accompanying Program
Experience Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe TourismHometown Karlsruhe
Experience history, feel the present and marvel at the future! Despite being just 300 years old, Karlsruhe looks back on an eventful past. As a baroque planned city, a novelty of its time, the city has retained this pioneering spirit to this day. Accompanied by our city guides, you will learn everything about the origins of Karlsruhe and the city's development into an important cultural and innovation hub. Peppered with amusing anecdotes and personal insider tips from our best city experts, every tour is a special experience.
Durlach – from residence to district
A wise man named Da Vinci once said: Those who cannot do what they want must want what they can do. And Durlach, the largest and one of the liveliest districts of Karlsruhe, can do a lot: With the 16th-century Karlsburg, the Durlach Palace Gardens and the Pfinzgau Museum, Durlach boasts some of the most attractive spots in the whole of Karlsruhe, as well as over 30,000 proud residents. So surely the loss of independence and the incorporation of Durlach into the city of Karlsruhe should no longer feel so painful. If you would like to learn more about the history of this special district, this guided tour will tell you about Durlach's past as a working-class and ‘red city’ – and why industrialisation was both a curse and a blessing for Durlach, keyword: exercise in humility, see above.
Old slaughterhouse – modern times
You don't have to. If, at the end of this lively walk, you are offered a lot of alcohol in a very short time, you could theoretically follow the example of former First Lady Nancy Reagan: ‘Just say no’. However, after a leisurely stroll through the Alter Schlachthof creative park, you're bound to be pretty thirsty by now, especially as our certified tour guide, a true Karlsruhe native, has spent many years of her life in the Oststadt district and has plenty of anecdotes to tell about the changes in the Alter Schlachthof.
Drink water! – Walking tour of Karlsruhe's drinking fountains
Karlsruhe is known as the ‘city of water and fountains’, with 36 public drinking fountains ranging from historical monuments such as the ‘Wasserschöpfender Knabe’ (Water-Drawing Boy) to modern sculptures such as the ‘Waldbrunnen’ (Forest Fountain) in Kaiserstrasse. With the number of hot days on the rise, the fountains are becoming increasingly important for the urban climate, encouraging social interaction and saving plastic and CO₂ through the use of tap water. On our tour of six fountains in the city centre, we learn how drinking water is monitored, who is responsible for it and how our consumption is linked to the global water crisis. The tour ends at the ‘Waldbrunnen’.
The tour
We walk to six drinking fountains in the city centre, taste the water, and learn in a playful way how to recognise drinking fountains, who takes care of them, where tap water comes from, and how it is monitored.
We also talk about how local water consumption is linked to the global water crisis, how we can use drinking water more consciously and preserve it for the future of our planet. The tour ends at the ‘Waldbrunnen’ fountain on Kaiserstrasse.
ZKM – Centre for Art and Media
The ZKM | Centre for Art and Media Karlsruhe is one of the world's leading institutions at the interface of art, technology and science. Founded in 1989, it explores the impact of digitalisation and new media on contemporary culture through exhibitions, research projects and educational programmes. Often referred to as the ‘digital Bauhaus,’ the ZKM presents innovative art projects, interactive installations and interdisciplinary collaborations, making it a unique centre for media art and cultural exchange.
MEG Wörth am Rhein: Sustainable and resource-efficient beverage production
MEG Wörth am Rhein GmbH is part of the MEG beverage network and thus an important pillar of Schwarz Produktion. In Wörth am Rhein, approximately 260 employees produce mineral water and soft drinks for the retail companies Lidl and Kaufland. The state-of-the-art beverage plant went into operation in 2013 and produces around 1.4 billion fillings per year.
Schwarz Produktion is the umbrella brand for the Schwarz Group’s production companies. A total of around 6,500 employees at Schwarz Produktion companies produce high-quality food and sustainable packaging and materials for the Lidl and Kaufland retail companies.
Service Activity – Rhine Cleaning – Water=Life
With the Service Activity, we are putting the forum's motto into practice.
After two days of lectures and workshops, do you feel like getting out into nature and doing your part for clean rivers and oceans?
According to estimates, there are currently 150 million tons of waste in the world's oceans, much of which is carried there by rivers. The Rhine, as one of the major rivers in Europe, contributes to this.
To put a stop to this pollution, we are organizing a clean-up campaign on the Rhine in Karlsruhe on Saturday, October 24, 2026, together with the Europe-wide initiative RhineCleanUp.
We want to clear the banks of waste and thus prevent it from entering the water and being washed towards the North Sea. We also want to use our campaign to draw public attention to this problem.
Join us and take action with us for clean rivers and oceans!
Important information
We refer you to further tourist offers and tourist information.
In particular, the hop-on/hop-off bus with fixed times can be booked directly – not through us.
