Villingen-Schwenningen

Villingen was an independent imperial city between 1218 and 1283, and its old centre still sits inside its town wall, with the Münster, the 1534 town hall and the gates at the end of the main streets. Schwenningen took a different path: it stayed a Württemberg village until it was made a town in 1907, and it grew with the clock and precision-instrument industry. The two merged on 1 January 1972, during the Baden-Württemberg municipal reform.

You still feel the difference. Villingen is the postcard half, with a pedestrian old town, the Kurpark and a Franziskanermuseum on local and Black Forest history. Schwenningen is the practical half: the university campuses, the ice arena, the Muslenplatz square, the 1926–28 town hall and the Neckar source. Each has its own town hall (Münsterplatz 7/8 in Villingen, Marktplatz 1 in Schwenningen).

The Swabian-Alemannic Fasnet is on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage (since December 2014), and in Villingen-Schwenningen it is not a spectator event: dozens of clubs, carved linden-wood masks and a costume that never changes from year to year. It runs from the Thursday before Ash Wednesday to Fasnet Tuesday, when everyday life largely stops. Preparations start on 6 January when the masks are dusted off.

Villingen's figure is the Narro, with a children's parade on Thursday, the historic Narro parade on Monday and a large parade on Tuesday; Schwenningen's is the Hansel, with a Narrensprung on Saturday and a large parade on Sunday. Masked people tease onlookers ('strählen'), so expect to be part of it.

The city website lists hiking routes such as the Schwenninger 8 and the forest trail through the Groppertal to the Uhustein, and cycling routes including the Neckartalradweg, which follows the river from its source. The Landesgartenschau (state garden show) was held here in 2010, which left behind park space around the Schwenningen station area and one of the highest-lying rose gardens in Germany on the Hubenloch in Villingen.

In winter the weather turns cold and grey more often than in the Rhine valley, so a proper coat and shoes are not optional. Mean annual temperature is 8.6 °C and it rains about 167 days a year, according to the 2015–2020 averages.

Within the city, local buses are run by the Verkehrsgemeinschaft Villingen-Schwenningen, and the Ringzug regional train (since 2003) links the Schwarzwald-Baar district with Tuttlingen and Rottweil, with stops in Schwenningen such as Marbach, Zollhaus, Eisstadion and Hammerstatt. The two town centres are about 8 km apart, so decide early which campus you will live closest to.

Out of town, Villingen station is on the Schwarzwaldbahn (Offenburg–Singen), which has seasonal ICE and IC trains, the Breisgau-S-Bahn connects to Freiburg, and the A81 (Stuttgart–Singen) and the B27, B33, B523 and B31 roads cross the area. FlixBus serves Berlin–Konstanz and Munich. Check current timetables for journey times before you plan a weekend; this page does not quote them.

The two civilian campuses are in Schwenningen, close to each other, and they share activities: the Big Band VS Campus is made up of students, staff and professors from both DHBW and HFU. This is a small-campus setting where lecturers are reachable; HFU's own page lists small classes and approachable lecturers among the points students praise, which is the university describing itself, so ask current students too.

DHBW offers a dual study concept, so ask the university how study and company phases are split in your programme. HFU is more conventional, with semester dates that run from early October to mid-January (exams until mid-February) and from mid-March to the end of June (exams until mid or end of July) for exchange students.

Choose courses from one campus only, the HFU exchange page warns, because commuting between its campuses is too far.

The Mensa and cafeteria is at Karlstraße 19 in Schwenningen. The Mensa serves lunch from 11:30 to 14:00; the cafeteria is open 08:00–15:00 Monday to Thursday and 08:00–14:00 on Friday, and there is no service on Saturday. Most weeks include vegetarian and plant-based choices, and a falafel burger is available daily on request.

For sport, DHBW's page points to leisure and cultural activities and the Big Band; HFU mentions weekly activities on campus and the countryside for sports. Hockey fans can go to Wild Wings home games, and Fasnet is the season when the whole city is out at night. Nights out stay modest in scale; for big clubs, students go to Freiburg or Stuttgart.

Non-EU students may work 140 full days or 280 half days a year (a day over four hours counts as a full day), since 1 March 2024, and full-time students may not work more than 20 hours a week, according to a German university's guide for international students. Paid compulsory internships do not count toward the limit, and work as a student assistant at the university has no day limit. Working more, or a voluntary internship, needs the foreigners' office's approval. Check your own permit; DHBW students in a dual contract are in a different situation, so ask the international office.

The city integration office lists Jobclub-VS e.V. as a volunteer group helping people find training and work.