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Either you are a student who found an university to study in Heilbronn, or you have found interesting jobs in or nearby Heilbronn, the question for sure will pop up, “Is Heilbronn a good place to live?”.
And of course, if you are a foreigner, or even a native german, you might know nothing about Heilbronn. Heilbronn is for sure not as popular as cities such as Stuttgart, Nürnberg, Heildeberg, Mannheim or Frankfurt, which are somewhat near Heilbronn.
In this article, I will talk about what was living in Heilbronn like, and main key points of interest like the quality of life, the cost of living, educational opportunities, the community vibes and more.
Heilbronn is located in the state of Baden-Württemberg, around 52 km north of Stuttgart.
The place has an area of almost 100 km², which is half the size of Stuttgart.
In terms of population, there are around 129,000 habitants.
From those habitants, there is a diversity of nations. There are people mainly from Turkey and Russia, but also from Eastern Europe, Middle East, Asian, African, and Latin American countries. There are also US citizens living in Heilbronn.
As I arrived in Heilbronn, I was told it was one of the cities with negative perspective in terms of security. It is given the nickname of “Heilbronx” in reference to the Bronx neighborhood from the US. But for me, probably with my latin/mexican perspective, it is a safe place.
Probably, the thing to take care the most is the bicycle, since it might be an object that is on the eyes of some thieves, specially when you leave it at the train station. So just make sure to have a good chain lock.
I think this is in general a whole issue in Germany. It takes too much time to get an appointment with a specialty doctor.
When I searched for an Endocrinologist in Heilbronn, there where just a few and the one I got recommended in Stuttgart was available only in 4 months, more less.
For a general doctor, it usually took around 1-2 weeks to get an appointment.
The good thing is that the insurance takes care of most of the expenses.
There are alternative medicine doctors in Heilbronn, but the expenses are on your own.
The main reason that I arrived to Heilbronn was that I got accepted for a master degree in english at the Hochschule Heilbronn.
I arrived in 2016 and it was basically when the whole Bildungscampus was more of a reality than just a project.
The N-Building was brand new, so basically our generation was the first one to test out this new project from the Dieter Schwarz Stiftung. The Dieter Schwarz Stiftung is an NGO of Lidl group, the biggest chain of supermarkets in Europe which was originally founded in the Heilbronn Area and the heardquarters are based on.
The Bildungscampus project aims to host a group of different type of educational institutions and development organizations.
Besides the Hochschule Heilbronn, which is the main university of the city, other institutions were brought to Heilbronn to turn it into an university city. One was the campus of the technical university of Munich, TUM.
The educational offer in Heilbronn got wide as there were being opened more institutions that could help attract students from all around the world.
The region of Heilbronn-Franken has also plenty of companies.
There are opportunities of finding a job nearby in companies such as Audi, Bosch, Würth, Lidl-Kaufland, and at Bechtle headquarters in Neckarsulm, the IT company where I worked in.
There are also industrial companies considered “Hidden Champions” which the brand name is less known, but still offer good job opportunities.
The Hochschule Heilbronn offers study programs for the wine and tourism industry, but to my consideration, there are not plenty of job opportunities in such areas in Heilbronn, although the region is also a wine producer oriented thanks to its vineyards.
The issue that I saw in the city of Heilbronn was that even if the educational offer got more attractive, the city was probably not ready to receive more students, as the accommodation offer is not wide enough.
The Hochschule had a list of rooms and appartments, which were probably the cheapest option for students, but still there were not plenty for students.
I saw some new buildings being constructed, but still, I don’t think those new apartments were going to be enough for what they were expecting to receive.
And if that is just considering for local and international students, for people seeking to work in Heilbronn, the accomodation could also be a limited option.
Nevertheless, comparing the rent cost in Heilbronn and its surroundings with other german cities like Hamburg, Berlin, Stuttgart is way lower.
To move around inside the city you can use a bike, bus, S-bahn and car.
For me as a student, it was quite comfortable to move around with the bike inside the city center or to bike just next to the river in the Neckarmeile.
There are streets with the proper bike roads, but some were not.
I usually used the public transport to move from the northern part of the city to the south.
And in case you want to go to travel around to a bigger city, Heilbronn is well located as you can take a train and travel to Stuttgart, Nürnberg, Karlsruhe, Frankfurt or Heidelberg in less than 2 hours. Or if you want to take a flight, you would have to travel to those cities’ airports.
Heilbronn is not a place where you will have a big number of clubs, bars and restaurants. There are options, but if you are a type of person that likes to have big variety of places to, then this can be a disadvantage.
Among my favorite restaurants in Heilbronn were Lehners, MySappa, Mythos, Wohnzimmer for breakfast buffet and Burgerheart, and for clubs and bars I usually went to Rooms Club (Now closed), Hip Island (Only in summer), Creme 21 and Green Door (if there were student parties), Craftelicious and Irish Pub.
What it was best was to hang out at friends places.
Shopping is also not the greatest thing in Heilbronn, since there are few shops compared to bigger cities. Still there are some stores in the city center or in Stadtgalerie.
The best ice-cream in Heilbronn can be found in Primafila, but of course, others will have different opinions.
Overall in Germany and in Heilbronn, you will need to communicate in german language for better interaction. And remember, if a German says that he or she talks “a little bit of english”, then they can usually hold a fully proficient talk.
The Wartberg area of Heilbronn is a great place to go for hiking, drink a coffe and have some cake or just watch the sunset. The Wertwiesenpark in spring and summer is a great place to hang out with friends to do some grills.
Among the biggest events of the city are the Heilbronn Wine Festival, where for almost 2 weeks, the entire city is drinking wine in the city center. The Heilbronn Christmas Market is as well another nice event where people can grab some food and do some street shopping. If you are more into running and sports, the Trollinger Marathon is another important yearly event in Heilbronn.
So, to answer the question “Is Heilbronn a good place to live?”, well, we will have to consider the different aspects of any city, and your likes and dislikes.
If you enjoy living in smaller cities with less but diverse habitants, where you can reach almost every place of the city just by riding your bike, then Heilbronn is good.
If you prefer a variety of stores, restaurants, clubs, and with more people, then you would probably get bored in Heilbronn.
Heilbronn can be a calm city, but can also offer excitment depending the people you hang out and surround with.
Either if you are just planning to do your studies for a couple years or planning to work and stay longer, the only way to fully know the answer to such question is to experience it.
