Things to do in Nuremberg

Nuremberg is the largest city in Franconia, the northern part of Bavaria, with about 530,000 people. It is not the Bavaria of the posters. Bavaria took it over only in 1806, and the dialect is East Franconian.

Things to do in Nuremberg start with its past. It was a free imperial city from 1219, and the imperial regalia sat here from 1424 to 1796. On 2 January 1945 a British raid destroyed most of the old town in under an hour.

Inside the walls

The rebuilding kept the medieval street plan. The lanes are old, and most of the houses along them are not.

• Kaiserburg. The imperial castle on its sandstone rock, with a Romanesque double chapel from about 1200 and a well almost fifty metres deep, shown on guided tours only.
• Dürer's house. The painter lived here from 1509 until his death in 1528.
• Germanisches Nationalmuseum. Founded in 1852. Martin Behaim's globe of about 1492 is the oldest surviving terrestrial globe.

The rally grounds and the courthouse

• Rally grounds. Planned across 11 square kilometres southeast of the centre, they hosted six Nazi Party rallies from 1933 to 1938. The Congress Hall, begun in 1935 for 50,000 seats, was never roofed.
• Documentation Centre. In the Congress Hall's north wing, open since 2001.
• Memorium Nuremberg Trials. In the Palace of Justice, where Courtroom 600 held the main trial from November 1945 to October 1946.

What is booked here

The offer is mostly cars. Private transfers leave Nuremberg for these cities, many with a two-hour sightseeing stop.

• Munich. 170 km, or an hour by ICE.
• Frankfurt and its airport. 225 km.
• Prague. 300 km.
• Salzburg. 315 km.
• Berlin. 440 km.
• Vienna. 500 km.

Other cars meet river-cruise ships at the Main-Danube canal. Inside the walls the choice is a phone-led walking game, played at your own pace.

Practical

• Weather. July afternoons reach about 25C. January days sit near 3C, with frost at night.
• Christmas market. On the Hauptmarkt, from the Friday before the first Advent Sunday to Christmas Eve. About two million people come each year.
• Rally grounds. The S-Bahn S2 stops at Dutzendteich, and buses stop at the Documentation Centre door.
• Memorium. Closed on Tuesdays. Courtroom 600 has held no trials since March 2020, and is shut during events.
• Bratwurst. Finger-sized, 7 to 9 centimetres, and sold three to a bun. The protected name means they are made inside the city limits.
• Airport. The U2 reaches the main station in about twelve minutes.