Germany’s oldest university town, Heidelberg is situated in the Neckar Valley just east of the Rhine. Known as the cradle of the German Romantic movement, it also boasts beautiful baroque architecture. Heidelberg is most famous as the site of the imposing ruins of Heidelberg Castle, a magnificent red sandstone ruin perched 330 feet above the river and the home of the Palatinate princes until it was partially destroyed by fire in the 17th century.