The Neckar Valley Cycle Route
Germany's most contrasting river cycle path
Overview Neckar Valley Cycle Route
Always alongside the river, the Neckar Valley Cycle Route leads from the source of the Neckar in Schwenninger Moos near Villingen-Schwenningen to the square city of Mannheim, where the Neckar joins the Rhine. Perhaps the most famous cycle route in Baden-Württemberg is also a pleasure for beginners, inexperienced cyclists and children.
A very small river creeps out of the depths of the Schwenninger Moos: the Neckar. It moults with every kilometre, takes in side streams and matures into a stately watercourse that is even navigable from Plochingen. A federal waterway with barges, old industrial monuments and locks.
The constant alternation of nature and culture, past and present, cosy small towns and lively large cities is typical of the Neckar Valley, a river landscape with many faces that reveals itself in all its diversity on a leisurely cycle tour. The Neckar Valley cycle path is 370 kilometres long, well signposted, certified with four stars by the ADFC, sometimes completely flat and then a little hilly again. Half-timbered towns such as Horb, Nürtingen and Esslingen tower above its banks. Wine towns such as Lauffen, Heilbronn and Besigheim. Even the city of Stuttgart has its own vineyard as well as a few quaint villages in the hinterland that you wouldn't expect to find in the metropolis.
Full of poetry, you cycle past the Hölderlin Tower in Tübingen or the birthplace of Schiller, Marbach. The Staufers felt at home in Bad Wimpfen and a good dozen birds of prey still flock to Guttenberg Castle, which swoops down into the Neckar valley. The Odenwald is full of old aristocratic residences with families who have lived there for centuries.
Anyone travelling along the Neckar Valley cycle path will experience Baden-Württemberg in all its facets.
A river journey full of contrasts and temptations, including culinary delights. Hand-scraped spaetzle, Maultaschen from the butcher, a Lemberger from the producer, steamed dumplings with wine sauce: it's easy to become weak at the knees. In the end, the native Württemberger has become a true Palatine: In a grandiose finale, it passes the old residence and student city of Heidelberg before finally flowing into the Rhine in Mannheim.
The Neckar Valley Cycle Route is eight stages long, with plenty of experiences that are not just worth travelling for.
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