Heppenheim

Heppenheim is a town in South Hesse, Germany along the Bergstraße, a mountain road running on the western edge of the Odenwald mountain range.

Understand
Heppenheim is in an old wine-growing region. Impressive half-timbered buildings in the old town area (Altstadt) still testify to the town's former heyday.

The Marktplatz, the centre of the old town area (Altstadt), is situated at the top of hill with many half-timbered houses on its slopes occupied by local residents. Thus, most of the Altstadt is a residential area with several restaurants but almost no shops. The shopping district is just outside of the Altstadt on Friedrichstraße, a pedestrian mall.

The tourist office on the Marktplatz is closed on Sunday, and also on Saturday between November and February.

By car
Heppenheim is on federal road B 3, the Bergstraße.

By train
The Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Neckar(VRN) and Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) websites both give schedules for rail service to Heppenheim. There are hourly direct regional trains to Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (about 50 minutes) und Mannheim.

When searching for train schedules on websites, you may need to enter the town name as "Heppenheim (Bergstraße)" to avoid ambiguity.

The station has wheelchair-accessible ramps to connect the two platforms by an underground walkway. The station building itself is now closed to the public; on the two platforms you will find ticket vending machines (DB Automaten).

Get around
The town is small; one can explore the old town Altstadt easily on foot. Parking is available on the western edge of the old town (on the street named "Graben"). The train station is 15 minutes away on foot from the historical market square (Marktplatz).

See
Half-timbered Altstadt Heppenheim has a largely preserved, picturesque old town centre with many timber-frame houses. Some small remnants of the city wall have been preserved. Streets and squares in the Altstadt include: Marktplatz (Market Square); Marktgasse (Market Street); Schunkengasse; and Kleine Bach. Siegfriedstraße is a street outside the Altstadt along its north side; it has a number of half-timbered buildings intermixed with more modern structures.

Buy
The shopping district is located on Friedrichstraße, a pedestrian mall outside of the Altstadt. The shopping district seems to shut down at 6 PM. Just off Friedrichstraße there is the drugstore Drogeriemarkt Müller with an extended range of products. There is an organic food store (BioMarkt) on Marktstraße in the Altstadt.

Eat
There are several restaurants along Marktstraße and on the Marktplatz within the Altstadt. There are cafes along Friedrichstraße in the shopping district but these tend to close around 6 PM. There are some pizza and donar restaurants along streets crossing Friedrichstraße that stay open later.

Drink
Tchibo is a retail clothing chain with each store containing an espresso bar. One store of the chain boasted that Tchibo espresso coffee is better than in Italy! At the very least, Tchibo coffee is good. The main problem with Tchibo is that their stores offer little or no space to sit down to enjoy your coffee. However, at the store on Friedrichstraße in Heppenheim, although space is tight, there is a little more space than at most Tchibo locations to enjoy your coffee while seated.

Go next
Other places along the Bergstraße are:
 * Darmstadt
 * Lorsch
 * Bensheim
 * Weinheim