The Neckar has some interesting towns, like Heidelburg, if you have time and patience for it, and Ladenburg. However, war damage was severe, in places like Heilbronn, and Mannheim. Seventy years of modern development has allowed some of what was lost to be restored, but there seems little of what is genuinely new that is of any interest to us.

The pathway has a lot of really good stretches, but also many on road bits and gravel bits. We never really felt threatened by cars, but this is still not one where we would want to bring children.

Many stretches have no easily reachable camping, but as always in Germany, there are many guesthouses. Guesthouses, though, range from costly (by North American motel standards) to very costly.

Overall, we are not sorry we chose to take the Neckar, over the alternative Rhine route, but we would not choose the Neckar as a destination experience for a European trip.

Neckar Pros

Same great direction signage and provisions for bicycles as in the rest of Germany Good north/south connector route Some interesting towns Some good camping. Many wild camp opportunities. Many vineyards, on steep hillsides

Neckar Cons

Large cities on the way have little of interest and can be hard to navigate through Path has many on road bits Areas of gravel path River itself is not very pretty for most of its length