Rhine Neckar Area

:"This article is about the greater Rhine Neckar area in Germany. See also the German district Rhein-Neckar-Kreis."

The Rhine Neckar Region, often referred to as Rhein-Neckar-Triangle is a metropolitan area located in south western Germany, between Frankfurt and Stuttgart. The area around the major cities Mannheim, Ludwigshafen and Heidelberg has a population of 2.4 million and encompasses territory from three federal states: Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse.

The region named after the rivers Rhine and Neckar is officially recognized as a European Metropolitan Area. It is a successor of the historical Kurpfalz state.

The city of Heidelberg with its castle and its ancient town is a popular tourist destination. Its university is the oldest one in Germany. Mannheim, where Carl Benz invented his first automobile, is on the other hand one of the most important industrial centers of Southern Germany. Its twin city Ludwigshafen across the Rhine river is host of the largest chemical plant of the world, the headquarters of BASF; Walldorf, just south of Heidelberg hosts the headquarters of Europe's largest software company SAP.

The three major cities are surrounded by a diverse and culturally rich region, including the Palatinate with the World Heritage Sites of the Speyer Cathedral and the Lorsch Abbey, the second largest vine region of the country called Deutsche Weinstraße, the pittoresque Neckar valley and the ancient cities of Speyer and Worms.

Included cities and areas

Baden-Württemberg
*Mannheim (324,787 inhabitants)
*Heidelberg (142,666 inhabitants)
*Rhein-Neckar-Kreis (531,723 inhabitants, including Sinsheim, Walldorf and Weinheim)
*Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis (151,043 inhabitants)

Hesse
*Kreis Bergstraße (265,868 inhabitants, including Bensheim and Heppenheim)

Rhineland-Palatinate
*Ludwigshafen (163,002 inhabitants)
*Frankenthal (Pfalz) (47,534 inhabitants)
*Landau in der Pfalz (41,687 inhabitants)
*Neustadt an der Weinstraße (53,898 inhabitants)
*Speyer (50,280 inhabitants)
*Worms (80,955 inhabitants)
*Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis (148,428 inhabitants)
*Landkreis Bad Dürkheim (134,869 inhabitants)
*Landkreis Germersheim (124,894 inhabitants)
*Landkreis Südliche Weinstraße (110,658 inhabitants)

External links

* [http://www.wishyouwerehere.de/ Wish you were here - Practical information for living, visiting or working in the Rhein-Neckar region]
* [http://www.rhein-neckar-dreieck.de/ Official regional portal of Initiative Metropolregion Rhine Neckar (German only)]