Heilbronn is a city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is completely surrounded by Heilbronn County and with approximately 121.989 (Statistisches Landesamt 30.06.2008) residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state.

The city on the Neckar is a former Imperial Free City and current independent city (i.e. not part of any county) and seat of Heilbronn County. Heilbronn is also the "major economic centre" of the Heilbronn-Franken region that includes almost the entire northeast of Baden-Württemberg.

Heilbronn is known for its wine industry and is nicknamed Käthchenstadt after Heinrich von Kleist's play Das Käthchen von Heilbronn.

Geography
Heilbronn is located in the northern corner of the Neckar basin at the bottom of the Wartberg (308 m). It is spread out on both banks of the Neckar on a fertile terrace and the highest spot inside city limits is the Schweinsberg with a height of 372 m. Heilbronn is located adjacent to the Schwäbisch-Fränkischer Wald State Park and is famous for the vineyards that surround it.

Heilbronn and its surroundings are located in the northern part of the larger Stuttgart metropolitan area. The city acts as the economic centre of the Heilbronn-Franken region and is one of 14 cities referred to in the Baden-Württemberg master plan of 2002 as major economic centers. In addition, it serves the cities and towns of Abstatt, Bad Rappenau, Bad Wimpfen, Beilstein, Brackenheim, Cleebronn, Eberstatt, Ellhofen, Eppingen, Flein, Gemmingen, Güglingen, Ilsfeld, Ittlingen, Kirchardt, Lauffen am Neckar, Lehrensteinsfeld, Leingarten, Löwenstein, Massenbachhausen, Neckarwestheim, Nordheim, Obersulm, Pfaffenhofen, Schwaigern, Siegelsbach, Talheim, Untergruppenbach, Weinsberg, Wüstenrot and Zaberfeld as an intermediate economic centre.

Infrastructure
The city of Heilbronn is readily accessible by car or truck courtesy of the Weinsberg Intersection just to the northeast of the city, the intersection of the Autobahn A 81 from Würzburg to Gottmadingen and the A 6 from Saarbrücken to Waidhaus. In addition to the Autobahns the city is connected via the Bundesstraßen B 27 from Blankenburg to Schaffhausen, B 39 from Frankenstein (Palatine) to Mainhardt and B 293 from Karlsruhe to Heilbronn that both run through the city itself.

Heilbronn is also a forerunner of right-turn-on-red in Germany and 65 "Green arrow" signs have been installed at appropriate intersections since 1996.

Although Heilbronn does not benefit from the Deutsche Bahn long-distance service, the city is well connected by train. The Frankenbahn connects Stuttgart and Würzburg, the Neckarbahn and Elsenztalbahn run from Heilbronn to Heidelberg and Mannheim, and the Hohenlohebahn accommodates travel to Schwäbisch Hall via Öhringen.

The S-Bahn provides a connection all the way to Karlsruhe on the Kraichgaubahn's tracks. Currently the S 4 takes travellers from Karlsruhe through the central train station past the centre of town all the way to the Öhringen borough of Cappel (since December 11, 2005). Because of massive delays in the construction of the S-Bahn tracks through Heilbronn's city limits and with the modernization and electrification of the existing tracks from Heilbronn to Öhringen meant that the new section's official opening needed to be postponed several times. In the future, additional S-Bahn lines are planned to Neckarsulm, Lauffen am Neckar and Zaberfeld. As well a these new lines, additional stops will also be built in the inner city of Heilbronn.

While the original Straßenbahn of Heilbronn, nicknamed the Spatzenschaukel (German for "sparrows' swing"), was discontinued on April 1, 1955, the city used electrically powered trolley buses until 1960. Today, public transportation is provided by the S-Bahn that runs through Heilbronn similar to the Karlsruhe model and this is complemented by buses run by the Stadtwerke Heilbronn (Verkehrsbetriebe) and several other enterprises. All now belong to the Heilbronner Verkehrsverbund.

The canal port on the Neckar is one of the ten largest German interior ports.

Tags: Baden-Württemberg, Germany, Heilbronn, city