Franconia

Franconia in northern Bavaria, with a dense cluster of historic towns such as Nuremberg, Würzburg, Bamberg and Rothenburg, and a strong wine and beer culture.

This region corresponds to Franconia in the division used by the Bavarian tourism board, combined by whole administrative districts into the three districts of Upper, Middle and Lower Franconia, and includes cities such as Nuremberg, Fürth, Erlangen, Würzburg, Bamberg, Bayreuth, Coburg, Ansbach and Aschaffenburg and their surrounding districts. To the south it adjoins Upper Bavaria and Allgäu/Swabia, to the east the Upper Palatinate (Eastern Bavaria), to the northwest Hesse and Baden-Württemberg, to the north Thuringia, and to the northeast the Czech Republic.

Highlights: Nuremberg’s Imperial Castle, Old Town and Christmas market, the former Nazi Party Rally Grounds and the Memorium Nuremberg Trials; the Würzburg Residence (a World Heritage site) and the wine country along the Main; the Old Town Hall and smoked beer of Bamberg’s Old Town (a World Heritage site); Bayreuth’s Margravial Opera House (a World Heritage site) and the Wagner Festspielhaus; Rothenburg and Dinkelsbühl on the Romantic Road; and the karst hills of Franconian Switzerland, the Fichtelgebirge, the Spessart forest and the Franconian Lake District.

Classic itinerary: 2 days in Nuremberg, 1 day in Bamberg, 1 day in Würzburg and 1 day in Rothenburg, with Bayreuth as an option, for 5–6 days in total.

Getting there: Nuremberg is a railway hub, about 1 hour from Munich by ICE; Würzburg and Bamberg are both on ICE lines, and for Rothenburg you must change trains at Steinach.

Note: Accommodation is tight during the Nuremberg Christmas market in December; tickets for the Bayreuth Festival must be applied for long in advance.

Destinations

• Nuremberg
• Würzburg
• Bayreuth
• Rothenburg ob der Tauber
• Franconian Switzerland

Itineraries

• Franconian Old Towns and Caves Loop – From Nuremberg to Bamberg, Franconian Switzerland and Bayreuth, with old towns, caves and beer culture
• Romantic Road Self-Drive: Würzburg to Füssen – Head south from the wine towns on the Main River, past medieval walled towns, to castles at the foot of the Alps
• Germany Grand Rail Loop – Starting and ending in Frankfurt, connect the Rhine, Cologne, Hamburg, Berlin, Rothenburg, and Munich by train.