Germany · Baden-Württemberg · Heidelberg
Handschuhsheim, Heidelberg — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Handschuhsheim is a Stadtteil in the north of Heidelberg, its core set between the Tiefburg and the Vituskirche. Locals call it Hendesse.
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Where to stay in Handschuhsheim
Where visitors usually base themselves, and why.
Handschuhsheim is a residential Stadtteil with an old village centre of farmhouses and winding lanes, which makes it a quiet base a tram ride from central Heidelberg. The tram has run here since 1904. Woodland covers more than half the ground, and farmland another quarter.
About Handschuhsheim
What are the main landmarks in Handschuhsheim?
The Vituskirche is the oldest church in Heidelberg, with Carolingian wall remains and a triumphal arch from the early Romanesque building rebuilt between 1053 and 1057. The nave became a three-aisled basilica around 1200, a Gothic choir followed in 1483, and the church was turned north and enlarged in 1933. It served as a Simultankirche from 1650, shared by Catholics and Protestants until 1905.
Frescoes of the life of Christ were uncovered in 1911 and again in 1961. The Friedenskirche stands nearby.
What is the history of Handschuhsheim?
Calls to join Heidelberg grew through the late nineteenth century. The village had held out. Three hundred and thirteen citizens petitioned the Grand Ducal district office in 1898, and the citizens' committee still voted it down in 1900.
Renegotiation won broad agreement in 1901, and the incorporation took effect on 1 January 1903. Gas reached the place from Heidelberg's mains that same year, the tram the year after, and new sewers in 1908.
Where is Handschuhsheim?
Handschuhsheim lies at the mouth of the Siebenmühlental between the Hoher Nistler and the Heiligenberg, on the Mühlbach where it enters the Rhine plain. Downstream it becomes the Rombach, then the Kanzelbach. Dossenheim adjoins it north, the Neckar west, Ziegelhausen east, and Neuenheim south along the middle of the Blumenthalstraße.
The Bergstraße trade route runs along the foot of the Auerstein.
More areas in Heidelberg
Updated September 2026