Where to go in Sinsheim?
Sinsheim is a small city with around 35.000 citizens in Baden-Wurttemberg in the South-West of Germany. Sinsheim is a very old city. Earliest founds date back 600.000 years. From 400 BC the remains of an celtic ringwall was found. Today, it's in the heart of Germany's engineering and industry. Also, it is in the sunniest and warmest area of Germany, which in November might not be that relevant. It's also a region where wine is produced.
Sinsheim has an own website with some good information: http://www.sinsheim.de/servlet/PB/menu/1905529_l2/index.html
Greater Sinsheim area
The next bigger city is Heidelberg, which has a population of 147.000 and is known for its University, the tons of Students and uncountable number of Pubs. People who visit Apache Con EU should visit Heidelberg when time permits.
For those more interested in history, Speyer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speyer) with the largest remaining Romanesque cathedral is a great choice.
Other cities nearby:
- Karlsruhe, 300.000 inhabitants, very nice city, large university
- Mannheim, 325.000 inhabitants, train hub
- Schwetzingen - Around 15 km (9.3 mi) southeast of Mannheim. Some 22,635 inhabitants. The castle gardens are magnificent.
SAP, the company sponsoring our venue, is located nearby with a few thousand employees.
The Venue
Bring your sporting gear - the venue is (in) a soccer stadium, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhein-Neckar_Arena or http://www.rheinneckararena.de/. The conference is held in the arena's "Business Club". For more information, see the venue section on the main website
Getting there
The soccer arena has it's own train station ("Sinsheim-Museum/Arena") and is connected to nearby Autobahn A6 (exit "Sinsheim Süd").
Frankfurt Airport is 1:50h away by train. (For connections and tickets from the airport, see http://www.bahn.de/i/view/USA/en/index.shtml, route is from "Frankfurt(M) Flughafen Fernbf" to "Sinsheim(Elsenz)", one way ticket price is 29 EUR, if you book well in advance, you probably get a discount.) You might also consider flying to Stuttgart. For more information, see the Travel Page on the main website
If you are coming from Germany, Swiss, France, Belgium or the Netherlands, consider taking the train (ICE/TGV) to Mannheim. All ICE trains have power plugs between seats and most have Wifi onboard (at ridiculous rates, though). See this map how to get from the station to the venue: http://www.achtzehn99.de/assets/downloads/PDF/Stadionanfahrtkomplett2012-05Wirsol.pdf
If you prefer traveling by car, there are good connections from all directions.
Accomodation
The conference accomodation website lists details of the conference hotels, and other options in the area. Unfortunately there are no hostels around.
If you are looking for hotel rooms, please visit: http://www.hrs.de HRS is available in several languages (look top right of the website) and offers information on most hotels. In addition prices are usually a little better with than direct booking.
If you are travelling by car, accommodation in Heidelberg (35 km, roundabout 35m driving time, highway mostly) or in Heilbronn / Neckarsulm (same distance, 30 minutes) is possible too.
Lists of hotels in Sinsheim:
- Hotel Sinsheim (4*, 108 EUR, 100 rooms) http://hotel-sinsheim.de/en/rooms-suites
- Hotel Bär (3*, 82 EUR, Sauna, Internet) http://www.hotel-baer.de/englisch/eng_index.php
- Wincent (?*, 59 EUR, fitness, free WLAN, free landline calls within Germany and some European countries) http://wincent-hotel.de/a
- Zum Prinzen (3* B&B, 80 EUR, 30 beds) http://www.sinsheim-hotel-prinzen.de/ (requires FLASH!)
Drinks and Food
Sinsheim has a huge number of cafes, bars and restaurants! For the best list we have, see the end of the Meetups Page.
Gasthof Grüner Baum
Heilbronner Strasse 34 74889 Sinsheim 2.7K from hotel Bar Med, Chinese, seafood, german Is hotel restaurant. Beer garden. Good for groups and take reservations Consistent good reviews Menu looks better than average. No pictures of it though.
http://www.gruenerbaum-sinsheim.de
menu - http://www.gasthof-gruenerbaum.de/page2011/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Speisekarte.pdf And use google translate (I could figure how to save it)
Zorbas
Heilbronner Str. 57, Sinsheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany Greek - fresh
Pizza-Pasta
Hauptstr. 127, 74889 Sinsheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany http://www.pizzapasta-sinsheim.de/
Right next door to Hotel Bar. Large pizzas. Looks basic
Hotel Wissers Sonnenhof
Schurhammerweg 7 79286 Glottertal, Germany http://www.wissers-sonnenhof-glottertal.de/
Close to hotel Bar but bad reviews
Keltic Tavern
http://www.keltictavern.de/secondindex/drinks.html Offers huge bierglasses and tons of burgers
Note there is a Live Irish Band on 7th Nov. See below.
Fun
Live Music
07.11.2009 Live Music Irish Folk Rock with "Jamie Clarks Perfect" http://www.keltictavern.de/secondindex/veranstaltungen.html
from 20h / entrance 3 euros / 0.33 L All bottled beers only 2.60 € / Special Shot: 3 shots for 5 euros
Medieval "hotel"
If you travel by car and if you are looking for some adventure you might want to visit: http://heuhotel.cc/
This a nice hotel offers sleeping like in medieval times. In addition you can have a so called "knights meal" which is usually pretty funny. Probably this is nice closing event before traveling home.
Museum
The technique museum in Sinsheim (http://sinsheim.technik-museum.de/en) has some legendary aircraft on display, for example a Concorde, locomotives, vintage cars.
Racing
If you are more into contemporary race cars, Hockenheimring race track (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hockenheimring / http://www.hockenheimring.net) is for you.