Karlsruhe, the former capital of Baden, was founded as a planned city in the Baroque style on the 17^th of June 1715 when the first stone of the castle of the same name was laid down.

Located in the southwest of Germany, on the western outskirts of Baden-Württemberg, the city of Karlsruhe is bordered to the northwest by Rhineland-Palatinate, to the west by France. The western city limits are formed by the Rhine River.

Due to its location in the Rhine Valley, protected by the Mountains of the Black Forrest, Karlsruhe besides Freiburg is not only the city with the most sunny days per year in Germany, but also, with an average of 20 degrees in summer, the second warmest city.

Its nickname “fan city” stems from Karlsruhe’s radial roads which start at the palace and give the city a fan-shaped layout. Since the highest German legal institutions were settled in the city – since 1950 the Federal Court and since 1951 the Federal Constitutional Court – Karlsruhe is also called “the Home of Justice”.

With about 300,000 inhabitants Karlsruhe has grown into the second largest city in the state of Baden-Württemberg and is the centre of a technology-region. The city offers numerous museums and art galleries, such as the Natural History Museum or the City Gallery at the Centre for Art and Media Technology (ZKM) – at least as many attractions easily to be reached by a short stroll.

Also you should not miss the Karlsruhe Palace, located in the middle of the city, built in the Baroque style in 1715 as the residence of Margrave Karl Wilhelm of Baden-Durlach. The adjacent Castle is often used as a recreation and leisure area, especially in summer, and also serves as a place to launch balloons. The castle garden railway is an attraction for both old and young.

The Orangery, located on the edge of the Botanical Garden, serves as exhibition space for the Staatliche Kunsthalle (State Arts Hall) to show works of the 20^th and 21^st century. The pyramid built in 1823 is the landmark of the city and is situated on the Market Square in the centre of the city. In the place of the pyramid once stood the Concordia Church, demolished in 1807. In its crypt the founder and namesake of the city, Margrave Karl Wilhelm of Baden-Durlach (1679-1738) had been laid to rest.

East of Karlsruhe, a bit far away but no less recommendable to visit, in the Durlach district, the Tower Mountain (rather a hill with 256 metres above sea level) offers a beautiful view of the Rhine Valley extending about 140 metres below, and also of the Palatine Forest and the Alsace in clear weather. The tower of the Durlach Castle ruins on top of the Tower Mountain offers an even more spectacular view.

Visitors also shouldn´t miss a ride with the cable car leading to the Tower Mountain, which was founded in 1888. It is the second oldest funicular railway in Germany, covering a distance of 315 metres, 100 metres of height difference and a maximum gradient of 36.2 percent.

People planning to visit Karlsruhe may hire a tour guide or join a city tour by bus, or book a themed tour. But also individual tours are easy to be made since the tourist information offers audiovisual i-guides in German, English and French. The i-guide is not bigger than a cell phone and easy to use. It covers all the important sights of Karlsruhe.

People loving to shop will find lots of attractive offers on the Kaiser, Karl and Wald Streets. Elegant malls like the Post Galerie (situated in a former palace) and the EC-Center (Ettlinger Tor) offer more than 33.000 square metres of shopping fun.

Karlsruhe offers lots of fascinating places to dine & wine. The Baden cuisine is famous all over Germany due to the French influences from beyond the adjacent border, but in Karlsruhe you will find restaurants of all proveniences you can imagine. Numerous beer gardens, wine bars, pubs and cafés are waiting for you as well. Karlsruhe is a “city without walls” in the literal as well as the figurative sense of the word – it receives friends and guests with open arms.

For further information: http://www.karlsruhe.de/

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