Experience the best of Mannheim

Mannheim lies where the Neckar meets the Rhine in Baden-Württemberg, and its centre is planned as a grid of rectangular blocks named with letters and numbers, so addresses read like K 1 or P 7; locals call it the city of squares. The great baroque palace of the Electors Palatine, now a university, stands at one edge of the grid with a huge frontage. The Water Tower, a red sandstone landmark of 1889, rises above the formal gardens of Friedrichsplatz.

Karl Drais rode his two-wheeled running machine in Mannheim in 1817, and Karl Benz built his first motor car here in the 1880s. A technology museum explores that history, and the Kunsthalle and the Reiss-Engelhorn museums cover art and archaeology. Schiller's play The Robbers premiered at the National Theatre in 1782. Heidelberg's castle is a short ride south-east, and the Romanesque cathedral at Speyer lies to the south.

The Palatinate wine country next door gives Riesling, served as Schorle, a spritzer, in half-litre glasses. Saumagen, a stuffed pig's stomach, and white asparagus from the Rhine plain in spring are regional classics. Sunday strolls along the Rhine embankment suit summer evenings.