The Heidelberg Castle funicular

How do I get up to Heidelberg Castle?

Funicular from the Kornmarkt, included in the castle ticket, or on foot up the Burgweg in ten to fifteen steep minutes. Bus 33 or 20 brings you from the station to the Kornmarkt.

The castle is eighty metres above the Old Town on a slope that was built to be hard to climb. Four ways up, in order of ease:

Most guided tours ride up together. The two-hour walk lists the funicular up; the bus tour drives you up and lists the funicular down; the Königstuhl tour takes a van to the summit and the historic line down. The Frankfurt tours bring you by road.

How does the Heidelberg funicular work?

Two separate lines meet at Molkenkur. The lower one, Kornmarkt to Schloss to Molkenkur, is modern and runs every ten minutes. The upper one, Molkenkur to Königstuhl, is historic and runs every twenty.

The lower line climbs 471 metres of track and 171 metres of height, with a gradient of up to 43 percent and a 210-metre tunnel, in about five minutes end to end; the Schloss station is about two minutes from the Kornmarkt. It opened in 1890, was electrified in 1907, rebuilt in 1961 and 1962, and closed from October 2003 to March 2005 for new, larger cars and new stations. The operator calls it one of Germany's most modern funiculars.

The upper line is the opposite in spirit. Opened in 1907, it climbs 1,020 metres of track and 260 metres of height in two wooden-bodied cars that carry fifty people each and were rebuilt to the original design when the line reopened in 2005. It is one of the oldest electric funiculars in Germany and takes about nine minutes. Together the two lines make 1,491 metres, with gradients between 22 and 48 percent along the way.

Is the funicular included in the Heidelberg Castle ticket?

The lower line is, out and back, as far as Molkenkur. The upper line to the Königstuhl is not.

The castle ticket sold at the Kornmarkt and Schloss stations, the castle cash desk and the tourist information offices covers the ride Kornmarkt to Schloss to Molkenkur and back along with the courtyard, the Great Tun and the Apothecary Museum. You do not buy a railway ticket and a castle ticket; you buy one thing. The annual castle ticket is the exception: it excludes the funicular.

Online the same bundle appears inside the HeidelbergCard, which lists the funicular round trip to Molkenkur, and inside guided tours whose listings name the funicular. The private tour calls it the cable car; the inclusion is the same. If you want to go on to the Königstuhl, buy the upper-line ticket at Molkenkur or at the Kornmarkt before you start. More on the ticket in the ticket guide.

When does the Heidelberg funicular run?

From about 9:00 every day. In summer the last car down from the Schloss station leaves around 20:00; in winter around 17:40. Check the operator's timetable for your date.

The operator publishes a summer and a winter timetable on bergbahn-heidelberg.de. In recent years the summer timetable ran from 1 April to 1 November with the last downhill departure from Molkenkur at 20:00 and from the Schloss station a few minutes later; the winter timetable ended uphill service around 17:10 and downhill around 17:40. Those hours are from past timetables and shift a little each year, so look at the current one before planning an evening on the hill.

Two things to know. The castle courtyard closes at 18:00 all year, so the summer evening cars serve the free terraces and the walk down rather than the ticketed parts. And the lines close for an annual safety inspection of about two weeks, in March in recent years, with a replacement bus on the lower section.

Is the Königstuhl worth going up?

On a clear day, yes. The summit is at over 550 metres with the Rhine plain spread out below, and the wooden cars are half the fun. It is a separate ticket and another half hour each way.

The Königstuhl is the hill the castle sits on, 567.8 metres at the top, and the upper funicular drops you at the summit station. Up there are a viewing terrace, forest walks, the Falknerei and a children's area; the view on a good day reaches across the Rhine plain to the hills on the far side. The ride itself, in a wooden car that climbs through the forest at a gradient you feel in your knees, is the attraction for many people.

If you would rather have it done for you, the Königstuhl tour listing takes a van to the summit and rides the historic funicular down to the castle, with the funicular ticket included. Doing it yourself, go up early, before the castle, when the light is on the plain and the cars are empty.

Van to the Königstuhl panorama, the historic funicular down to the castle, then the Old Town with a guide. Funicular ticket, courtyard and museum included.

4.5 hours · Small group or private, English or German

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Can I walk up to Heidelberg Castle instead?

Yes. The Burgweg from the Kornmarkt takes ten to fifteen steep minutes on cobbles and steps. A gentler route without steps exists for those who need it.

The Burgweg starts behind the town hall at the Kornmarkt, a few steps from the funicular station, and climbs straight at the castle. Locals call the stepped shortcut the Kurzer Buckel, the short hump, which is accurate: a stair section of around 240 metres, then cobbles, then the Elizabeth Gate and the garden. Allow ten to fifteen minutes if you are fit, more if you stop for the views back over the roofs, which you will.

Walk up and ride down, or the reverse, since the castle ticket covers the funicular either way. In the rain the cobbles are slick and the funicular wins. In the evening after the courtyard closes, the walk down through the garden with the lights coming on in the Old Town is the best fifteen minutes in Heidelberg.

What happens during the 2027 to 2028 funicular closure?

Both lines are suspended from 4 October 2027 to 7 April 2028 for renovation of the bridge structures. A replacement bus runs Kornmarkt to Schloss to Molkenkur.

The operator has announced a six-month interruption on bergbahn-heidelberg.de: no service on either the lower or the upper line between Monday 4 October 2027 and Friday 7 April 2028, while two bridges on the historic upper section are comprehensively renovated. A replacement bus will run between the Kornmarkt, the castle and Molkenkur; the operator says more details will follow nearer the time.

For a castle visit in that window the practical change is small: the bus or the Burgweg takes you up, the castle itself stays open as normal, and the castle ticket should be checked for what it covers during the works. For the Königstuhl the change is bigger, since there is no replacement for the upper line announced. We track it in the closure post.

Is the Heidelberg funicular wheelchair accessible?

Partly. The operator reports that the wheelchair lift at Molkenkur is out of service with no repair date given. The castle does not publish detailed access information on its visitor page.

The lower line's stations at the Kornmarkt and the Schloss were rebuilt in 2005 and are the modern part of the system. The Molkenkur station, where the two lines meet, has a wheelchair lift that the operator's site currently lists as out of operation because of a technical fault. The upper line's historic cars are stepped and narrow. Inside the castle, the courtyard is cobbled, the Great Tun is reached by stairs and the terraces are on different levels.

Among the tours on this site, the private Residence of the Electors listing states that it is wheelchair accessible; the Königstuhl and both Frankfurt listings state that they are not. The castle links to a general barrier-free access declaration rather than a visitor-facing access page, so if access matters, write to the castle before you travel and plan on the lower funicular rather than the Burgweg.

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