Nuremberg, Fürth and Erlangen

There are 835 bicycle parking spaces in the immediate vicinity of the station.

From the south exit at Nuremberg main station, start along Hummelsteiner Weg until you reach Humboldtstraße. Turn left and then immediately right into Dovestraße. It is only a ten-minute walk to the bicycle rental.

At the private bike rental in Nuremberg, you can choose from a wide range of bikes: from Holland bikes to tracking bikes, from city bikes to pedelecs. The bike rental also offers a storage service for excess luggage and tours with professional and certified city guides. Rent a bike is available from 9:00 to 18:30.

You cycle back towards the railway station, through the Celtis subway and over the Schütt island into the centre of Nuremberg. You may know the main market from the world's most famous Christmas market. Today you will see the Schönen Brunnen and the Frauenkirche without Christmas decorations.

Like a Gothic church spire, the almost 20-metre-high "Schöne Brunnen" (Beautiful Fountain) rises on the edge of Nuremberg's main market square. On four levels, forty painted figures of famous models stand for what, from the point of view of the rulers, constituted the world at the time of its medieval origin. Below, philosophy and the Seven Liberal Arts - the basis of higher education in antiquity. Above, the four evangelists and some church fathers. Then the seven electors, the Nine Good Heroes of world history and finally Moses with seven prophets. The seven vices in turn and the lucky charm Adebar spout the water of the fountain.

The original of this structure dates back to the end of the 14th century. Its remains are now in the Germanic National Museum. Even then, it received an independent water supply, one of the city's early pipes, first built of wood, later of lead, and in use until the 20th century. The exact replica on display today was made of shell limestone in 1903 and survived the air raids in the Second World War under a protective concrete shell. It was extensively renovated in 2016.

Incidentally, according to legend, it brings good luck and many children to turn one of the rings in the fountain's grate. People disagree about whether it is the brass or the iron ring.

From the Hauptmark, head west across the Maxplatz down to the banks of the Pegnitz. If you want to take a breather or fortify yourself in Nuremberg, take a break at Café Schnepperschütz and enjoy a sandwich or a piece of cheesecake with a view of the Hallerwiesen meadows.

Follow the Pegnitz along the Hallerwiese and through the Pegnitzauen. At the Fuchslochsteg, you change sides of the river for a short stretch. At the Fuchslochwelle, built in 2021, you cross back over to the north bank of the Pegnitz. Can you see surfers on the standing wave today? Now it is not far to the Stadtpark Fürth.

Fürth's city park stretches along the Pegnitz and its meadows. It was created in 1951 on the occasion of a garden show on the site of the former cemetery next to the Church of the Resurrection. In the green heart of the city, walking paths and benches invite you to relax. There are duck ponds, a rose garden and a botanical school garden. In 2001, a meadow orchard was planted. For the more active, there are table tennis tables, a mini-golf course and a children's playground for the little ones.

Time and again, the Stadtpark is used for special events such as the Summer Night Film Festival, the Summer Night Ball of the Comödie Fürth, the Classic Open Air or the Apple Market in autumn. The Stadtparkcafé used to be a dairy restaurant and is now a listed building with its original paintings of the Bavarian Milk Supply on the outside façade and in the dining room.

Before you set off on your longest stage of today's tour, it is worth taking a detour into the city centre of Fürth to a fountain that is so very different from the one in Nuremberg. It is more playful than imposing, but no less beautiful.

So you cycle north through Gustavstraße, which is well worth seeing, into the city. Here, no two houses are alike, and colourful slate often covers up the half-timbering that was once frowned upon as old and rustic. Gustavstraße has been the centre of the gastronomy and pub scene since the 16th century and is a popular meeting place, especially in the evenings.

Shortly after the church of St. Michael appears on the right, turn left and pay a visit to the Gauklerbrunnen.

The Grüner Markt, where important trade routes ran, was the focal point in old Fürth. The historic facades that line it today date from the time after the almost complete destruction in the Thirty Years' War and go back to the 17th and 18th centuries.

In earlier times, Fürth's market square provided a stage for many artists who entertained their audiences here. The Franconian sculptor Harro Frey took this circumstance as the occasion for his Gauklerbrunnen, created in 2004. In the course of the elaborate redesign of the market square, he designed two groups of figures of acrobats and artists, which are connected by a water-bearing, stone channel.

You now leave Fürth and head towards Erlangen. First, take Friedhofweg and Friedhofsteg back to the north bank of the Pegnitz, which soon joins the Rednitz. You now follow it further and further to the north. On the opposite bank, the meadows of the Fürth and later the Vach storks pass by. You cycle through the Fuchswald forest, cross the Regnitz at Eltersdorf and then follow the Main-Danube Canal for a while.

If you get hungry on the way or simply fancy some Franconian cuisine, we recommend a visit to the Gasthof Ritter Sankt Georg with its rustic Franconian parlour and beer garden. You will find it after a short detour across open countryside on the banks of the Pegnitz.

Behind the Erlangen harbour basin, turn right and head back towards the Pegnitz. A pretty last section across the Erlanger Wiesengrund leads you into the city and to the last big highlight of your tour: the Schlossgarten with the Huguenot Fountain and the Botanical Garden in Erlangen.

Gasthof Ritter Sankt Georg
Herzogenauracher Damm 11, 91058 Erlangen
Tel: 09131 76650
ritter@birnbaum-hotels.de
www.gasthof-ritter-st-georg.de/
Mon to Sat 11 a.m. - 11 p.m., Sun: 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.

The palace garden and the botanical garden border directly on each other in Erlangen.

Margrave Christian Ernst of Brandenburg-Bayreuth gave the newly built Erlangen Palace to his wife Margravine Elisabeth Sophie in 1704, just one year after their wedding. It was presumably at her insistence that one of the first Baroque gardens in Franconia was created, measuring 280 by 550 metres, instead of the small garden originally planned.

In 1706, the Bayreuth court sculptor Elias Räntz created the Huguenot Fountain. A conical rocky hill with three levels rises from a large, oval fountain basin. At the bottom are the Huguenot families, then the ancient deities and at the top the Margrave himself.

The garden has been open to the public since 1849. After the Second World War, the municipal garden department took over the maintenance of the castle garden and replanted numerous oaks and lime trees in the 1970s. Every year, the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg holds the largest garden festival in Europe here, the Schlossgartenfest.

The Botanical Garden to the north also belongs to the university. It was moved here from its original location in front of the Nürnberger Tor in 1826 and today, together with the Aroma Garden in the Palmsanlage, houses the university's only living collections. About 7,000 different plants - both native and exotic from different regions, from the arctic tundra to the tropical rainforest - are cultivated here according to scientific principles. The goal: to research and preserve the world's plant diversity.

If you feel like it, take a stroll through the pretty city centre of Erlangen before heading to the nearby train station. If this excursion seemed too short and you want more, you can of course also take the Regnitz cycle path upstream and cycle back south to Nuremberg.