Heidelberg is a scenic city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, halfway between Stuttgart and Frankfurt. The name Heidelberg is an adaptation of Heidelbeerenberg (the German for Blueberry Mountain).
Heidelberg lies on the Neckar at the point where the river leaves its narrow, steep valley in the Odenwald to flow into the Rhine valley where, 20 kilometers Northwest of Heidelberg, it joins the Rhine at Mannheim.
The old town, in German Altstadt, is long and narrow and is dominated by Heidelberg Castle which perches 80 metres above the Neckar on the steep, wooded hill of the Königstuhl ("King's chair" or throne) mountain with the TV Tower, surrounded by a park where the famous poet J.W. Goethe once walked (although he did not get to sleep in the town, it seems, disappointed by some local guesthouse owner).
Heidelberg not only boasts a medieval castle, but it also is home to one of Europe's oldest educational institutes, the Ruprecht Karls University founded in 1386, more commonly known as the University of Heidelberg.

• Heidelberg was first mentioned in 1196.
• Its university, the oldest in Germany, was founded in 1386.
• Heidelberg's library, founded in Heidelberg in 1421, is the oldest public library in Germany still intact. The survival of its collection is due to the fact that it was moved to the Vatican for safe keeping in 1623. The Vatican returned the remainder of the books for the 600th anniversary in 1986. They were presented as gifts of the elector to the university in the church of Holy Spirit (Heiliggeist Church).