I disagree - why race around from place to place and hotel to hotel with all your with luggage if you have more than enough of interesting things to see close to your doorstep?

Why leave home then quokka?

Remember, the poster has already arranged for the house exchange in early September. So. there is much to do in this area, north, south, east and west. Much information has already been given to this 'poster'. Let's add additional sights to visit. Richard

As far as coming back to the same place every night is concerned, I can see Dukey's point on the one hand, but on the other, we will have had four days in Berlin before coming to Heidelberg and will have a week cycling in the Alsace region of France afterwards. Looking forward to three days in Paris before coming home to Canada as well.
I thought trying a home exchange might be fun. Everyone I have ever spoken to highly recommends it. Makes travel more affordable as well.
Will look into the Speyer museum; the reason I mentioned the Sinsheim is that a German acquaintance of mine thought we should go.
vanessagillian

Hi
I went to all of the places that you suggested and loved them. Hirschhorn had a medieval festival happening and the atmosphere was great, and Speyer was amazing.
Thanks so much
vanessagillian

Sorry, I thought that I was only replying to Pegontheroad. That would have been quite the trip if we'd been able to visit every place that was mentioned.
As far as home exchanges go, I would do it again in a heartbeat. We had a great place to stay and the use of a car with GPS and were able to get around easily.
Besides the places I've already mentioned, we visited Bad Wimpfen, the Maulbronn Monastery, Zwingenberg, Neckarsteinach, Dilsberg, Neckarzimmern, with its huge ruined castle, Burg Hornberg, and Lauffen. We did go to the world's largest wine festival in Bad Durkheim and were disappointed. Thousands of people squashed together in what was more of a carnival than a wine festival.
We loved Heidelberg, and one day, ended hiking the trails up to the top of the hill across the Neckar River from the city. We came across an ampitheater that Hitler had built in the 1930's for his rallies, and also two ruined abbeys from the middle ages. None of which were mentioned in any of the guide books we had with us.
After our two weeks in the Heidelberg area, we travelled to Strasbourg, to begin our eight day cycle in the Alsace region of France. Went with Cyclomundo and were very satisfied with that company. Strasbourg was fabulous, and so was the Alsace. Finished the trip perfectly with three days in Paris.
Thanks again for all your advice and helpful information.
vanessagillian

Thanks for reporting back. Glad you had a nice time.

sounds like a great trip!

It sounds like you had a great time and really explored the area. Sorry to hear about Bad Durkheim...next time go to Stuttgart's Weindorf! It is a large festival but has a lovely atmosphere.