3 Best Restaurants in Heidelberg, Heidelberg and the Neckar Valley

Heidelberg's oldest (1863) coffeehouse has always been a popular meeting place for students and professors, and offers traditional Swabian food, pastries, and ambience, and a seniors menu with smaller portions at a lower price. A historic change is that the café no longer produces café founder Fridolin Knösel's Heidelberger Studentenkuss. This iconic "student kiss" is a chocolate wrapped in paper showing two sets of touching lips—an acceptable way for 19th-century students to "exchange kisses" in public. They are now being sold down the street at Knösel Chocolatier, a small, charming shop, owned by the Knösel family.

Little more than a hole in the wall, this former cooper's workshop has been transformed into a candlelit pub. No matter when you go, it seems to be filled with people seated around the wooden tables (so dinner reservations are a necessity). The menu features regional specialties from Baden and the Pfalz, such as schäufele (pickled and slightly smoked pork shoulder); leberknödel (liver dumplings); and plenty of schnitzel varieties.

The "Red Ox" has been run by the same family for more than 175 years. Many of the rough-hewn oak tables here have initials carved into them, a legacy of the thousands who have visited Heidelberg's most famous old tavern. Mark Twain, Marilyn Monroe, and John Wayne may have left their mark—they all ate here, and Twain's photo is on one of the memorabilia-covered walls. Wash down simple fare, such as goulash soup and bratwurst, or heartier dishes like Tellerfleisch (boiled beef) with regional German wines or local Heidelberg beer. Come early to get a good seat, including for the live piano music from 7 pm Thursday through Saturday nights, and stay late for the Gemütlichkeit (easygoing friendliness).