Heidelberg Pastry Shoppe

Wolfgang and Carla Buchler, owners

Picture walking into a European bakery combined with a pastry shop full of fresh baked bread, cookies, pastries and cakes. This is the experience you’ll get at Heidelberg Pastry Shoppe, an Arlington mainstay since 1975. Owners Wolfgang and Carla named the bakery for Wolfgang’s German hometown. While working in Tysons, Wolfgang noticed that Arlington was well established so he opened his business there — first in the Lee-Heights Shopping Center, finally moving to its current location next to Langston Brown Community Center. In the beginning there were only breakfast pastries, donuts and just a few loaves of bread and cookies. People would come after church, several would buy birthday cakes and slowly, the business built up to where it is today. Now you can find a deli and an expanded variety of bread on the shelves. If sweets aren’t your forte, you’ll be happy to know there are many savory options. Choose from pretzels, German cold cuts, German potato salad and bratwurst.

If you’ve never visited Heidelberg, Carla says Christmas is beautiful at the pastry shop with all its German traditions. Marzipans appear in Christmas shapes; there’s German fruit cake and pfeffernüsse (a spicy gingerbread cookie rolled in merengue and powdered sugar). One interesting anecdote from Carla is the number of customers from Virginia Hospital Center coming to purchase lunch, snacks and gifts. The nametag on the chest is a dead giveaway. Given the hospital’s proximity and the prime location of the bakery along a major artery, it’s easy to get to and makes a great choice for patient gifts (of the sweet kind).

Given its convenient location along Langston Boulevard (formerly Lee Highway), most people walk there, including many staff members. Click the “car free” link below to find out how to visit using public transit. So, plan your trip and try a Berliner, order a German-style sandwich from the deli, smell the fresh dinner rolls and relish in the 50 years of success Heidelberg Pastry Shoppe has been bringing Arlington.

Heidelberg Pastry Shoppe
2150 N. Culpepper St.
Arlington, VA 22205
Go car free to Heidelberg Bakery