Wiehre & Lorettoberg

The Wiehre sits immediately south of the old town, across the Dreisam river, and is the residential neighbourhood where Freiburg's professional middle class lives. The architecture is almost entirely late-19th-century Grunderzeit: four-storey villas in restored pastel stucco, wrought-iron balconies, gardens behind. The streets are lined with plane trees, the cafes are independent rather than chain, and the bakeries still open at 6 AM for weekday bread. For visitors staying more than one night, the Wiehre is the alternative to the old town: quieter, more residential, still a 10-minute tram ride (lines 3 or 5) to the Munster.

The Lorettoberg (376 metres) is the green hill at the southern edge of the quarter: a 20-minute uphill walk or a 15-minute tram ride (line 3 to Lorettoberg) gets you to the Lorettokapelle chapel and the panoramic bench that looks back across the entire old town to the Black Forest ridge behind. The Stadtgarten (city garden) at the north edge of the Wiehre has a small zoo for toddlers (free, ducks and goats), a seasonal mini-golf, and a beer garden in summer. The Mensa cafeteria at the university is technically in the Wiehre and is the cheapest reliable meal in the city (EUR 5-8 for a plate, open to the public at lunch).