NiceGuides · Kornmarkt, Old Town
A guide from NiceGuides meets you at the Kornmarkt, rides the funicular up with you and spends two hours in the courtyard, on the Great Terrace and down in the barrel cellar, with the castle ticket and the Apothecary Museum included. Pick it because it bundles everything the castle ticket covers with someone who can explain why the place is a ruin.
This is the tour most people should start with. You meet under the turquoise NiceGuides umbrella by the Madonna statue on the Kornmarkt, a few steps from the funicular valley station behind the town hall. The guide has the tickets, so there is no queue at the counter. Two minutes of funicular later you walk through the gate tower into the courtyard, and the listing's route takes in the Friedrichsbau with its sixteen statues, the Ottheinrichsbau facade, the Great Terrace with the Old Town and the Neckar below, and the cellar with the Great Tun. The German Apothecary Museum in the Ottheinrichsbau is in the ticket too.
The listing is clear about the one thing it does not include: the inside of the buildings. In its own words, the tour covers the grounds, and the interior tours are offered by the castle itself for a supplement. That is true of every castle tour sold online, not a weakness of this one. The furnished rooms of the Friedrichsbau and the chapel are shown on the castle's hourly tour in English and German, bought at the cash desk; the timetable is on the castle's visitor page. If you want the rooms, plan an extra hour after the walk.
Group size is not stated on the listing, and you book a time slot rather than a private slot. Guests name their guides often: Christian, Thomas and Barbara come up in the comments from the last two months, and the tone is more storytelling than lecture. Compare it with the private Residence of the Electors tour if you would rather have a guide to yourselves, or with the bus and castle tour if you speak German and want the city as well.
Kornmarkt, next to the Madonna statue. Look for the turquoise NiceGuides umbrella; the funicular valley station is around the corner behind the town hall.
The lower line from the Kornmarkt, rebuilt in 2002 to 2005, climbs the hillside in about two minutes. The ticket is in the tour.
Through the gate tower into the courtyard. The Friedrichsbau and its ancestral gallery, the Ottheinrichsbau, the Hall of Glass, and the stories of electors, wars and fires.
Out onto the Altan for the view of the Old Bridge, the Neckar and the Philosophenweg opposite. The best photographs of the day happen here.
Into the Fassbau cellar for the barrel built in 1751, roughly 220,000 litres, with the figure of the court jester Perkeo opposite. The walk ends here or back in the courtyard.
The museum in the Ottheinrichsbau is in your ticket, so stay on if you like. The funicular runs every ten minutes back to the Kornmarkt.
Highly recommended. The guide knew the history of the site backwards and forwards!
Guide Christian was great and, above all, fun and relaxed. I would book something with him again anytime.
The guide Thomas was great! With witty and charming remarks, he made the tour something special.
Our guide was pleasant and extremely knowledgeable about the castle.
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No. The listing states that the tour covers the grounds: the courtyard, the Great Terrace, the Great Tun cellar and the Apothecary Museum. The furnished interiors are shown on the castle's own guided tour, a supplement sold at the castle cash desk, with English tours on a published timetable.
Yes, the listing includes the funicular ride up from the Kornmarkt. The castle ticket itself covers the lower line out and back, so the return ride is yours to take whenever you finish.
On the Kornmarkt in the Old Town, next to the Madonna statue, under a turquoise NiceGuides umbrella. The Kornmarkt is behind the town hall at the eastern end of the Hauptstrasse; bus 33 or 20 from the Hauptbahnhof stops at Bergbahn.
The listing offers free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start, and a reserve now, pay later option, so you can hold a slot while the rest of your day settles.
Ready to book
Two hours in the courtyard, on the Great Terrace and in the barrel cellar with a live guide, the funicular ride and the castle ticket included. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
Sightseeing Bus and Castle TourAn hour of the city by bus, an hour in the castle grounds and the Great Tun, funicular down; the listing names German only.2 hours · Bus tour + castle grounds, German
Residence of the Electors: Private Castle TourPrivate ninety minutes for your group of up to twenty: garden, Scheffel terrace, ruins and Tun; tickets and cable car included.1.5 hours · Private guide, up to 20, English or German
HeidelbergCard: 1, 2 or 4 DaysCastle ticket with funicular, every VRN bus and tram, and a set of museums on one card for one, two or four days; non-refundable.1 to 4 days · City card with castle ticket