Heidelberg Castle has beguiled visitors for centuries. On this self-guided walking tour, you’ll discover its princely residences, battle-scarred fortifications, and terraced gardens carved from rock. You’ll also hear the history behind the castle grounds, where royal romance, French destruction, and Renaissance hydraulic engineering created this captivating ruin.

This tour starts at the castle’s entrance archway, where you’ll explore the massive western rampart and circular defensive towers. You’ll also weave through the various levels of the terraced gardens created by engineer and architect Solomon de Caus in the early 1600s. Along the way, you’ll discover how war and lightning created the ruins that drew poets like Goethe, turning this castle into an icon of Romanticism.

I’ll tell you about the elaborate Elizabeth Gate that Friedrich V built overnight as a birthday surprise for his wife, and show you swimming terraces equipped with heated rooms and water organs.