Dining in Heidelberg: Some of our favorites in the Altstadt

Are you looking for a good restaurant in Heidelberg Altstadt (Old Town)? We’ve not been to all of the restaurants but, after living here for over a year, we have been to a lot of them. Here are our picks for favorite restaurant by category (and some of the ones we return to again and again and again).

Best BAKERY
Zeit Fur Brot
Hauptstraße 146, 69117 Heidelberg

Using quality, organic ingredients, this wonderful bakery on the Hauptstraße offers both dine in (indoor and outdoor seating) and take out to enjoy your sandwiches, baked goods and coffee. They have incredible cinnamon rolls in a variety of flavors and the BEST cardamom knopfs and streusel. They also have a small selection of sandwiches, lots of different types of breads, and a variety of pastries and sweets (including vegan options). They also offer quality coffee drinks.

Best BAR
Amoroso
Marzgaße 1, 69117 Heidelberg

This adorable little bar on a side alley off the Haupstraße is a great place to grab a drink before dinner or hang out and enjoy an afternoon or evening with friends. The owners are super friendly and the atmosphere is vibrant. They offer a variety of mixed drinks, beer, wine, spritzes, coffee, etc. We’ve ordered a bottle of wine off the wine list before and had a great one! You can also order pizza from across the street at Unter Freunden and enjoy it with your drinks.

Best BRUNCH
Deer Café Bar
Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage 1, 69117 Heidelberg

We recently discovered this amazing café and bar. They have a wonderful brunch! Amazing food options – pancakes, eggs, toasts, paninis, etc. Really good drinks. Great coffee bar. And the atmosphere is lovely. My favorite is the veggie ei and Mike’s is the paninis. There is indoor and outdoor seating available.

Best CAFÉ
Café Schafheutle
Hauptstraße 94, 69117 Heidelberg

We live above Schafheutle and can see their garden from our back patio. This is a very nice café with a great selection of breakfast, brunch, pastries, and light lunch options – as well as coffees, teas, ice cream, confections, and more. They have a variety of areas to sit inside and a lovely outdoor garden with seating. Their breakfast tower is really fun if you have at least 2 people to share it. They also have packaged candy and cookies that they make onsite available for purchase. I always buy their chocolates to take back to the US for gifts.

Best COFFEE SHOP
BENT
Hauptstraße 15, 69117 Heidelberg

Our favorite place to get coffee is Bent. They have a great selection of really good coffee drinks and offer a variety of milk alternatives (one of the first and few places we found that offers almond milk – which is my favorite). They also have a nice selection of bagel sandwiches, cakes, ice cream, and more. I really like the curry chicken bagel.

Best GELATO
gelato go Altstadt
Hauptstraße 100, 69117 Heidelberg

There are A LOT of gelato options in Heidelberg Altstadt and we’ve tried most of them. Our favorite is gelato go and it’s the closest one to our house - which is dangerous! Amarena cherry is one of my favorite flavors of gelato, but I really love the salted caramel here. It has big chunks of the yummiest salted caramel in it.

Best PASTA
Trattoria Toscana
Marktplatz 1, 69117 Heidelberg-Altstadt

Trattoria Toscana offers a selection of traditional Italian food – pastas, pizzas, meats, etc. It’s our favorite place to go for pasta. My personal favorites are the spaghetti vongole and rigatoni alla diavola. The staff has always been friendly and the wait for food is short. They offer indoor and outdoor seating.

Best PIZZA (overall)
Ristorante Papi
Hauptstraße 202, 69117 Heidelberg

Papi is my absolute favorite pizza in Old Town. I love everything about it! The crust is incredible. The sauce is amazing. The toppings are high quality, fresh, and yummy. My favorite is the Pizza Papi and Mike’s is the Pizza Diavola. They also offer salads, pasta, and meat dishes, as well as a large selection of spritzes and wine, beer, etc. And the people who work there are super kind and friendly.

Best PIZZA (more casual; order at the counter)
Unter Freunden
Märzgasse 2, 69117 Heidelberg-Altstadt

For a more casual (order at the counter) type of pizza experience, our favorite is this little restaurant in an alley off the Hauptstraße. The service is friendly and quick and the pizza is really good! Plus you can sit at Amoroso across the street and they will bring it to you there while you have a spritz or a drink!

Best SCHNITZEL
Restaurant Sudpfanne
Hauptstraße 145, 69117 Heidelberg

We’ve had schnitzel a lot of places and Mike’s favorite is Restaurant Sudpfanne. Their schnitzel is thicker than some of the other places and the mushroom sauce on the jagerschnitzel is yummy! They also offer other traditional, local and German dishes, as well as other options. My personal fav is their vegan coconut curry! In addition to their inside seating, they have an outdoor patio that we frequent often for drinks and/or meals.

Best STEAK (but not in Altstadt)
Heid’s Grill & Restaurant
Speyerer Str. 15, 69124 Heidelberg

We’ve not found Germany to have the best beef in the world. But when craving a really good steak, Heid’s is the place to go! Every type of steak we’ve had there has been soooo good. You have to leave the Altstadt to get there, but it’s worth it. They offer a variety of cuts of beef from Argentina, Australia, Germany and the United States. They also offer a selection of salads, pasta, desserts, cocktails, and wine. You can also take your own bottle of wine and pay a corkage fee to open and drink it.