How to spend a weekend in northern Bavaria

The point out of Bavaria tends to conjure up sure photographs: of fairytale-like Neuschwanstein Castle rising towards snowy peaks, and beer gardens in Munich the place locals sip cloudy weissbier and eat weisswurst sausage. Head to the northern half of the German state and also you’ll encounter a subtly totally different scene. As the Alps retreat, forests and rivers take over. The basic beer right here is copper-hued rotbier, accompanied by miniature bratwurst. This distinct area, Franconia, receives comparatively fewer guests than spots to the south, however it’s no much less compelling a candidate for a weekend away.

Franconia’s unofficial capital is Nuremberg, one of many republic’s most quietly stunning cities, surrounded on three sides by forests, its crimson rooftops enclosed by a horseshoe of greenery. You may lose days wandering the town’s partitions and pacing the corridors of its museums, however it’s price using Germany’s very first railway line northwards to neighbouring Bamberg, whose personal medieval townhouses straddle a smattering of river islands. With additional time, extra sights await a brief distance away: the cities of Rothenburg and Bayreuth, and even the ‘other’ Switzerland — all providing a rousing coda to any Franconian journey.

Day 1: City sights & sausages

Morning
Outsiders affiliate Nuremberg with two occasions: the rallies that unleashed National Socialism within the Twenties and 30s; and the trials that introduced its reckoning after the Second World War. But historical past right here goes deeper, which is clear at Nuremberg’s Imperial Castle, a medieval stronghold of the Holy Roman Empire. Its towers have brooded over burghers for nearly a millennium and the parapet nonetheless affords views over a lot of Franconia. Not far off is the house of Fifteenth-century printmaker and painter Albrecht Dürer. Amid low ceilings and creaking flooring, you get a way of the grasp at work — and a metropolis that flourished round him, busy with commerce.

Afternoon
The metropolis’s speciality sausage, Nürnberger bratwurst is so slim it ought to supposedly match via a keyhole. Die Wirtschaft — a restaurant close to the fortress — serves them by the dozen, alongside a heap of cabbage and dollop of mustard. It’s good gas for exploring the Old Town, rebuilt after the Second World War. You may spend hours right here, pootling amongst half-timbered townhouses with geraniums in window containers, and touring the willowy banks and stone arch bridges of the Pegnitz. South of the river is a cluster of museums; the Germanisches Nationalmuseum reveals the world’s oldest surviving globe, made in Nuremberg in 1492.

Evening
Nuremberg is at its loveliest come nightfall, when crowds skinny, lamplight glows off cobbles and the hum of chatter resonates from riverside beer gardens. For a wonderful night, head east of the centre alongside the banks of the Wöhrder See, an city lake the place fishers solid their strains, swans glide and locals paddle by reedy banks on balmy evenings. Having labored up an urge for food, amble again to the Old Town to Albrecht Dürer Stube, a venerable inn the place Franconian delicacies is at its heartiest, and order a basic schäufele, pork shoulder served alongside a dumpling. For a nightcap, go to Cafe Wanderer and Bieramt, a tiny shack propped towards the town partitions.

Day 2: Trains & tipples

Morning
Nuremberg Hauptbahnhof is the principle gateway for practice journey into Franconia, however first detour to the close by Deutsche Bahn Museum. Germany’s foremost rail museum has rolling inventory of every kind, none extra elegant than the non-public practice of King Ludwig II of Bavaria, with ceiling murals and gilded carriages. More humdrum trains make the half-hour journey north to small, picturesque Bamberg. Its medieval core is unfold over a sequence of islets within the River Regnitz — there’s one thing faintly Venetian in the way in which its townhouses teeter over canals and dashing weirs. Most putting is the Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall) set by itself river island, tapering at each ends and looking out like a ship at anchor.

Afternoon
Bamberg has considered one of Germany’s most eccentric beer traditions: rauchbier, or smoked beer, created by drying barley over an open flame. Some like it, others liken it to ingesting from an ashtray, however all ought to attempt it as soon as. Ideally, accomplish that at Schlenkerla, a pub and brewery with origins stretching to the Fifteenth century, the place drinkers hunch in shadows beneath monastic-looking arches. From right here, it’s a tipsy stumble uphill to Bamberg’s grand if austere cathedral, its roof topped by 4 spires. Look west and also you’ll spy the tower of Schloss Altenburg; it’s a 30-minute stroll via woodland and meadows to the fortress, the residence of the bishops of Bamberg between the 14th and sixteenth centuries.

Evening
Bamberg’s day-trippers are likely to abscond by late afternoon. Linger some time for some peace in a riverside cafe, then return to Nuremberg. Just north of the station, the Imperial affords a refreshingly up to date tackle German delicacies. Intricate dishes riff on native flavours, from a ‘Franconian ramen’ with a ginger and gherkin broth to much-vaunted asparagus with rhubarb French dressing. Digest it with a stroll to Hausbrauerei Altstadthof, a microbrewery atop sandstone cellars. There’s a large repertoire of beer, although none as beloved as rotbier, a candy malty lager. It’s been Nuremberg’s brew of selection for the reason that days when Dürer painted in his home simply across the nook.

Top 5 Medieval spots in Nuremberg

1. City partitions
Dating to Nuremberg’s medieval heyday, these are among the many most formidable defences on the continent, forming a three-mile ring across the centre. Follow their course on a two-hour stroll from the fortress, stopping halfway on the Handwerkerhof Nuremberg, an artisans’ enclave in a nook within the fortifications.

2. Frauenkirche
First commissioned by the Holy Roman Emperor within the 14th century, that is the prettiest of Nuremberg’s church buildings. Its interiors are wealthy in spiritual sculpture. Outside, it’s simply as beguiling: at midday, a bit of clockwork procession sparks to life on the facade, and mechanical figures ring tiny bells to the coos of an admiring viewers.

3. Heilig-Geist-Spital
This hospital within the midst of the Old Town is a much-overlooked landmark, in-built 1339 to cater to the poor and infirm of Nuremberg. Today, it continues this ministry in some half as a retirement residence. Visitors can stroll its shady courtyards and discover a semi-secret restaurant and wine bar in its depths.

4. Hangman’s Bridge
Perhaps Nuremberg’s loveliest view is available at this grimly named lined bridge straddling the Pegnitz. It was alongside these rickety boards that executioners would enter the town within the Middle Ages. These days, it’s a wonderful spot to execute a sport of pooh sticks.

5. Schöner Brunnen
In the city sq. is the Schöner Brunnen (‘beautiful fountain’), a marriage cake of an edifice, bedecked by painted figures of saints and classical thinkers. You’ll discover a brass ring in its metalwork; legend tells that in the event you spin it, you’ll be rewarded with good luck.

Where to eat bratwurst in Nuremberg

Bratwursthäusle
In enterprise for the reason that 14th century, this squat restaurant within the shadow of St Sebaldus church is broadly thought-about the religious residence of the bratwurst. The sausages are made utilizing a top-secret recipe and cooked over an open beechwood fireplace. A well-liked different is saure zipfel, for which the little sausages are boiled in a wealthy, oniony broth.

Schlemmer Eck
An old-school imbiss (German snack kiosk) set on a road nook, Schlemmer Eck is an efficient place to attempt a drei im weggla, Nuremberg’s satisfying — if not particularly subtle — quick meals. Three bratwurst shoved inside a tender bun and sometimes lathered in mustard, it’s a match-day basic for native soccer followers. Brunnengasse 33

Bratwurst Museum
While you may’t eat right here, this tiny museum is the place to chew over the heritage of those civic sausages, allegedly beloved by 18th-century German poet and polymath Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Admire historic bratwurst-making implements and buy themed memorabilia like bratwurst socks. You’ll discover the museum, appropriately sufficient, on a road named Bratwurstgasse.