Sports

An active city

Heidelberg is a city of sports: More than 120 sports clubs, 21 municipal sports facilities, 52 sports centers and gyms, and two outdoor and three indoor swimming pools as well as extensive green areas such as the City Forest offer ample and varied scope for keeping fit.

Whether you are a top athlete or just taking part for fun, the city offers endless possibilities for sporting activities, with a huge variety of clubs catering for a total of 40,000 members.The city authorities are keen to encourage the valuable work of these clubs and operate an ongoing program of sports promotion. In 2019/20, the city provides around 2.4 million euros for sports promotion and 660,000 euros for further construction measures of the sports clubs.

Major sporting events such as the annual rowing regatta or the Heidelberg Triathlon are further highlights in the calendar of events. The Triathlon involves athletes competing in an exciting competition in stunning surroundings: a one mile swim in the River Neckar, a 22 mile cycle race round the Old Town and a 6 mile run on the steep gradients of the Philosopher's Path.

Other highlights in the city's sporting calendar include the SAS Half Marathon, with some 3,500 runners, and the traditional rowing regatta. And for more than 25 years the international Heidelberg Wheelchair Marathon has taken place on a biennial basis.