It comes naturally to a region that is named after two rivers: Although the large towns of Mannheim, Ludwigshafen and Heidelberg are located at its centre, the area surrounding the Rhine and the Neckar is green—lushly green, indeed: More than a third of the surface, an area as large as 213,000 hectares, is composed of forest. That’s not including the three reserves: Palatinate Forest Nature Park, Neckartal-Odenwald Nature Park and Geo-Naturepark Bergstrasse-Odenwald. You can find practically all types of landscape here, except for alpine and seaside conditions: So come with us and explore it from the urban landscapes in the Rhine Rift Valley to the Odenwald and Palatinate Forest low mountain ranges with their sun-kissed slopes along the Haardt range and the Bergstraße area and to the hills of the Kraichgau and Bauland regions. We will show you how climate change has changed the grape harvest and fruit crop, or where to best do forest bathing in the Palatinate, or that you can climb through geological history high up above the Neckar river.
Castles connect the region
The Burgensteig - a hiking trail back in time.
Home port
Aboard the passenger ship "Kurpfalz" in Mannheim harbour.
A chess game with perennials
The Ebertpark in the city of Ludwigshafen - a park in flux.
Where mythical creatures live
Over 100 species of animals and a unique director: Everything is fabulous at Landau Zoo.
Everything for the green grain
A local specialty in Bauland - for over 350 years.
Spiny love
Experience the blooming season in “Kakteenland” – Cactus Land – in Steinfeld in the Southern Palatinate region.
The star above Heidelberg
Heavenly perspectives—the Center for Astronomy, “Haus der Astronomie,” on top of Königstuhl mountain.
The Palatinate in focus
Hans-Georg Merkel, photographer and globetrotter based in the Palatinate region.
The mountain calls
Have a beastly good time at the Bergtierpark Fürth, the mountain zoo in Fürth.
Lord of the perennials
Prof. Cassian Schmidt is director of an exceptional garden in Weinheim — where plants push to their limits.
Life on the stud farm
Jette Zollmann continues the Kurgestüt Hoher Odenwald with 400 horses. The mares on the stud farm milk well—and live a life without halters or saddles ...
Out of Rülzheim
Germany’s oldest ostrich farm, the Mhou Farm of Christoph Kistner and Uschi Braun
Each visit becomes a ritual
Heidelberg’s inhabitants have loved their botanical garden for more than 400 years.
The Ox Tour
Peter Hiery´s Ox Tour in southern Palatinate´s town St. Martin.
Of forests, dunes and mussels
Out and about in the Southern Palatinate “Bienwald”
A return ticket to geological history
Across the Geo-Naturepark Bergstrasse-Odenwald
The Potato Cult
The "German Potato Museum" in Fußgönheim is unique - just like his new head Ludwig von Heyl.
A Matter of Honour
Authentic Palatinate feel at its best: the magical atmosphere atop the peak of the Eckkopf
The young bulls from Heidelberg
A young elephant bulls’ living community in Heidelberg
In the cosmos of reptiles
Uwe Wünstel runs Europe’s biggest reptile zoo
The chestnut wonder
The man who wants to take the chestnut to the next level.
The saviours of the meadow orchards
The meadow orchards of the Bergstraße district have characterised the landscape for centuries.
Our Man at the Port
Port director Franz J. Reindl opens up new banks.
The gardener of ideas
Well grounded: Urban gardening in the garden of the Hackmuseum in Ludwigshafen.
Light in the dark
More than 3.5 million visitors have already dived into the stalactite cave world of Eberstadt, the so called „Höhlenwelten“.