and affordable for what it is. My flatmate swears on their Lugano wine. I took myself on a solo date there for my last night in Heidelberg.
Konomi: Half café, half bistro, this Japanese place on the Plöck serves all kinds of teas and lattes with cakes and other beloved Japanese sweets as well as sushi lunch plates and soba noodle soups.
MamaZoee: Fancy fusion food with elaborate taste combos served in a chill environment, accompanied by hip hop sounds. Located on a busy crossroads, this corner restaurant has tinted glass walls wrapping you up into discreet dimness. Book a few weeks ahead.
Starters at MamaZoee and soba noodle soup at Konomi (photo by Timo Buchholz)

Thrifting

Deutscher Frauenring: charity shop offering women’s clothing, men’s clothing, and household items. Do not come shortly before closing time, or you will be bullied out by the elderly volunteer ladies.
Stil-echt Second-best: This is quite pricey, but you’ll find all sorts of higher-end stuff here. While you’re there, head over to Bairro café – not on the list but deserves a special mention.
Picknweight: if you’re in the game, you know this one. Dig through the 80s polyester and you will find a gem or two – I did.
Second Hand Laden No.4: this is a treasure trove I discovered late. A colourful and frilly mix of clothes, books, jewellery, vintage postcards, run by an elderly lady that will – surprise – lead you through a passageway and a courtyard into her private home, where the show continues!!? There’s also a children’s section back there, and you get to listen to coffee-table gossip while she’s having friends over.
Select Mode: if you’re looking for party attire or formal wear (especially from German high-end brands), come here and browse the pretty dresses, blouses, suits, and shoes. On the pricier side.
My Way: be prepared for chaos. You’ve got to squeeze and sift through mountains of vintage and not-so-vintage clothing to get through the shop, let alone find something worth trying on, while listening to 70s rock. But if you do, you’re guaranteed to find treasures. Bonus: if you buy something, the owner, an OG hippie lady, will give you a free Yogi teabag (choose from cinnamon, rose and ginger-lemon).
Dinge & Inge: Not primarily clothes, but things, mainly from the 90s. the most random selection of cool looking stuff, from designer board games to Japanese bookbinding. With space-age electropop playing. Really worth seeing.
Messplatz Flohmarkt: huuuuuge summer flea market on saturday mornings. See this issue of flea market finds for the sort of quality stuff you can scout there.
my proud scores from the Messplatz flea market

Sightseeing & walking

Heidelberger Schloss: first, of course, there’s the castle ruin. You can read all about theatre things going on up there once a year in my castle logbooks. Take the funicular or climb the steep stairs up the mountain for the full experience to tour the castle grounds, the few preserved interiors, the great barrel (really great), and the apothecary museum (really worth it). One funicular station above, you’re on the Königstuhl, the king’s seat, where you can enjoy the greatest view of the city as well as ample walkable woods.
Philosophenweg: For a milder walk, cross the old bridge from the city centre and climb up the Schlangenweg – snake’s walk, true to its name – to reach the Philosophenweg, a long footpath winding its way parallel to the river.
Karlstor: If you walk up Hauptstraße, the central shopping mile, all the way to the end of old town, you arrive at the Karlstor, a triumphal arch between river and mountain, built in 1781. On your way there, you’ll also cross many a charming square with fountains and ice cream parlours.
Neckarwiesen: while you’re there, you should walk back along the river Neckar (especially pretty in golden autumn light), which runs in parallel to Hauptstraße, and take a picnic on the Neckarwiesen, the riverbank meadows. Attention, they’re full at the first hint of good weather!
Stadtwald: climb up one of the, again, quite steep staircases up into the city forest (Heidelberg is located in the Neckar valley). There you can take long (level) walks, boulder, and even rock climb. Also an underrated view of the city.
views of the castle from the old bridge and of the old bridge from the castle

Cultural venues & events

Theater & Orchester Heidelberg: well, of course, I’m going to mention my former employer, the theatre. Apart from their regular repertoire of drama, opera, dance, and music, you should not miss the festivals if you happen to catch them:
- Stückemarkt: a week of invited plays from theatres around Germany as well as a guest country – this year it was China. One of the Chinese plays, The true story of Ah Q, was breathtaking to watch, so different from what I’m used to. The festival is accompanied by a rich program of parties, talks and workshops.
- Tanzbiennale: the same but all about dance!
- Schlossfestspiele: for about a month and a half every summer, the Heidelberg castle turns into the backdrop for three pieces running most days – a play, an opera, and a children’s piece. Sunset view and heat stroke included.
Karlstorbahnhof: a cinema and venue for concerts, parties, poetry slams and all sorts of cultural events. This is where it’s at in Heidelberg. Don’t miss out on the themed cinematic weeks (Middle eastern film festival, Iranian film festival, etc.).
Gloria & Gloriette: small cinemas showing indie films, films in OV, short-film events, talks, etc.
Textilsammlung Max Berk: textile museum with changing exhibitions. I saw two quilt exhibitions while I was there and they were both excellent. Entrance cost is 1,20€.
dai: the German-American Institute organises talks by well-known intellectuals year-round. Tickets are reasonably priced.
FeeLit festival: yearly week-long literature festival inviting international literary figures for talks, readings, and panels.
Heidelberger Frühling: over a month of classical music concerts around the city. There’s a chamber music edition and a song edition, one after the other. Sells out early, be quick!