Summer evenings in Nuremberg are made for slow wandering: shady beer gardens, warm stone, and that moment when the city turns golden. Grab a red Franconian beer and share a table.
View into Handwerkerhof with beer garden in the front · Photo: CTZ – Kristof Gottling
Toys & Games
The city was called “the toy capital of the world” once. Today the Toy Museum has more than 87,000 items in its collection from that history.
The German Board Game Archive is the main collector of all German board games (+40,000) and also houses the Spear’s Games Archive.
The Toy Museum, Nuremberg
Pencil Capital of the World
Even today, Nuremberg is sometimes called “the pencil capital of the world”. Faber-Castell, Staedtler Mars, Stabilo and Kaweco are some of the brands that still manufacture in the region. There are several flagship stores and factory tours available.
Historic Factory of Faber-Castell
UFOs Over Nuremberg
Aliens have been in Nuremberg already! On April 14, 1561, UFOs have been sighted in the Nuremberg skies.
Read the 1561 eyewitness account
A dreadful apparition occurred on the sun, and then this was seen in Nuremberg in the city, before the gates and in the country-by many men and women. At first there appeared in the middle of the sun two blood-red semi-circular arcs, just like the moon in its last quarter. …
Historic broadsheet depicting the 1561 sighting
The Inner City
The inner city is compact and walkable, made for detours: small shops, cafés, Germany’s oldest bookshop, hat shops, one of Europes largest comic book shops and streets that constantly reveal another view of the castle.
Inner city view near Weinmarkt · Photo: CTZ – Kristof Gottling
Nuremberg City Image Video
Museums
Nuremberg’s museums cover a lot of ground: deep-time artifacts, modern culture, art, science, and the city’s many layers of memory.
You can spend an entire day moving from a medieval workshop right out of the “the undeclared capital of the Holy Roman Empire” to industrial history without ever leaving the city. And then there is the GNM, Germany’s largest museum of cultural history, where you can even discover magical hats.
Neues Museum, with the city wall in view
Confronting History
Adjacent to the Worldcon venue are the former Nazi Party Rally Grounds. A vast and unsettling site that today serves as a place to confront history and learn from it.
Bird’s eye view of the main hall at the former Nazi Party Rally Grounds
The Future Museum
The Future Museum Nuremberg showcases possible futures across five main exhibitions. If you travel via Munich (about one hour by train), a visit to its parent institution, the Deutsches Museum in Munich (the world’s largest museum of science and technology) is highly recommended.
Inside the Zukunftsmuseum (Future Museum)
Culinary Traditions
Nuremberg’s food culture goes back a long way: gingerbread manufacturers, medieval protected sausage recipes, and distinct local beer styles.
Read more
On top of that, Nuremberg’s fine-dining scene is powered by the abundance of the surrounding countryside. The region is known for an unusually high concentration of Michelin-recognized restaurants for its size.
As you can guess, Nuremberg has also been called bratwurst or gingerbread capital of the World.
Restaurant terrace near Weinmarkt · Photo: CTZ – Kristof Gottling
Hermann-Oberth Rocket Museum
Take a 10 minute train ride to the small Hermann-Oberth-Raumfahrt Museum – showcasing the early history of rocketry.
Lunar rover design by Hermann Oberth