From Bamberg to Bad Staffelstein

From Bamberg's main railway station, take Ludwigstraße and Kunigundenruhstraße to Steinweg. Just before St Gangolf's Church you will find Fahrradhaus Griesmann, which will be happy to provide you with a bike.

There are 762 bicycle parking spaces in the immediate vicinity of Bamberg railway station. 330 of these are chargeable cycle stations.

With the DB Rad+ app, kilometres cycled in the participating cities can be collected and then exchanged for discounts or rewards with exclusive partners.

From Bamberg's main railway station, take Ludwigstraße and Kunigundenruhstraße to Steinweg. Just before St Gangolf's Church you will find Fahrradhaus Griesmann, which will be happy to provide you with a bike.

Fahrradhaus Griesmann is the bike hire shop for Bamberg and the surrounding area.
Physiologically customised and suitable for the challenges of the route, cyclists will find what they need here, whether e-bike or touring bike. So the planned tour can be ridden in a relaxed manner.

It is advisable to register your requirements before you start your journey and tour, so that you can really get started with the hire as soon as you arrive.

The bike 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: Hire is only possible from Tuesday to Saturday during business hours!

Rental 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 north-west past the main cemetery and through allotments along the Seebach towards Hallstadt. You pass the Aufseßhöflein and continue in the direction of Dörfleins. You cross the Mühlbach, come very close to the Main and discover the first of the many sculptures on today's tour near the Mainschlösschen am Gründleinsbach: "The Nymph of the river" by Gheorghi Filin.

In the summer of 2014, twelve artists from five European countries came together in Hallstadt. Inspired by the many rivers and streams in the region, they carved figures and faces out of large blocks of sandstone 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 trail that crosses district borders.

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

You cycle on, leave the banks of the Main in Kemmern and head towards Breitengüßbach. The extensive lake landscape, which was created in the north-west of Breitengüßbach as a result of gravel extraction, is the location for the third sculpture. It was created by Rosa Brunner and is called "Archaika".

Continuing northwards, you soon reach Rattelsdorf and the Obere Mühle, 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 blocks with half-timbered outbuildings. The huge historic mill wheel still works. The beer garden in the Upper Mill is open from May to August and offers shade, snacks and regional beer.

A short detour northwards along the Itz leads you to the fourth sculpture: "The Itz" by Frantisek Vitec. You cycle back to the Main via Ebing and upstream, where sculpture number five awaits 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 route. Fancy a break in the middle of the picturesque Main valley? Then the cosy Wirtshaus Wölf 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 cold Reckenbier on tap or wines from Oberschwarzach (Dorfstraße 21, 96250 Ebensfeld, Tel: 09547446, closed on Mon and Tue).

You cross the Main and cycle - 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 see 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 just before the Main bridge and head to Bad Staffelstein. Completely different sculptures await you in the spa gardens there - let yourself be surprised!

Bad Staffelstein's spa gardens are entirely dedicated to health and culture. At the heart of the spacious grounds, healing brine is atomised in the double-winged graduation tower. With its humidity and salt content, the air all around resembles fresh sea air.

Near the graduation towers, eight life-size bronze female figures by Franconian sculptor Wilhelm Uhlig have been placed in the ring of sculptures, showcasing his work for over six decades.

The Millenium lake stage offers impressive open-air events, music, theatre and musical performances and has seating for 1000 people. The quaint little Brückentheater, which attracts audiences with the Franconian Theatre Summer, is quite different.
From the Monoopteros pillar temple, which was erected at the highest point of the spa gardens, the view sweeps over the towers of the town, Banz Abbey, 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. The train back to Bamberg is just a few stops away on the regional train. The very fit can bring their hire bike back under muscle power and enjoy the route in the opposite direction. If you want to recharge your batteries, you can stop off south of the spa gardens at the Salzstube "Am Kurpark" for lovers of hearty German cuisine (Oberauer Str. 6, 96231 Bad Staffelstein).