Heidelberg, Hansi Flick's Town: Germany's Oldest University, Castle Ruins Above the Neckar and a 10.5-Percent Beer

Barcelona coach Hansi Flick was born in Heidelberg, and his wife Silke in Bammental, a village about 12 kilometres away. They met as teenagers, married in 1987, and Flick started his coaching career in Bammental while he was still playing football. When Barça's coach wants some quiet, the road takes him to the town on the Neckar river.

Heidelberg is in the state of Baden-Württemberg, has around 155,000 residents and is less than an hour from Frankfurt. One in four residents is a student. You can see it on the streets: the town is old, but it does not feel tired.

The castle that looks best in ruins. The Electors Palatine lived here for almost five centuries. The castle sits on the northern slope of the Königstuhl hill and is considered one of the most beautiful ruins in Germany. You can climb up on foot, but it is easier to take the funicular to Molkenkur station. Inside are the palace facades around the courtyard, the terraces, the German Pharmacy Museum and the wine cellar with the largest barrel in the world - it took 90 oak trees to build.

The Neckar and its banks. The wooded riverbanks are for lunch on the grass, sunbathing, cycling or running. If you have time, a boat trip is worth it: from the water the castle looks as if it is floating above the town.

Germany's oldest university. The university was founded by Elector Rupert I in 1386. The old town is best explored on foot or by bike. The main shopping street, Hauptstraße, is about 1,700 metres long and runs from Bismarckplatz to the Karlstor gate. University Square holds the Great Hall and the University Museum, and the Jesuit Quarter has the library and St. Peter's Church, the oldest in town.

Market Square. Marktplatz is home to the town hall, the "Haus zum Ritter", one of the most beautiful buildings in town and now a hotel, and the Protestant Church of the Holy Spirit, with little shops stuck to its walls. Its tower is 38 metres high and you can climb it for a view over the rooftops.

A beer that made it into Guinness. The former Kulturbrauerei brewery has a terrace, craft beers and roast suckling pig. The Vetter brewery, meanwhile, makes "Vetter 33" at 10.5 percent alcohol, which Guinness World Records listed as the strongest beer in the world, measured by the original gravity of the wort.

The Philosophers' Walk. Scholars and students have strolled along it for centuries, and at sunset it offers one of the best views of the town. Above it rises the Heiligenberg hill, with trails to the ruins of St. Michael's Monastery at the top and to the Thingstätte amphitheatre.

Heidelberg is often compared to Spain's Salamanca: a university town, monuments at every step, a river through the middle. Except Heidelberg has mountains instead of plains. Flick has somewhere to go back to when the season ends. If your travels take you to Frankfurt, Heidelberg is less than an hour away - and it is worth more than one afternoon.