Visa & Flight Information

Please make sure to check that your passport is up-to-date before finalizing your travel arrangements!

Depending on where you live, you may or may not need to apply for a visa to enter Germany.
For information by country, please see this overview of visa requirements.

We recommend that you fly into Frankfurt Airport (FRA), as this is the nearest international airport to Heidelberg. The following directions to Heidelberg assume that you are starting from Frankfurt; if you choose to use a different airport and would like assistance organizing travel to the conference please contact the LOC.

Getting to Heidelberg

We recommend that you figure out transportation to Heidelberg in advance! There are several options from Frankfurt Airport:

Take the train

Deutsche Bahn (DB) will take you directly from Frankfurt Airport (station: Frankfurt(M) Flugh.) to various train stations around Heidelberg (likely either Hauptbanhof or Altstadt, depending on where your hotel is). Not all trains travel at the same speed, but you can expect travel times somewhere in the range of 60-90 minutes.

The trip will be about 25 € each way, and you can download the DB Navigator app to check time tables and buy tickets in advance. Note that these can be bought fairly last-minute, though, so we recommend waiting until you know whether or not your flight will be on time before purchasing.

Take the bus

For a cheaper but slightly less efficient alternative, you can take Flixbus from the airport to Heidelberg. Prices typically range from 5-15 € each way, but depending on the time of day the trip could take up to 3 hours due to traffic. To investigate time tables and book tickets, you can check out the Flixbus website or app.

Book a shuttle

The two best shuttle options are Transfer & Limousine Service (TLS) (40 € each way) and Lufthansa Express Shuttle (25 € each way).

Driving directions

Finally, if you decide to rent a car and drive, you can follow these directions.

Conference Bus

We provide a bus to bring all participants from town to MPIA and back. The two possible meeting points and times are:

Parking lot behind Crowne Plaza (map)

• Monday: 8.15 am
• Tuesday: 8.00 am
• Wednesday: 8.00 am
• Thursday: 8.30 am
• Friday: 8.00 am

Bus stop 'Peterskirche', hillside (map)

• Monday: 8.30 am
• Tuesday: 8.15 am
• Wednesday: 8.15 am
• Thursday: 8.45 am
• Friday: 8.15 am

Conference Venue

The conference takes place in the main auditorium at the Haus der Astronomie (House of Astronomy) on the hill Königstuhl above Heidelberg. It is the white spiral galaxy building right next to MPIA with address Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg. The building is barrier free and fully wheelchair accessible, and 2 seminar rooms and a room for children are also booked. We provide bus transportation from downtown Heidelberg to the venue (approx. 20 minutes), which is included in the registration fee.

Exploring Heidelberg

The easiest way to explore Heidelberg is on foot! We suggest downloading an offline map of the area before you arrive, although there are a few spots around the city (e.g. Universitätsplatz or Bismarckplatz) where you can find free wifi.

Public transportation in Heidelberg is provided by the Rhein-Neckar-Verkehr (RNV) in the form of buses and trams; these can take you more or less anywhere you want to go within the city and are on time more often than not. The timetables can be found online; you can also download various apps to help you plan, e.g. the official RNV app (in german) or the VRN Ticket app (in english); or just use google maps.

Accommodation

Heidelberg has plenty of hotel and airbnb options. Block bookings of single rooms have been made at the following hotels:

Use the booking code MPIA when e-mailing the hotels.

Note: breakfast is included in the quoted prices except for GuestHouse Heidelberg, which instead provides studios with kitchenettes along with sandwiches and coffee in the lobby.