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Nuremberg · Franconia, Bavaria

An honest guide to Nuremberg

Most of this city is free to walk into — the old town, the castle courtyard, the rally grounds. This guide tells you which handful of things are genuinely worth booking, and what everything else actually costs.

Start with what to seeWhat a day costs

Written in Nuremberg by a state-certified city guide. Prices and opening hours checked August 2026.

Photo: Janericloebe, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons

Free
Old town, castle courtyard, rally grounds
25 min
To walk the old town end to end
EUR 55
A careful day here, all in
27 Nov
Christkindlesmarkt opens, 2026

What Nuremberg is, and what it is not

Nuremberg is two cities that happen to share a tram network. There is the medieval one — a walled old town of sandstone and half-timber under a castle, rebuilt with great care after 1945, small enough to cross on foot in twenty-five minutes. And there is the twentieth-century one: the parade grounds in the south-east, and the courtroom in the west where the Nazi leadership was tried. Most visitors come for one and stay for the other.

Almost none of it is gated. You do not buy a ticket to the old town, the city wall, the Hauptmarkt or the castle courtyard. The rally grounds have no entrance, no staff and no closing time. The Christmas market is free to walk into. The things that cost money here are museums, food, and a bed — and in December, mostly the bed.

So this guide is organised around a question that is more useful than “what are the top ten sights”: which of these places make sense on your own, and which are worth having somebody explain to you. The answer differs by site, and we give it site by site rather than recommending a tour of everything.

The four things people come for

Each of these is free to reach and free to stand in. The differences are what a ticket, or a guide, adds once you are there.

The Kaiserburg and the old town

The Kaiserburg and the old town

The castle sits on the sandstone ridge at the top of the walled town, and the climb to it is the walk most people remember. Courtyard, ramparts and gardens are free; the Palas rooms, the Deep Well and the Sinwell Tower are the ticketed part, bought at the desk on the day.

Tickets, hours and whether to bother ›
The Nazi party rally grounds

The Nazi party rally grounds

Four square kilometres of public parkland in the south-east, fifteen minutes out on tram 8. The grandstand, the unfinished Congress Hall and the parade road are all still there, all open, and all unexplained — the Documentation Centre is what makes the rest of it legible.

What is left and how to walk it ›
The Christkindlesmarkt

The Christkindlesmarkt

Nearly two hundred stalls on the Hauptmarkt from 27 November to 24 December 2026, daily from 10am to 9pm, free to walk into. Weekday mornings are a different event from Saturday evenings, and the difference is worth planning around.

Dates, hours and the honest version ›
Franconian food, which is its own cuisine

Franconian food, which is its own cuisine

Three finger-sized bratwurst in a roll from a street window, Schäufele with a dumpling, Lebkuchen that is a protected name rather than a flavour, and a red beer you will not find much outside Franconia.

Six things worth eating here ›

Start here

The six pages that answer most of what people arrive wanting to know.

Things to do in Nuremberg
Orientation

Things to do in Nuremberg

What is worth your time, ranked honestly, with the ones you can skip marked as such.

Is Nuremberg worth visiting?
The blunt question

Is Nuremberg worth visiting?

Yes, with one caveat about what you are coming for. A straight answer rather than a brochure.

Courtroom 600
The trials

Courtroom 600

You can stand in the room. Hours, admission, and why the advice you have read elsewhere is out of date.

Documentation Centre
The museum

Documentation Centre

Reopened in 2026 with an entirely new permanent exhibition. Not the museum the guidebooks describe.

One day in Nuremberg
On foot

One day in Nuremberg

Two itineraries: one for the medieval city, one that gets you out to the grounds. They do not combine well.

Trains, flights and the Hauptbahnhof
Getting here

Trains, flights and the Hauptbahnhof

Munich in an hour, Frankfurt in two, and an airport twelve minutes from the old town by U-Bahn.

Plan the practical part

The unglamorous questions, answered with numbers rather than adjectives — what it costs, when to come, where to sleep, and how to get here.

See the two-day plan

The few tours that are actually worth it

You can do most of Nuremberg yourself, for nothing, and this site will keep telling you so. But three kinds of place here are much better with a guide, and one of them is genuinely hard to understand without one.

Where a guide changes the experience

The rally grounds, because open parkland with almost no interpretation stays a field until somebody tells you what happened on it. The underground, because the cellars, the art bunker and the wall tunnels are locked and can only be entered with a guide. And the old town, if you would rather be told the story than read it off a plaque — that one is a preference, not a necessity, and it is fine to skip.

Nuremberg Rally Grounds and Old Town Walking Tour in EnglishRally grounds + Old Town

Nuremberg Rally Grounds and Old Town Walking Tour in English

★ 4.8 · 426 reviews
from €37 / person
Check availability
Nuremberg: Historischer Kunstbunker WWII Art Bunker TourWWII art bunker

Nuremberg: Historischer Kunstbunker WWII Art Bunker Tour

★ 4.8 · 1,031 reviews
from €12 / person
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Nuremberg: Historic Rock Passages TourRock-cut cellars

Nuremberg: Historic Rock Passages Tour

★ 4.8 · 273 reviews
from €16 / person
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Nuremberg: Old Town Public Guided Walking TourDaily departure

Nuremberg: Old Town Public Guided Walking Tour

★ 4.6 · 2,673 reviews
from €16 / person
Check availability
Nuremberg: Castle and Old Town Tour – incl. Admission tickets and a sample of RotbierCastle entry included

Nuremberg: Castle and Old Town Tour – incl. Admission tickets and a sample of Rotbier

★ 4.9 · 86 reviews
from €69 / person
Check availability
Nuremberg: WWII Tour, Courtroom 600 and 3rd Reich SitesCourtroom 600

Nuremberg: WWII Tour, Courtroom 600 and 3rd Reich Sites

★ 4.6 · 119 reviews
from €125 / person
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What most visitors here book

Ordered by how many people have actually taken them, not by what pays best. The tunnels and the dungeons are top because they are cheap, short and genuinely cannot be done alone.

Nuremberg: Tunnels and Secret Passages in the City Wall Tour★ 4.8 / 5 · 2,937 reviewsfrom €12 / personBookNuremberg: Medieval Dungeons Guided Tour★ 4.8 / 5 · 2,432 reviewsfrom €10 / personBookNuremberg: Old Town Public Guided Walking Tour★ 4.6 / 5 · 2,673 reviewsfrom €16 / personBookNuremberg: Free Walking Tour★ 4.8 / 5 · 437 reviewsfrom €3 / personBook

Check dates for the city-wall tunnels

The most-booked tour in Nuremberg, and the clearest case for booking one at all: the tunnels under the wall are locked, and a guided slot is the only way in. Around an hour, and it runs all year.

Check availability & book
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure on most tours — book now, decide later.

Can’t make these dates?

Browse more tours and activities in Nuremberg and find one that fits your schedule — all with instant confirmation and free cancellation.

Browse More Available Options

Nuremberg, photographed

Six real photographs of places on this site, by the people who took them. Click any of them to see it full size.

St Lorenz church from the east, its tall gothic choir standing in front of the twin west towers
St Lorenz church from the east, its tall gothic choir standing in front of the twin west towers Chris06, CC BY-SA 4.0
The Schöner Brunnen, the gilded gothic fountain spire on the Hauptmarkt
The Schöner Brunnen, the gilded gothic fountain spire on the Hauptmarkt W. Bulach, CC BY-SA 4.0
The Handwerkerhof craft courtyard inside the Frauentor gate tower
The Handwerkerhof craft courtyard inside the Frauentor gate tower Andreas Praefcke, CC BY 3.0
A stretch of the medieval city wall and its dry moat
A stretch of the medieval city wall and its dry moat Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 3.0
Steep red rooftops of the Sebald quarter seen from above
Steep red rooftops of the Sebald quarter seen from above Fred Romero, CC BY 2.0
The Museumsbrücke over the river Pegnitz in the middle of the old town
The Museumsbrücke over the river Pegnitz in the middle of the old town Kayron TB, CC0

Quick answers

The things people ask before they have decided to come.

Do you need a ticket for the Christmas market?

No. The Christkindlesmarkt is free to walk into on every day it is open. There is no gate and no entry fee — you pay only for what you eat, drink and buy. More on this.

Is one day enough for Nuremberg?

For the walled old town, yes — it is twenty-five minutes across. For the old town and the rally grounds and Courtroom 600, no; those are in opposite directions and want a second day. Two itineraries.

Can you visit the rally grounds on your own?

Yes. They are open parkland, free, unstaffed and accessible at any hour, fifteen minutes out on tram 8. The reason to take a guide is comprehension, not access. How to visit.

Is Nuremberg cheaper than Munich?

Considerably, on beds and on restaurants, and it is one of the better value large cities in Germany. December is the exception, when hotel rates roughly double. A day, priced.

Do you book the castle in advance?

You cannot — there is no online sale. It is a Bavarian state museum with a ticket desk in the outer courtyard and no timed entry. Prices and hours.

How far is Munich from Nuremberg?

About an hour by ICE, and there are trains most of the day. Frankfurt is around two hours, including from the airport station. Times and fares.

Frequently asked questions

Is Nuremberg worth visiting?

Yes, and for two quite different reasons that happen to sit in the same city. The walled old town is one of the most completely restored medieval centres in Germany and is small enough to see properly in a day. The twentieth-century sites — the rally grounds and Courtroom 600 — are among the most significant places of their kind anywhere, and they are presented soberly rather than as spectacle. Come for one and you will probably stay for the other. See the longer answer.

How many days do you need in Nuremberg?

Two is the honest number. One day covers the old town, the castle and the market square comfortably. The rally grounds are fifteen minutes south-east by tram and want two to three hours on foot; Courtroom 600 is in the opposite direction and wants another two. Trying to do all of it in a single day means rushing the part that deserves it least. The two-day split.

Is the Nuremberg Christmas market free?

Yes. The Christkindlesmarkt on the Hauptmarkt has no gate, no ticket and no admission charge, and runs from 27 November to 24 December 2026, daily from 10am to 9pm (Christmas Eve, 10am to 2pm). Around a thousand people a month search for tickets to it; there are none to buy. What is sold are guided tastings and tours that visit it. Why the confusion exists.

Do you need a guide for the Nazi party rally grounds?

You do not need one to get in — the grounds are free, unstaffed and open at all hours. But this is the one site in Nuremberg where a guide changes the visit rather than decorating it. There is very little on-site interpretation, and without it the Zeppelin grandstand reads as a derelict stand and the parade road as a wide path. The Documentation Centre does much of the same work for the price of a museum ticket. Guided options compared.

Can you go inside Courtroom 600?

Yes. The room is part of the Memorium Nuremberg Trials, a city museum in the Palace of Justice, and it is open on ordinary museum hours; adult admission is EUR 7.50 and it closes on Tuesdays. The widely repeated advice that it shuts whenever the court is sitting has been out of date since March 2020, when the room stopped being used for trials. Getting there.

Is the Nürnberg Card worth buying?

Only if you are museum-heavy and travelling out of the centre. It is a 48-hour pass covering around thirty museums plus transport in Nuremberg, Fürth and Stein — but the old town is walkable end to end in twenty-five minutes, so many visitors never use the transport half and the card loses. The arithmetic, including the cases where it fails, is set out here.

What is Nuremberg famous for?

Three things, in roughly this order of how often they are searched: the Christmas market, the Nazi party rallies and the trials that followed, and the finger-sized bratwurst. Further back there is a spice-trading and toy-making history that explains both the Lebkuchen and the gingerbread guild, and Dürer, who was born and worked here. The long version.

Is Nuremberg expensive?

No, by German big-city standards. A careful day comes to about EUR 55 and a comfortable one to about EUR 100, with a bratwurst roll under EUR 5 and most city museums at EUR 7.50. The two things that break that budget are December, when hotel rates roughly double, and buying tickets you did not need. A day, priced line by line.

Still have questions? Email us [email protected]

Every page on this site

Things to do in Nuremberg›Is Nuremberg worth visiting?›Why is Nuremberg famous?›One day in Nuremberg›Two days in Nuremberg›Interactive Nuremberg map›Nuremberg Castle (Kaiserburg)›The Old Town›Underground Nuremberg — cellars and bunkers›Museums›Walking tours, compared›The Nazi Party Rally Grounds and Zeppelinfeld›The Documentation Centre›Courtroom 600 and the Nuremberg Trials›Guided tours of the Nazi-era sites, compared›The 2025 film — what you can actually visit›The Christkindlesmarkt›Do you need tickets?›Market tours and tastings›Nuremberg in December›How to get to Nuremberg›Munich to Nuremberg›Frankfurt to Nuremberg›Nuremberg Hauptbahnhof›Nuremberg Airport (NUE)›Where is Nuremberg?›What to eat in Nuremberg›Nuremberg bratwurst›Lebkuchen›Food and beer tours›The best time to visit›Where to stay›The Nuremberg Card›Is Nuremberg expensive?›Nuremberg or Munich?›Day trips from Nuremberg›Every Nuremberg tour, compared›About›Contact›Affiliate disclosure›Privacy policy›