Karlsruhe is not the largest or most exciting city in southern Germany, but it is perfectly situated for excursions to France, the Black Forest or the Palatinate. The former electoral city has two focal points in the city centre: Karlsruhe Castle with the adjacent castle park, and the nearby university, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. With a further 7 colleges and universities and a total of 40,000 students, the student scene strongly characterises the cityscape.

Karlsruhe has not yet been very popular for tourism, mainly because the city’s short past (the city has only been around for 300 years) means that it has little history and no typical historic old town. However, this does not mean that Karlsruhe is not well suited for both cultural and nature holidays.

It took us about 4 hours to get from Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Karlsruhe with the Freeway Camper.

Karlsruhe is a popular festival city with dozens of annual events. The most important of these include:

– MAY/JUN + OCT/NOV: The Karlsruher Mess’ folk festival comes to the outskirts of the city twice a year for 2-3 weeks each.

– NOV/DEC: Karlsruhe Christkindlesmarkt: Even though Karlsruhe has no historic old town, this 4-week Christmas market has a cosy and festive feel with its wood-chip paths, wooden huts and fir trees.

– AUG: The Schlosslichtspiele, a breathtaking display of light art, takes place in Karlsruhe every August and is free to everyone – no ticket required. Enjoy the exhibits of changing animations by artists from all over the world, with a new call for entries every year.

– JUL: DAS FEST – Hugely popular, cheap, and lasting several days, this is Karlsruhe’s biggest music festival. The side stages and most of the food stalls are even free to enter – you only need a ticket for the main stage, which hosted popular artists like Seeed, Jan Delay and Tom Gregory in 2022.

The fan-shaped city, as Karlsruhe is also called, was designed on a drawing board 300 years ago. This means that the city centre has very straight, well-organised streets, a clear layout and efficient local transport. After the metro was recently established underground beneath the city centre, the main streets are free of any traffic (apart from bicycles). You’ll find that the best places for nightlife and shopping are close together.

Karlsruhe is also as flat as a pancake, which is why bikes and e-scooters are very popular with the locals. Nextbike rental bikes come in handy for getting around. Not only are they cheaper than e-scooters, but the entire core area of the city is a free parking area. So you can leave them wherever you like after use.