Where brewing beer is still a craft

Bicycle parking and toilets are available.

This tour is all about beer. Your abstinence is required here so that you can make it to the end without any accidents. But without excessive tasting, it can get interesting, because the breweries along the way produce the barley juice for serving in their own rustic pubs and beer gardens. And they do so with a variety of flavours that only craftsmanship can produce. The beer is accompanied by typical Franconian dishes and hearty snacks. Because of this diversity of flavours, Bad Staffelstein was named one of 100 places of enjoyment in the whole of Bavaria. So above all, enjoy the whimsical atmosphere.

First, you have about a one-kilometre walk ahead of you from the station to the bike rental. First you follow Bahnhofstraße into the town centre, then a green corridor along the Lauterbach to Bamberger Straße. Now it is only a few steps to Angerstraße.

The bike shop is located just a few steps away from the tourist information office in the old fire station. Whether you want to be sporty or take a leisurely bike tour, you will find the right rental bike here.

After picking up the rental bike, ride a few metres back to Horsdorfer Straße. From the Hopenmühle, you have a cycle path at your disposal. Now follow the "Five Breweries Tour". The pretty half-timbered village of Horsdorf is a district of Bad Staffelstein. Situated below the Staffelberg, always along the Lauterbach stream flowing through the village. The village is proud of having won a gold medal in the 1995 federal competition "Unser Dorf soll schöner werden" (Our village should become more beautiful), because last but not least, Horsdorf offers a special place to stop for refreshments with a romantic mill atmosphere.

The Old Mill Horsdorf is one of once 16 mills in the entire Lautergrund. Like other buildings in the village, it is a combination of stone basements and half-timbered upper floors. The half-timbered structures were built using pure carpentry techniques. The timbers were worked with an axe and joined together exclusively in pure timber joints. The old mill wheel still stands here, and trout frolic in the crystal-clear waters of the surrounding mill streams. The mill, which was first mentioned in a document in 1272, is used for gastronomy and is well worth a visit, including a tour of the mill's equipment. In the warm season, the beer garden attracts guests.

Loffeld is the next romantic village on the southern slope of the Staffelberg. The village is crossed by the Jakobsweg, the Main-Donau-Weg and the Frankenweg. In the centre of the village is the "Alte Schule" (old school). This is a striking half-timbered building dating from 1752, for which the village community has been awarded the Bavarian Medal for the Protection of Monuments.

The Staffelberg Bräu pub is a genuine Franconian inn in the finest half-timbered style. Inside, the Bräustübl has a traditional ambience. Here you can choose from genuine Franconian snacks and - depending on the season - up to 12 types of beer.

You leave Loffeld by taking the Löwentalweg to the hikers' car park and turn right there. A cycle path awaits you here for relaxed cycling to Stublang. There you leave the St2204 state road and take a look around the village.

In Stublang, the Gasthof-Brauerei Hennemann awaits guests. It has existed since 1856, the brewery has remained unchanged for over 80 years. Only ingredients from the region are used.

In addition to the drinkable Franconian lager and the popular Hefeweizen, there is also a choice of various Bock beers. Country beers such as the dark "Räucherla" and the blond "Sepperla" are added seasonally. This is served in the rustic taproom, which also features a large tiled stove for a cosy atmosphere.

Just a few metres further on in Stublang, the Gasthof Dinkel welcomes its guests. Here, too, there is its own brewery. Its speciality is rye beer. Now it is 1.6 kilometres to the neighbouring Frauendorf.

The Hetzel brewery operates in the Frauendorf district of Bad Staffelstein. The water for its beers comes from its own spring. However, it does not have a bar on site. The specialities such as Frauendorfer Landbier or Frauendorfer Naturtrüb "Ur" are available in the online shop.

Now pedal hard once more - and the end point of the brewery tour is reached. Schwabthal is characterised by tourism with a large number of hotels, inns, holiday flats and guest rooms. Here one half-timbered house follows the next. Picturesque photo motifs wherever you look. One hospitable place in Schwabthal is the country inn "Zur Scheune". It is hard to believe that this was actually a "barn" until the early 1970s, but a few things like bushels, flails and the like suggest that it was.

The Bad Staffelstein district of End is just right for the end of the tour.

The Schwarzer Adler country inn (since 1570) offers just the right ambience for an extensive rest with a tempting selection of Franconian specialities. The outside wall proudly proclaims that the brewing right for the original Franconian dark beer has existed here since 1779. Served, for example, is the beer knuckle with Franconian dumplings and sauerkraut and, before that, Franconian liver dumpling soup with baked peas.

Now the way back follows exactly the same route as the outward journey to the centre of Bad Staffelstein.
After you have returned the bicycles, you should combine the way back to the station with a stroll through the old town. Here you will once again discover numerous half-timbered houses that bear witness to the highly developed art of carpentry in Franconia.

How about visiting the town museum at the end of the tour and paying your respects to the master calculator Adam Ries? Follow Bamberger Straße to the market and turn into Bahnhofstraße. After a few metres you will be standing in front of the bronze statue of Adam Ries with one of his pupils. From there you reach Kirchgasse with the town museum.

The Bad Staffelstein town museum in the former school building from 1856 is one of the most important in Bavaria because of its range of exhibitions. Mathematics fans who want to trace the roots of arithmetic will get their money's worth here. In the city museum, an entire section is dedicated to Ries, where, among other things, historical editions of his famous arithmetic books and an abacus are on display. Adam Ries played a significant role in the fact that Roman numerals are no longer used for arithmetic today, but the much more practical Arabic numerals. But friends of geology and archaeology can also make interesting discoveries here in the extensive fossil and mineral exhibition. After all, human life can be traced back eleven millennia in the region.

On the way to the station, you will pass the Catholic parish church of St. Kilian. The church, built in 1485, is the oldest building in Bad Staffelstein. Historians assume that the predecessor building even dates back to Charlemagne. The tour ends again at Bad Staffelstein railway station.