Darmstadt

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Darmstadt
Country: Germany
Region: Hesse
More Information:
CS Group Wikipedia Wikitravel
City-Ambassadors:
Konrad

Contents


Darmstadt is a German city with an active CouchSurfing community.

Local CS community

Regular Activities

To see what’s going on in Darmstadt’s CS community just visit Darmstadt’s CS group. If there are no upcoming meetings, just post there and it´s very likely that you´ll find people who are up for a cup of coffee or a night out in the clubs.

There’s no regular CS meeting, but there are a lot of small spontaneous meetings and bigger meetings for events like Heinerfest (annual city festival) or Schlossgrabenfest (annual music festival).

Who to contact

Just visit our Darmstadt CS group and contact people that are active in the group or find active members with CouchSearch.

Getting to Darmstadt…

…by train

To check train connections click Deutsche Bahn and choose language, if needed.

…by plane

The following airports are in reasonable distance to Darmstadt:

…by Car

Traveling by car downtown is not very convenient. Public transport is the better choice or a bike (just ask in the forum). If you need to take the car, use the multi-story car parks in the town center. The fees are worth it to avoid looking for a parking-lot for hours.

Geography and Maps

Darmstadt is located right in the midst of four interesting regions: The Messeler Hills, the Upper Rhine Valley, the Odenwald and the Bergstraße.
With the hills in the north-east, the thick forest in the south-east and the flat land to the west, Darmstadt is well located for hiking or bicycle tours.

There’s a map on the official Darmstadt site.
And of course there is OpenStreetMap as well!

Weather in Darmstadt

Darmstadt is located in one of the warmer areas in Germany, so summers can be quite hot. Spring can have early warm days and fall sometimes tends to be mild until the end of October. Snow is rare in winter, but temperatures sometimes can be freezing cold if the air is humid.

For daily weather information check out this page.

Getting along in Darmstadt

Hotels / Motels / B&Bs

In case you aren´t hosted by one of Darmstadt´s CS members, check out the local youth hostel.

Eating and Drinking

There are lots of nice restaurants which offer international or German cuisine in Darmstadt. If you want to eat local specialities ask for "Handkäs mit Musik" or "Kochkäs mit Musik", two different types of cheese served with vinegar and onions (the so-called "music"). This goes very well with a traditional drink, the "Äppelwoi" (apple wine), which is very sour and therefore can be mixed with water or lemonade.

A nice and cozy place to go is Café Chaos, a café that offers not just coffe and cakes, but also a wide range of pizza and pasta dishes, breakfast, salads and more. Café Chaos is favored by students and other young people.

Café Habibi offers yummy international vegan, vegetarian and organic cuisine for reasonable prices. Organic meat dishes are also available. They offer brunch on Sundays.

Good Kochkäs und Handkäs is offered at Braustübl, a brewery with restaurant which is located just a few meters away of the main station, next to the huge cinema complex. They have different kinds of high quality beers.

Really great sushi and other Asian dishes can be found at Chin-Su in Kranichsteiner Strasse 8. Prices are reasonable and sushi is freshly made...delicious!

Pizzeria Lokales is a legend in Darmstadt and if you wanna try the best pizza in town just go to Dieburger Strasse 50 and order one of their creations.

If you love authentic Spanish tapas, El Cid tapas restaurant, Landgraf-Georg-Straße 19, is the place to go! They have a rich variety of meat, fish and vegetarian tapas and the atmosphere has a rustic charme. Wanna freshen up your Spanish language skills as well? Great, the staff is Spanish and a lot of the guests are, too. Since it sometimes tends to be packed, it´s recommendable to make a reservation in advance.

For soups consider to go to "Elisabeth" which is hidden in the city center.

Public Transport/ Cabs

Darmstadt has a quite good public transportation system with buses and streetcars. Schedules are available on the website of the RMV

If you have to take a cab ("Taxi") be aware that cabs can be really expensive in Germany. A cab ride from the main station to the town center, for example, can be up to 10€ or maybe even more, depends on where you wanna go and how traffic is.

In Case of Trouble

Darmstadt is a pretty safe city but you never know. In the case of a fire break-out or general emergencies call 112, call 110 if you need police assistance. If someone gets hurt call an ambulance by dialing 19222.

These numbers should work from every cellphone. If you don't have one look out for a phone booth or ask passing by people for help. Emergency calls don't cost anything. If you confuse the numbers it also shouldn't be a problem, you will be routed through. Please make sure to remember at least one of these numbers.

Entertainment

Outdoor Activities

For outdoor entertainment Freizeitparkt am Steinbrücker Teich-Oberwaldhaus is a good choice. There you have a lot of possibilities what to do. You can hire a rowboat or paddleboat and explore the lake, go for a pony ride, play miniature golf, enjoy food at the restaurant or just relax on the meadow. There´s also a playground for children.

Bars and Clubs

To check out what´s going on in Darmstadt´s nightlife visit the online calendar Partyamt or check out Prinz, a city mag for the whole Rhein-Main Region.

Schlosskeller is a nightclub in the basement of the castle in the town center of Darmstadt. It is a great place to enjoy concerts, meet cool people, dance your ass off and have drinks for reasonable prices. Sometimes there´s a small entrance fee.

603qm is the place to enjoy music offered by various DJs, meet a lot of students and have fun on the dancefloor. There are concerts as well and on Sunday afternoon you can go there for coffee and yummy cake. On Wednesdays there´s often salsa dance night. It´s near the university.

One of the oldest clubs in one of the oldest buildings of Darmstadt (over 350 years old) is legendary Goldene Krone, where you can dance, enjoy bands and even play table soccer (upstairs).

Live Music

Being a city with a huge student population, Darmstadt also offers plenty of live music events. The following venues are just a first glimpse at the scene and there's always more to discover.

For free are the jam sessions, which normally start quite late (22h?): Monday - House of Blues, Wednesday - either 603 or Bessunger Knabenschule in those two locations the sessions are kicked off by a professional band, Thursday - Roots (Erbacher Str. 2)

Centralstation: Located if a former transformer station, this is one of the bigger venues, hosting more popular/known acts.

Bessunger Knabenschule: Right in the center of the beautiful district "Bessungen", the Knabenschule (boys school) offers to locations; the more spacious former gym and a classy old cellar.

Schlosskeller: Run by the students union, this rather big cellar offers a very quaint setting for concerts as well as clubbing events.

Green Sheep Pub: A small two-story high Irish Pub which regularly hosts a very interesting mix of non-mainstream and folk musicians in a very intimate setting. It is also the venue of the regular Tuesday night pub-quiz.

Roots: A very small Eritrean bar, occasionally hosting reggae and other alternative music. (I don't think they have a website, it's located right next to the Green Sheep Pub)

Jagdhofkeller: A very hidden venue, close to the heart of Bessungen. Once you find the stairs, you'll enter a huge old arch-cellar. They regularly host an interesting blend of jazz, blues and folk and also serve small snacks.

Achteckiges Haus: The "Octagon House" hosts the Jazzclub Darmstadt. They offer a wide selection of local jazz musicians, jam sessions and foreign guests.

Shopping

The town center offers a lot of shopping possibilities. Just get off the bus at Luisenplatz and explore all the shops, but be careful not to exhaust your credit card too much ;-) There´s also a shopping mall, the Luisencenter. A more hidden place where you find alternative clothing and 'stuff' is the Martinsviertel.

Cinema

Movies in their original language with German subtitles can be found in the programme of the university´s movie community

Culture

The city of Darmstadt throughout its existence has fancied culture. Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse, has started it by creating die Künstlerkolonie, an artists' district near the Mathildenhöhe, a former park - than centre of Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) with a strong exchange with Nancy, France. What you can do there today please read above 'sightseeing'.

History

Check Wikitravel and Wikipedia for details.

Sightseeing

There's lots of stuff to see and do in Darmstadt. The most important sights are Mathildenhöhe (centre of "Jugendstil" arts, with the Wedding Tower and the Russian Chapel), Rosenhöhe (a landscape-garden with plants and flowers and a nice area to enjoy a walk in nature). But do stroll around the district to meet students of graphic design or to discover modernist villa architecture. The Hundertwasserhaus (designed by the Austrian artist and architect Hundertwasser) is located in a new urbanisation in the West of Darmstadt. For further information check out the Darmstadt page for cultural issues.

Also the Jugendstilbad (swimming-pool, spa and various saunas) is worth a visit, not just because of its arty interior and architecture. It offers a wide range of possibilities to relax your body and mind.

Those who are interested in technical and scientific stuff will have fun visiting the ESA (European Space Agency). For guided tours check out the website.

Local Radio Station

Radio Darmstadt (RaDar) is the local radio station on 103,4 mhz (in Darmstadt) or get the live stream worldwide online.

How to find a place to live in Darmstadt?

Be prepared

Probably hard to believe at first, but it’s not that easy to find a nice and affordable place to live in Darmstadt. Due to the university and a number of companies and science institutes there is quite some pressure on the market. Also, with the proximity to Frankfurt, Wiesbaden, Mainz and the airports prices are in the upper range.

Worst time to start looking is October, that’s when many students start at university (Wintersemester). Same probably for April (beginning of Sommersemester). It should be easier during summer or winter break, especially if you need something for only a few weeks or months.

When you are looking for a WG (shared place) it’s most likely that you’ll have to show up for an interview. So make sure you do look nice or at least point out your great cooking skills! ;-)

Where to look

If you are a student you should first try the Studentenwerk. They have (a limited number of) rooms in Studentenwohnheimen (student halls). Some of them are made up like little WGs (shared apartments) and are actually quite nice, with lots of parties going on… Maybe Erasmus program might be able to help as well. You can ask repeatedly. Also let them know if you are coming from abroad and therefore NEED a place to sleep.

In case you come here to work/as an intern your company might be able to help. Bigger companies like Merck have a number of apartments or contracts with landlords to supply accommodation.

Otherwise, check those links:

Also still in use: lots of flyers hanging on pin boards in and around university buildings (TUD-Stadtmitte, TUD-Lichtwiese, HDA-Hochhaus, HDA-Haardtring).

What else: check the local newspaper Darmstädter Echo (http://www.echo-online.de/marktplatz/immobilien/), or the free papers that are handed out on Thursdays and Sundays. It’s also a good idea to invest something like 9 Euro to place a want ad. There are quite a lot of people who don’t want to be run over by dozens of people looking for a flat, and prefer to call those few who place an ad.

If it is not so much a matter of money you can also consider using the help of a Makler (agent).

If you do have the possibility, do come here first! You can spend a few nights in the local youth hostel or on some of our couches while looking for a suitable place.

Furnished rooms

German apartments are usually rented out empty, so very likely it will not come with any furniture, washing machine, fridge… Your best chance to find a ready-furnished room is to get an interim accommodation from someone who moves out for a semester to study elsewhere.

Prices to expect in Darmstadt

The cheapest places are probably available in Darmstadt’s Studentenwohnheimen, though even here prices are rarely below 220 Euro/month. On the free market WG rooms or small apartments are rather likely to start at 300-400 Euro, or even around 500 Euro…

Start your own WG

You can also consider starting a new WG, e.g. via posting on www.wg-gesucht.de or posting on Couchsurfing. Please bear in mind that in Germany apartments usually will not come with furniture, washing machine, fridge…

Nobody wants me!! :-(((

Especially when you are trying to find something very cheap it can take a while… Don’t give up, it’s not you!! There are just too many out there looking for something nice and affordable and too little places are available.

Alternatives

Increase your budget. Or try finding something outside the city center. If all fails you might want to try the little communities close to Darmstadt (Arheiligen, Griesheim, Weiterstadt, Wixhausen, Roßdorf, Reinheim, Groß-Zimmern, Groß-Umstadt, Ober-Ramstadt...). They are all easily accessible by public transport, with good connections to Lichtwiese Campus and city center. Also, it might be an idea to look for a place in Mainz. It’s about 30 min by train. Don’t forget, as a student you can use public transport (RMV = Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund) for free!

Get in touch with students living in any of the Studentenwohnheimen. Sometimes it’s possible (though probably not legal) to sub-rent a place for several months as Zwischenmieter.

Last but not least, there is a nice [camping ground near Darmstadt]. Why not start the day right next to a little lake?? ;-)


Web Links

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