From Bamberg to Bad Staffelstein

From the main station in Bamberg, take Ludwigstraße and Kunigundenruhstraße to Steinweg. Shortly before the church of St. Gangolf you will find the Griesmann bicycle shop, which will be happy to provide you with a bicycle.

There are 762 bicycle parking spaces in the immediate vicinity of Bamberg station. 330 of these are free bike stations.

With the DB app Rad+, you can collect kilometres cycled in the participating cities and then exchange them for discounts or rewards at exclusive partners.

From the main station in Bamberg, take Ludwigstraße and Kunigundenruhstraße to Steinweg. Shortly before the church of St. Gangolf you will find the Griesmann bicycle shop, which will be happy to provide you with a bicycle.

Fahrradhaus Griesmann is the bike rental shop for Bamberg and the surrounding area.
Physiologically tuned and suitable for the challenges of the route, the cyclist will find what he needs here, whether e-bike or touring bike. This way, the planned tour can be cycled in a relaxed manner.

It is advisable to register your needs before the start of the trip and the tour, so that the rental can really start right away upon arrival.

The bicycle rental shop offers the following selection:
City bikes for men and women with 7 gears
Trekking bikes with 24-speed derailleur gears
Electric bikes with 400 W/h
and 9-speed derailleur gears or 7-8-speed hub gears

Please note: Rental is only possible from Tuesday to Saturday during business hours!

Prices
City / Touring or Trekking bike:
12 € / day or 75,00 € / week
Electric bike:
30,00 € / day or 180,00 € / week

Fully equipped, cycle back onto Ludwigstraße and follow it northwest past the main cemetery and through allotments along the Seebach towards Hallstadt. You will pass Aufseßhöflein and continue towards Dörfleins. You cross the Mühlbach, come very close to the Main and discover the first of the many sculptures on your tour today near the Mainschlösschen on the Gründleinsbach: "The Nymph of the river" by Gheorghi Filin.

In summer 2014, twelve artists from five European countries met in Hallstadt. Inspired by the many rivers and streams in the region, they carved shapes and faces out of large sandstone blocks to give the waters a face. The twelve river face sculptures were erected in autumn 2014 on cycle paths along watercourses in the Upper Franconia region and now form the "Auenweg Obermain", a sculpture path across district borders.

Turn right and soon left again towards Kemmern into the open field. Here the Leitenbach meanders and north of its confluence with the Main you come across the second sculpture: "Fiume" by Francesco Cremoni.

You continue cycling, leaving the banks of the Main in Kemmern and heading towards Breitengüßbach. The extensive lake landscape, which was created in the northwest of Breitengüßbach by gravel mining, is the location for the third sculpture. It was created by Rosa Brunner and is called "Archaika".

Continuing north, you soon reach Rattelsdorf and the Obere Mühle (Upper Mill), also characterised by water and sandstone, with its beer garden.

The Upper Mill was built in 1845. It is a stately, two-and-a-half-storey building made of sandstone ashlars with timber-framed outbuildings. The huge historic mill wheel still works. From May to August, the beer garden in the Upper Mill is open and offers shade, snacks and regional beer.

A short detour to the north along the Itz leads you to the fourth sculpture: "Die Itz" by Frantisek Vitec. You cycle via Ebing back to the Main and upstream, where sculpture number five is waiting for you opposite Zapfendorf: "Main" by Regina Lange. The route continues between the large Angersee lake and Breitenbacher Forst forest to Unterbrunn.
You have already covered most of the way. Would you like to take a break in the middle of the picturesque Main valley? Then the cosy Wölf inn opposite in Ebensfeld is the place to go. In the Mediterranean-style beer garden you can enjoy Franconian specialities, a hearty home-made snack and cool Recken beer on tap or wines from Oberschwarzach (Dorfstraße 21, 96250 Ebensfeld, Tel: 09547446, closed on Mon and Tue).

You cross the Main and ride - with or without a stop - along the banks of the Main to the Veitsbergblick rest area to Illia Varbanov's "River". Just a little further north, you have the opportunity to look at the seventh sculpture and the last river face for today: "Flowing Movement" by Manfred Rainhard.

You leave the banks of the Main to the east, cross the Nuremberg-Erfurt high-speed railway line shortly before the Main bridge and drive to Bad Staffelstein. In the spa gardens there, completely different sculptures await you - let yourself be surprised!

Bad Staffelstein's spa park is entirely dedicated to health and culture. In the heart of the spacious grounds, healing brine is atomised in the double-winged graduation house. The air all around resembles fresh sea air with its humidity and salt content.

Near the graduation works, eight life-size bronze female figures by the Franconian sculptor Wilhelm Uhlig are set up in the ring of sculptures and show his work for over six decades.

The Millenium Lake Stage offers impressive open-air events, music, theatre and musical performances and seats 1000. Quite different is the quaint little bridge theatre, which attracts audiences with the Franconian Theatre Summer.
From the columned temple Monoopteros, built at the highest point of the spa park, the view sweeps over the towers of the town, the Banz monastery, the pilgrimage church Vierzehnheiligen and the Staffelberg. The variety of flowers in the park's rose garden is worth a closer look.

It is only a stone's throw from the spa gardens to Bad Staffelstein railway station. It's only a few stops by train back to Bamberg. The very fit bring their rental bike back with muscle power and enjoy the route again in the opposite direction. If you want to fortify yourself for this, there is another option for lovers of hearty German cuisine south of the spa gardens, in the Salzstube "Am Kurpark" (Oberauer Str. 6, 96231 Bad Staffelstein).