I've been attending a Goethe Institute in Schwäbisch Hall and have three days (more or less) to kill before attending a reunion in Heidelberg.

I've traveled a lot in Bavaria and in the southern-ísh half of Germany, and I'd like to go somewhere new. I like architecture, walking, and hanging around taking in the ambiance. Any suggestions for Tübingen and environs? My dríver's license has been lost or stolen, so I can't rent a car...and I'm older than dirt, so I don't do anything too strenuous..

Also, any suggestions for cheap-ish hotels?

I was there overnight a few years ago. It's a beautiful medieval city with half-timbered buidings and an old castle.

We stayed at a modern hotel up near the castle. Sorry that I don't recall the name -- there aren't many hotels in town and if you wander up the main road to the castle you'll find it, on the left at an intersection. There's another with somewhat more character on the right just before the castle, but we showed up without reservations and it was full.

Happened to be a town festival when we arrived so we ate out on the street -- no restaurants to recommend.

Highlight of the stay was a short cruise in a poled boat down the Necker. We rounded an island and headed back in the 10PM twilight under a canopy of overarching tree limbs.

So there's plenty for a full day. Don't know if you could profitably stretch it to three, though.

We stopped enroute from Sigmaringen to Herrenberg to have lunch in Tübingen. We didn't see much of the city but did have a nice lunch on a restaurant patio on the bank of the Neckar.

I would suggest you go to www.tuebingen.de for a list of hotels in the town. The hotel that was full was probably Hotel am Schloss, www.hotelamschloss.de. It is a little pricey. You might find something more reasonable in the list of Privat Zimmer.

Another place worth visiting in the area is Burg Hohenzollern near Hechingen. Before going, check with the Bahn schedule at www.bahn.de. I think there is only one bus connection daily from the Hechingen Bahnhof to the castle. You can take the 11:02 ICE from Tübingen to catch the 11:23 bus from Hechingen Bahnhof to the castle. The return bus leaves at around 16:00.

When I was there I knew nothing about the bus, if it was running then at all. I walked from the station to the town square and took a taxi from there. On the way I went through a gate of the old city wall dated 1579.

The website for Berg Hohenzollern is www.preussen.de/de/heute/burg_hohenzollern.html

Take your pick among these and see as many as you can: Ulm, Zwiefalten, Sigmaringen, Bad Urach, Blaubeuren (the monastery, the Blautopf springs, the old town, go hiking to Rusenschloss with views over the Blau...).

WK

I spent several days there last year, visiting my daughter who was going to the University of Tubingen. The old town is really beautiful, particularly in summer. http://www.tuebingen.de/1559_webcam.html is a webcam you can look at and see the town square.

I have tips and photos posted at http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/4f0ef/33da/

Catbert- this post is only two yrs old but do you mind asking your daughter which town and university she liked better- Heidelberg or Tubingen? I really enjoyed reading her blog and see that she was excited about her move to Heidelberg because of its beauty and more extensive course offerings. How did she end up liking it?

My daughter is planning to study at one of the Baden-Wurttemberg universities next spring and needs to rank her preferences.

I think your daughter has a unique perspective since she attended both and also visited Freiburg and Constance. I hope you see this. Thank you!

Any input from others who have studied in Baden-Wurttemberg most appreciated.

I found Tuebingen to be a lovely city, on a river i think and in a lovely setting on edge of forests

and it's also a premier university town and thousands of students during terms make it livelier than it should be.

very nice.

The universities of Heidelberg and Tübingen are equal in terms of academic excellence. Both are ranking on the highest level.

The university of Konstanz has an excellent reputation in political science, otherwise it is ranked one level below Heidelberg and Tübingen, but still clearly above average.

Freiburg would be in the same league as Konstanz, with a stronghold in economics.

All four towns are nice towns with a lot of student life. I would say, each is a good choice.

>Any input from others who have studied in Baden-Wurttemberg most appreciated.

I did, at least the first two years
It depends very much on the subject your daughter is studying. If it goes more towards humanities, then Freiburg or Heidelberg would be the top priorities, Tübingen as well. Same goes for natural sciences (here Tübingen has a somewhat better reputation in biochemistry).
For engineering, Karlsruhe would be better, while Mannheim has the top ranking in economics.
Of course you can go for quality of life, in which case Freiburg would be the top choice

Wow! Such fast responses. Thanks so much everyone.
Altamiro- can you tell me why you think quality of life is best in Freiburg? I know everyone seems to love it. The only drawbacks I've seen are a few references to the weather- I know some say it has an ideal mild microclimate while others comment on the fog and Seattle like conditions. Also, the location is not as good as Heidelberg for train travel within Germany. But its proximity to Switzerland and low cost airlines sounds good...
Also, she's not much of a hiker and outdoor fan- Freiburg seems to draw Black Forest enthusiasts/sporty types.

My daughter talked recently to someone who spent last yr in Freiburg and did not improve her language abilities at all since she hung out exclusively with English speakers! This seems to be a problem for all study abroad programs around the world..hard to meet locals and discipline yourself to speak the language..

She's a German major.

Traveller1959- thanks for the input on fields of study. Am I correct that among Germans Heidelberg is considered the most prestigious and desirable for humanities majors? Which university would you choose? Her application is due in a few wks. so she's busy researching and trying to track down other students who have studied in these locations.

Thanks again everyone!

>Altamiro- can you tell me why you think quality of life is best in Freiburg? I know everyone seems to love it. The only drawbacks I've seen are a few references to the weather- I know some say it has an ideal mild microclimate while others comment on the fog and Seattle like conditions.

Never been to Seattle, but Freiburg is the city with most sunshine and highest yearly average temperature in Germany. Don´t know whether you can say that about Seattle.

>Also, the location is not as good as Heidelberg for train travel within Germany.

Heidelberg is not that great a location either - most major train routes bypass it left and right. Plus Heidelberg is now one of the most expensive cities in Germany, and I think it draws the biggest English-speaking crowd.

>But its proximity to Switzerland and low cost airlines sounds good...

Well, from Heidelberg there are direct bus connections to Hahn airport - which is THE Ryanair hub on the continent.

>My daughter talked recently to someone who spent last yr in Freiburg and did not improve her language abilities at all since she hung out exclusively with English speakers! This seems to be a problem for all study abroad programs around the world..hard to meet locals and discipline yourself to speak the language..

>She's a German major.

With major do you mean that she studies German literature/language as the main subject, or is it something different like a kind of a degree?
If the former, it´s probably down to Freiburg, Heidelberg or Tübingen if I were her.

>Traveller1959- thanks for the input on fields of study. Am I correct that among Germans Heidelberg is considered the most prestigious and desirable for humanities majors?

Hiedelberg is attractive and prestigious but especially in humanities there is no clear ranking - and those there are, aren´t worth much. Still, with either of the universities she can´t do wrong.

Altamiro- thanks for your reply. I didn't know there was a Ryan Air hub near Heidelberg.

Does the Basel airport also have low cost carriers?

Her concentration is called German Studies -deals with cultural, historical and political roles in Europe etc.

I'm curious- does Germany have anything like US News World Report College Guide which lists the percentage of students that were admitted?

She had heard the criticisms about Heidelberg being so touristy and was leaning toward Freiburg until she spoke to the student who claimed no language improvement at all over an entire yr!

Most Germans speak better English than we do.

She is still confused about whether she'll be taking classes with other international students only- the universities seem to segregate the native from non native speakers?

Again, all mentioned universities are pretty much on the same level of academic quality - and all are good. So I suggest to base your decisions on other grounds.

Secondly, in terms of climate there is hardly any difference between the locations. In Freiburg, climate might be slightly better.

Thirdly, Freiburg is somewhat larger than the other towns, which means there are a little more options regarding cultural life and leisure.

Freiburg has an ICE train station and is excellently linked to other regions in Germany. E.g. the ride to Frankfurt takes 2:04 and to Cologne 3:08. Freiburg is also close to Basel, Zürich, Colmar and Strasbourg.

IMO, nothing speaks against Freiburg. In fact, a friend of mine has studied there and enjoyed it very much.

Fourthly, foreign and native students are not segregated. They will attend the same seminars. However, what they do in their spare time is up to them. If they choose to segregate themselves by socializing only with English-speaking students, it is their choice. There are zillions of options to socialize with native students. German students are very open-minded and certainly interested in meeting with students from America (unless they are fond of W.).

IMO, it really does not matter so much whether she goes to Freiburg, Heidelberg or Tübingen. All these places are excellent, both in terms of academic excellence and in quality of life.

OK thanks Traveller. So if you were spending one semester at one of the Baden-Wurttemberg universities what would be your 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice? She has some friends in Munich that she will probably visit once or twice.

I haven't been to this area (B.W.) and neither has she.

According to Catbert's daughter's blog some parts of Tubingen were beautiful whereas all parts of Heidelberg were gorgeous.

I spent time on an army post in Heidelberg during the late sixties. I've been back a couple of times since then, but I must say that in 2006 I was disappointed in how touristy it has become. Of course, I confined myself mainly to the Haupstrasse and downtown, and maybe students don't spend that much time in those areas. Perhaps other areas are less touristy.

There's also the large American army base there, and I think that has had an effect on the town, though that's just my guess. I won't go back there again.

Freiburg is a really pretty town, and its climate is remarkable. It lies in the path of warm air currents that come up from the Mediterranean through the Burgundy Gap. I liked the town very much.

After asking this question about Tübingen in 2006, I did spend two or three days there. I found it quite pleasant and very walkable.

I have the idea that Heidelberg and Tübingen are really prestigious universities, more so than Freiburg.

That's just my feeling, though.

>I have the idea that Heidelberg and Tübingen are really prestigious universities, more so than Freiburg.

Not really. Plus, in Germany it is not the name of the university alone that counts in the CV but the subject you studied at a certain university. For example certain universities offer excellent law programs but are lousy in scientific education, and vice versa. Therefore there is no such a thing as more or less oprestigious university independent of the study direction.

>I'm curious- does Germany have anything like US News World Report College Guide which lists the percentage of students that were admitted?

It would not be possible due to the way students are admitted to the universities. IN some subjects there is a strict entrance selection while in others everybody with nominal qualification is admitted - at the same university. However the proportion of dropouts is taken in account with some of the rankings.

This might be helpful
http://www.daad.de/deutschland/hochs.../06543.en.html

Pegontheroad- thanks for your insights esp on how touristy Heidelberg has become.

Altamiro- thanks for the DADD website ranking info. I can see that Freiburg is highly ranked in many subjects.

Nightlife and shopping are some of my daughter's interests
I'm thinking now that Tubingen might be too small (pop 87,000).
Freiburg's pop is 217,000 and Heidelberg 144,000.

Altamiro- where would you want to live and attend univ for a spring semester? Do you mind ranking them #1-3?

As far as prestige, she has some young German friends who are very keen on the idea of Heidelberg and not very enthusiastic about Tubingen and Freiburg but I don't think they have visited them- just know about HD's reputation and popularity.

>Altamiro- where would you want to live and attend univ for a spring semester? Do you mind ranking them #1-3?

Well, I am biased as I went to school in Freiburg and love the city. The only reason I didn´t go to university there was that the parents would have been too close

For nighlife and shopping I would clearly put Freiburg and Heidelberg above Tübingen, but Tübingen is within 50 min by train from Stuttgart (600000 inh.) and Heidelberg is almost a part of Mannheim/Ludwigshafen conurbation (together about 500000 inh., less than 20 min by train.)

>As far as prestige, she has some young German friends who are very keen on the idea of Heidelberg and not very enthusiastic about Tubingen and Freiburg but I don't think they have visited them- just know about HD's reputation and popularity.

Heidelberg is of course much more renowned outside of Germany than other university, but this is more due to it´s history. I cannot say much about German language/culture studies as in this regard Heidelberg MAY be much better than the other 2.