As one of the five upper centers of the country Rhineland-Palatinate Ludwigshafen forms the core of the European Metropolregion Rhine Neckar triangle together with its neighbour city of Baden-Wuerttemberg Mannheim. Further nearer-lying large cities are Heidelberg (about 25 km southeast), Karlsruhe (about 50 km south) and Mainz (about 60 km north).