Visiting Schwetzingen

Schwetzingen is another definite in terms of places to visit while you're in Mannheim! It's got more than its fair share of restaurants and bars, and an amazing palace with huge gardens!

Getting there

Schwetzingen is a short train-ride away from Mannheim, and the journey is free for those of you with a semester ticket! It's a little walk from the station to the palace itself, but there are plenty of nice shops to browse in along the way if you fancy it. 

The trains run pretty regularly, but it's still worth checking when the next one is before you start the walk back to the station.

Prices and opening times

You do unfortunately have to pay to get into the gardens, but with a student card it's just 3 Euros in summer and 2 Euros in winter. You can pay extra to go into the palace itself, and to have a guided tour, but if you're looking for a cheap day out the gardens are plenty of entertainment in themselves.

The gardens are open from 9am until 8pm every day of the week in the summer months (March to October) and from 9am until 5pm every day during winter

Food and drink

There is a restaurant on the palace grounds but this is quite expensive! I'd recommend going to one of the many restaurants just outside the palace, and along the walk back to the station.

There are ice-cream shops, bars (one with their own brewery on site!), traditional German restaurants, and other restaurants such as Mexican and Italian. Plenty of choice and most have outside seating with a view of the palace!

The Gardens

The Gardens are absolutely beautiful and so well-kept. They're also massive so you can spend hours walking around! Parts are modelled on the gardens at Versailles, but there's also an 'English Garden', a huge lake, Turkish Gardens (complete with a mosque) and a pretty impressive Bath House, amongst other things. 

There are many photo opportunities and it's particularly good to visit on a pleasant day as there isn't much shelter available if it rains!

Photos