What You Need To Know

Karlsruhe is the second-largest city in the state of Baden-Württemberg, in southwest Germany, near the French-German border. It has a population of 307,755. The city is the seat of the two highest courts in Germany: the Federal Constitutional Court and the Federal Court of Justice. Its most remarkable building is Karlsruhe Palace, which was built in 1715.

Population: 307,755
Area: 66.97 mi²

Currency

The Deutsche Mark (DM) was the primary currency of Germany until 1 January 2002, when the Euro (€), currency of the European Union, was introduced into general circulation.

Language

The official language of Germany is Standard German, with over 95 percent of the country speaking Standard German or German dialects as their first language. This figure includes speakers of Northern Low Saxon, a recognized minority or regional language that is not considered separately from Standard German in statistics. Recognized minority languages have official status as well, usually in their respective regions.

Climate

Karlsruhe experiences an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb) and its winter climate is milder, compared to most other German cities. Summers are also hotter than elsewhere in the country and it is one of the sunniest cities in Germany. Precipitation is almost evenly spread throughout the year. In 2008, the weather station in Karlsruhe, which had been operating since 1876, was closed; it was replaced by a weather station in Rheinstetten, south of Karlsruhe.

Economy

Germany’s largest oil refinery is located in Karlsruhe, at the western edge of the city, directly on the river Rhine. The Technologieregion Karlsruhe is a loose confederation of the region’s cities in order to promote high tech industries; today, about 20{1e597a6ec1486d4f01e20e4be83b68aa8d31e767e2245ae6bea768b2a058665b} of the region’s jobs are in research and development. EnBW, one of Germany’s biggest electric utility companies and a revenue of 19.2 billion € in 2012, is headquartered in the city.

Education

Karlsruhe is a renowned research and study centre, with one of Germany’s finest institutions of higher education.
The Karlsruhe University, the oldest technical university in Germany, is home to the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, where engineering and scientific research is performed in the areas of health, earth, and environmental sciences. The Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences is the largest university of technology in the state of Baden-Württemberg, offering both professional and academic education in engineering sciences and business. In 2009, the University of Karlsruhe joined the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe to form the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology(KIT).
The Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe is one of the smallest universities in Germany, with average 300 students, but it is known as one of the most significant academies of fine arts. The Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design (HfG) was founded to the same time as its sister institution, the Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe. The HfG teaching and research focuses on new media and media art. The Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe is a music conservatory that offers degrees in composition, music performance, education, and radio journalism. Since 1989 it has been located in the Gottesaue Palace.
The Karlshochschule International University was founded in 2004. As a foundation-owned, state-approved management school, Karlshochschule offers undergraduate education in both German and English, focusing on international and intercultural management, as well as service- and culture-related industries. Furthermore, an international consecutive Master of Arts in leadership studies is offered in English.
The University of Education Karlsruhe was founded in 1962. It is specialized in educational processes. The University has about 3700 students and 180 full-time researchers and lecturers. It offers a wide range of educational studies, like teaching profession for primary and secondary schools (both optional with a European Teaching Certificate profile), Bachelor programs that specializes in Early Childhood Education and in Health and Leisure Education, Master programs in Educational Science, Intercultural Education, Migration and Multilingualism. Furthermore, the University of Education Karlsruhe offers a Master program for Biodiversity and Environmental Education.

Safety

Karlsruhe is maybe one of the safest cities in Germany especially the centre of the town. There are a lot of policemen walking and driving around, mainly because of the important courts. Maybe some center suburbs should be avoided at night, but otherwise, one will feel safe in this city.

Health

There are four hospitals: The municipal Klinikum Karlsruhe provides the maximum level of medical services, the St. Vincentius-Kliniken and the Diakonissenkrankenhaus, connected to the Catholic and Protestant churches, respectively, offer central services, and the private Paracelsus-Klinik basic medical care, according to state hospital demand planning.

Transport

On foot: A lot to see in Karlsruhe is along Kaiserstrasse. Because all the streets radiate outward, the Marktplatz is a great place to start a walking tour of the city. If you go up or down Kaiserstrasse, you will find a great variety of shops and restaurants on both sides of the streets. If you go towards the Palace (right in front of you if you’re in the Marktplatz), you can visit the city museum inside the castle, or the park right behind it, where the people of Karlsruhe congregate to picnic, play sports, and relax on nice days. Go farther and you can take a walk into the “Hardtwald” which has a lot of trails right near the city center. Go south relative to the Marktplatz and you will soon come upon Ettlinger Tor and the Staatstheater. Exploring on foot allows you the opportunity to go down the allees and smaller streets in Karlsruhe where you can find a wonderful variety of shops, kneipes, and restaurants.
Public transport: Karlsruhe has an excellent public transportation system called KVV; its mostly built on tram-trains(stadtbahn).This allows trains to run on tram track within the city or on railway track to serve the surrounding areas.An overview of the entire transport network can be downloaded here. A single ticket for a trip within the city limits costs 2.20€ for adults, 1.20€ for kids. Most tickets have to be stamped upon entering a tram and controllers are quite frequent. In particular, for longer distances outside of Karlsruhe buying the right ticket can be a bit challenging, but in front of the main train station as well as located at Marktplatz, you will find a KVV office that will be happy to assist you. Trains run late into the night, in particular on weekends, but almost every line stops for a few hours every night. Schedules and maps are posted on virtually every station: you can also find more information on fares and timetables on the KVV homepage.
Rental bikes: During the summer, spring and autumn rental bikes are available throughout the city. A mobile phone is used to rent a bike and it can be ‘returned’ (again, using the mobile phone) at any inner city corner.