Handpicked experience · Frankfurt
Frankfurt, Germany
A university that ran its own jail until 1914, a bronze monkey holding a mirror up to the vain, and a riverside path where lemons grow outdoors.
A guided walk through the old town and along its long main street
Photo stops on the old bridge and the Neckar frontage
The castle terrace and the path on the far bank, the two great viewpoints
Free time for the shops, a coffee or the climb to the castle
A compact schedule that returns to Frankfurt the same day
Six hours from Frankfurt to Heidelberg and back, with a guided walk through the old town, the river frontage and the viewpoints, then free time of your own. The castle terrace and the path on the far bank are the two places everyone photographs, and both are on the route.
You travel down to Heidelberg and walk the old town with a local guide, along the long main street and out onto the old bridge. Afterwards the clock is yours to spend as you see fit, whether that means sitting still or going uphill. Castle admission is arranged separately at the gate, and the day returns to Frankfurt the same afternoon.
Germany's oldest university was founded here in 1386, and for centuries its students were outside the reach of the town's courts. The university therefore ran its own jail, in use from 1778 to 1914, for duelling, drunkenness, night-time singing and letting the local pigs loose. Sentences ran from a few days to four weeks, and prisoners still attended lectures. Being locked up became a mark of standing, the walls are covered in the silhouettes and slogans they painted, and some students committed offences specifically to get in.
At the town end of the old bridge sits a bronze monkey holding up a mirror. The figure repeats a medieval original that stood on the earlier bridge, and it was not decoration: the mirror was aimed at anyone crossing who thought themselves above the people on the other bank, and the accompanying verse told them to look at themselves. Visitors now rub the mirror and the outstretched fingers, which was not the original intention at all.
Eight earlier bridges stood on this spot and were destroyed, most of them by ice floes coming down the Neckar in the spring thaw. The present one dates from 1788 and is stone for that reason. Its gate towers are older, and the notches you can see on the upstream side are ice-breakers, built to split the floes before they reached the arches.
The path on the north bank faces south, sits above the river and is sheltered by the hill behind it, which gives it a microclimate several degrees warmer than the town. Figs, lemons and bamboo grow on it outdoors, in a country where none of them should. Professors walked there to think, and the view back across to the castle is the one on every postcard of the town.
The old town is cobbled and the castle sits well above it, so the climb is real. Castle admission is settled at the entrance. Six hours includes the travel each way, which makes for a compact afternoon on the ground. Cancellation is free up to a day ahead.
Open it to pick a date and work out the price.
What the fare covers, and what to budget for separately.
The practical detail, and the answers people actually ask for.
Travel from Frankfurt each way, a guided walk through the old town and out onto the bridge, then free time of your own before the return.
Because students were outside the town courts' jurisdiction, so the university jailed its own. It ran from 1778 to 1914 for offences like duelling, drunkenness and letting pigs loose, and inmates still went to lectures.
A bronze figure holding a mirror, repeating a medieval original. The mirror was aimed at anyone crossing who felt superior to the people on the other bank — a rebuke, not a decoration.
Because the eight before it were destroyed, mostly by ice floes coming down the Neckar in the spring thaw. The 1788 replacement has ice-breakers on its upstream side to split the floes before they hit the arches.
It faces south, sits above the river and is sheltered by the hill behind, giving it a microclimate warm enough for figs, lemons and bamboo to grow outdoors.
No — it is settled at the entrance if you decide to go in. The guided walk, the free time and the local guide are what the booking covers.
The old town is cobbled and level, but the castle sits well above it, so going up is a genuine climb rather than a stroll.