This is a by no means complete overview of nice, cool and recommendable bars and pubs in Heidelberg’s Old Town. It was created for the DjangoCon Europe 2018 and leans heavily on the work provided by the Fachschaft MathPhys in their Freshman Brochure, but is of course valid for all other conferences or use-cases. If you found it helpful, leave me a note on twitter :)
The map provides an overview over the Old Town, the numbers correspond to bars and pubs that are explained below. Unfortunately, you’ll have to download it, but it’s only about 200 kilobytes, it should be fast. A big thank you goes out to Max Jalea for providing the map :)
Without further ado, the bars:
Cave 54 - Jazz cellar, but also rock club. If you feel too done with the night, get yourself a “Jever”, a beer so bitter it will sober you right up, and you’re ready to go.
Destille - One of Heidelberg’s main attractions. Come for the “Warmer Erpel”, stay because of the fact that you can’t leave because there’s so many people. If you enjoyed the “Warmer Erpel”, go for a “Gehängter” next. Don’t blame it on me.
Eckstein - Cheap, but very smoky, even in comparison to other bars where smoking is allowed. They have a magic show every now and then and you’re allowed to flick cards into the ceiling if you get them to stick.
Former HardRockCafe - If you’re wondering how Heidelberg got a HardRock Café, I do too. Since it doesn’t exist anymore, that might give you a hint, but the people running the new joint are the same.
Hemmingways - Nice atmosphere outside with a view of the river. Try the “Rauchbier”, a beer that tastes like ham.
Karls - Old pub with a studenty atmosphere, but more the long-time studying forever type of students. They have Astra, though.
Karlstorbahnhof - more of an event location than a bar, but I have yet to attend a party at the Karlstorbahnhof that has not shown up in my mental list of “best parties”.
Marstall - The Old Town’s University Mensa. Cheap beer, cheap food. Even cheaper if you find someone with a student card to pay for you.
Medoc - 2nd-furthest bar from the venue. Small, but nice, and very accessible by tram.
Mels - They offer a 1-2-3-Party where you pay 1€ for a 0.2l beer, 2€ for a 0.5l beer and 3€ for Longdrinks. Definitely the place to be if you missed out on student parties for one reason or the other.
Mohr - Big Brother of 15, where you have to behave. More of a restaurant than a bar, but nice nevertheless.
Orange - They have boardgames and good czech beer. I don’t know if they have other stuff, because those two things do it for me.
Regie - They have an amazing “Flammkuchen” (try it or google it) and a nice wall that shows the current happy hour drink - get that one, whatever it is.
Reichsapfel & Lager - Good Middle-Class in the front, crowded, loud and hit-driven in the back. Good beer from stone mugs.
Sonderbar/Pinte/betreutes Trinken - What you stumble into once you made your way out of #2. Try anything with Absinth, but stop soon enough or you might regret ever showing up there.
Tangente - Kinda like #10, but a bit more high-class. I’ve only heard stories, but they’ve all been great stories.
Vater Rhein - Where every good bar crawl ends. They have spaghetti with sauce for 1.9€ until 2 o’clock, and if that doesn’t convince you, than I don’t know what will.
Vetters - Brewing their own beer, they also provide good typical german food. If you don’t have time or want to enjoy the weather, get a bottle of their beer to take away for 3€ (and 2€ deposit), it’s worth it.
Café Villa - Cocktails for 4€ all along the night, and at a decent quality. Get one and get on. Also to go.
Palmbräugasse - Typical german food, good german beer. Can be enjoyed sitting around an old milling wheel, or an old stone table.
Hörnchen - Cozy Cafe at the beginning of the “Untere Straße”. Start of with a Berliner Weisse with woodruff syrup.
Dubliner - One of two (formerly three) Irish pubs in Heidelberg. Just what you would expect from an Irish pub.
O’Reilly’s - The second Irish pub. Mostly the same, but with karaoke sometimes. In my eyes, that makes it better, at least whenever they have karaoke.
If you found a bar that is not on here,but you think it should, let me know :)