This list is rated, the best place first, but don't take that too seriously. All listed places are worth visiting; some for their good food, some because they are weird but fun, some because of the good music, and so on.

This is a very small selection of available places in Heidelberg. Most of our selection is downtown, or close anyway. They all are bars and restaurants we visit ourselfs.

Max Bar

A coffee bar right at the Marktplatz. You see a lot of the town's latin people hang out here. Maybe it's because of the great coffee, or the latin music they always play? We go here because of the beautiful surrounding and the beautiful people. Not being politically correct at all, but the girls working here are definitely nicer than at the other bars at the square. Oh, why did we have to write that...?
Either you sit outside at the square (nice, a must in summer) or you stand up inside (lots of smoke!). Later in the evening (they are not allowed to have seatings outside after 23.00) the correct behaviour is to stand outside.
Warning - do not go to the toilet here! The toilet is the worst I've seen north of Greece. Don't even consider going!

Everything is ok. Coffee is excellent. Beer is served with no finesse, but we forgive them. This is not the place to be overly posh.

Pepper

A young bar near the Hauptstrasse, on Heugasse. Very nice atmosphere and also some very nice music. This is a good place to hang out at, or to read your fresh magazines... (which reminds me, why is it so incredibly difficult to find good magazines in such a big town? Finding even a music magazine in english is almost impossible here! In fact, finding any magazine in english at all is difficult.)

Go for the huge drinks at this place as the beer isn't that fancy. Danish beer in Germany...?! Ok, they now have Kölsch which is alright but you will never find any serious beer drinkers here. The frozen Margarita and the Bloody Mary are good choices. Caipirinha is the best order, I'm sure. On cold days a hot chocholate with Amaretto is ok.

Check out the art-deco toilet downstairs!

Médoc

A bar right at the Bismarkplatz. Nice music - sometimes the best in town and always very consistent - and the drinks are more than ok... It's mostly young people in here. The place itself is nothing fancy: a bar, tables and a dining area.

They are mainly known for their good food. It's not in the typical German style, just a bit more stylish.

I would go for vodka or sambuca here, even if the pils is ok. The corrected coffee or hot chocolate is my regular.

Alt Hendesse

This is one of the town's best kept secrets. It's located slightly outside of town (in a place called Handschuhsheim. Hey, that's four h:es in one word!) and can easily be reached by tram or bike. It's about 10 minutes away with a bike from Bismarkplatz. The place could be described as classic, real old wooden interior with a certain ambiance.
They have a small back garden in summertime which is very popular (prepare to have to wait for a table or be there early). The food here is solid and always good. We believe it's impossible to have a bad time here.

We suggest eating a steak (try the kreuterschwein), having lots of the excellent pils and finishing off with homemade schnaps (called 'willie', made from pears). It doesn't get much better than this.

You don't want to mess with the male staff here as most (all?) of them play in a local rugby team...

Krokodil

One of the best restaurants in Weststadt, on Kleinschmidtstrasse. The food is not as heavy as the typical german kitchen, and is also just a bit more advanced. It's a cozy and solid place with emphasis on good food. In fact, it's so "safe" and consistent you could bring your mother in law here without fear.

Kölsch or alt are good choices here. Note that the kölsch is served in as small amounts as 0.2 litres, so be prepared to constantly waive at the waitress for another round.

S'Lager

Yet another bar - again very well-designed. Attracts a lot of young people at the weekends. Entrance from Untere Str. S'Lager is the back part, the front bar at Untere Strasse is called and known as 'Reichsapfel'. S'Lager is slang for 'Das Lager', in the Lager (store) you keep things.
The correct behaviour here is to stand up and drink. Only the "uncool" people sit at the tables...

The pils is ok, and most other things too. Sometimes they have some decent flavoured vodka which is a nice change here in the land-of-beer.
It's a bit weird, but the special offer of the week always seems strange and not even worth trying. This might include everything from sour cider to expensive sparking wine to cheap (awful) russian vodka.

Coyote Cafe

A nice and well-designed place. Cosy. Right on the pedestrian street (Hauptstrasse).

This used to be quite a different place back when it was called Dr. Flotte. It was a real party place, selling beers really fast, playing German popular songs with people singing along. We especially remember one evening when the world champinships in rugby were held in Heidelberg, and when two of the teams came here to party.

Schwarzer Walfisch

A lot of students have their breakfast here on the weekends, but it's also packed during evenings. Good music and interesting people makes it worth going here. A nice garden place is a big plus. (Bahnhofstr. 27)

At night time I maybe would go for weitzen or pils. Clearly, the breakfast menus (huge) are more than ok. I believe they serve breakfast until 15.00 or so.

Le Coq

This is a french restaurant (Brückenstr. 17, just a bit off the new bridge). A big plus for the nice service from the bartender and the waitresses (and good french food for that matter).

Really good draft selection here; go for the pils. The food is good to excellent.

Cave 54

A real jazz hangout. Live music in a very, and I mean very, small cave. As I understand it, this is one of the oldest jazz clubs in the country. The address is Krämergasse 54. This is only an option if there's live live music downstairs. The normal bar is not really recommended.

Come on! You don't go to a place like this for the alcohol. Beer in bottles makes nobody happy. It's the best place for live jazz in town.

Weinloch

The Weinloch in Untere Strasse is dark and dirty and so absolutely unfashionable and full of the real drinkers. It was painted inside in 1954 the last time, you can decipher that under the nicotin layers. The fridge must be from the fifties like that radio on it. They sell that worst beer, the Schlossquell, the only local beer in Heidelberg. It's a secret how you can make such bad beer from this perfect cristal clear water from the brewery-owned springs on the hill of the castle. The real ones drink schorle here, a mixture of 80% white wine and 20% mineral sparkling water. Of that you can drink a lot without bad feelings. The luxury version costs some cents more and is called Riesling Schorle as it does not use the worst no-name wine but a Riesling. Do pay the extra cents! No, really!

To eat here very cheap is a brown bread, with butter and half a Camembert or a hard boiled egg on it. That's 'Kaesebrot' or 'Eibrot'. It's delicious with a Schorle.

If you are a newcomer to town or a fresh tourist this place might prove to be a bit much for you.

Cafe Journal

A cafe/bar that also serves decent food, excellent snacks and desserts. It's a real crowd magnet - it's always packed. It's easy to get a good "cafe feeling" here. This is as close to french style cafés as you will get in town. Other cafés are more elegant and fashionable, with more emphasis on sweet cakes than coffee.

All beers are ok. We lack enough research here... Last time they had some interesting dark beer (Schwarzbier) on draft. Oh, and a real dark horse - the milk shakes are good! Coffee also, especially with a side order of the cheese cake... cheese cake in Germany is always rather thick and heavy, but nice. There usually is a version with cherrys that we can recommend.

Goldener Hecht

On Steingasse 2, good food, good beers (czech Budweiser from the city Budwar). Restaurant since 1717. Sligthly older guests, but that suits this place just fine. It's an honest and genuine place, and situated in the absolute center of things. Summertime you have a good view of the bridge and turists taking photos of the bridge.

We think this place lately has focused too much on turists. Can it really be good a sign so few locals go here?

We recommend Liselotte's Leibgericht: a pork steak on Spätzle and sauce. Or Wurstsalat or fried Bratwurst. One author always has a Kristall here, or should we say several?

Zieglers

An american type of place, close to Bismarkplatz (Bergheimer Str). Live music and good DJs in the back room. This is probably the best place to catch live music in town.

I don't trust the pils (only based on feeling, not facts). Weitzen or drinks. They are good on late night snacks, in an american style: chili, spare ribs, sandwiches, etc. It's nice to sit at the long bar.

Bananas

A nice american lady runs this place (on Mittelbadgasse) which is a restaurant. The food is very nice in a typical florida/california cross-over style.

The drinks are huge! All drinks like Margarita, Caipirinha, etc. seem ok. The pils is also safe to order.

Palmbräu Gasse

Entrance from both Hauptstr. and Untere Str. Definitely try the part close to Untere Str. which is just so much nicer. The decoration could be described as 'cool', it's like a stable or something, and the beer comes from an huge device which could be the periscope of a submarine? Or maybe a oil drilling device? I dunno...

Pils I guess. But only one, and then to move on to more colourful places.

Hemingway

The inside of this place (Fahrtgasse, close to Bismarkplatz) is quite rough, not very clean or pretty. Still, even locals have the guts to eat here, so it cannot be that bad.
The bartenders seem to concentrate their energy on the drinks, not on completely unnecessary things as cleaning up. The small garden outside has a good view of the river.

Anything goes. Decent coffee.

Großer und Kleiner Mohr

Untere Str. 5. It's really hard work visiting the bars at this street. There are at least 12 bars, and they all are (for very different reasons) worth visiting.
This is a student hang-out and it is always full late at night. I like the annex (Kleiner Mohr) better, but watch out for the lady behind the bar... is it possible to constantly be in such a bad mood? She somehow seems new to this planet.

The pils is ok, even if not as good as it could and should be. Sometimes you say "Pils, bitte" and then you have your beer in less than 20 seconds. Not ok we think.

i-Punkt

We're still on Untere Strasse... The competition on this street is fierce. i-Punkt doesn't deliver anything special. People sometimes seem more drunk here than elsewhere. Is that a good or bad sign?

Pils, or nothing.

Sonderbar

I write about this place (Untere Str. again) even if I never been inside. It's a rock hang-out. Rock as in hard rock. A clientele of leather dressed MC guys plus the rock connection makes us hesitate.

Havn't got a clue... the rumor has it that they have a huge Whisky selection?

Vetter

This is the towns only brewery pub (Steingasse) complete with copper barrels inside. I know at least one guide author who thinks they are complete fakes, selling only fat food and lousy beer. Maybe so.
It is not as bad as it sounds - they have their own butcher (a very good sign) and sometimes you actually look forward to one of those rather filling meals.

As long as you don't order the digestif made out of beer you should be safe. It's the worst thing you ever had in a glass.
It would be pretty stupid to drink something else than the beer here. The Märzen we had last time was simply delicious.