Bavaria · Self-guided walk
Nuremberg in one walk 8 sights, 45 minutes
A self-guided walking tour of the Nuremberg Old Town: 8 sights on one 3.0 km loop, about 45 minutes on foot, back where you started.
No two days to spare? Here is the short version: the big sights in one loop. I would take longer. I always take longer.
At a glance
The walk in numbers.
- Distance
- 3.0 km, a loop
- Time
- about 45 minutes of walking at 4 km/h, plus however long you stop
- Sights
- 8
- Start and finish
- Weißer Turm
- Steps
- on Untere Schmiedgasse, Albrecht-Dürer-Platz, Rathausplatz
- Cost
- free: no guide, no booking, no tip
The route
Map of the Nuremberg walk: 8 stops, one loop.
The gold line is the walk. The numbers are the stops, in the order you reach them. The pale lines are every other street in the Old Town.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
The stops
8 sights in Nuremberg, in walking order.
Each stop says how far the next one is and which streets take you there.
1. Weißer Turm
the start
Five of the long streets on this half of town bend in and meet at this one point. Stand at its foot and look back down them. The whole plan of the southern half is aimed right here, which is a lot of planning for one lump of masonry to carry.
Next: Maxbrücke, 450 m, about 7 min, along Ludwigsplatz, Josephsplatz, Hutergasse, Unschlittplatz, Maxbrücke.
2. Maxbrücke
about 7 minutes of walking from the start
In the western stretch of the river, not long before it leaves the walls. Stop halfway over and face upstream: a roofed wooden footbridge, a tower standing right in the water, and a long half-timbered house along the bank. Chances are you have seen that picture on a postcard. The bridge you are standing on to take it, I am saving for when you get there.
Next: Albrecht-Dürer-Haus, 510 m, about 8 min, along Maxplatz, Karlstraße, Albrecht-Dürer-Straße.
3. Albrecht-Dürer-Haus
about 14 minutes of walking from the start
It stands at the top of the town, on the little square just inside the old gate, and it is twice the size of anything else standing there. Sandstone below, wood above, and a roof you could store a winter in. Cross the square and look back from the far corner. From underneath you cannot see the half of it.
Next: Kaiserburg, 350 m, about 5 min, along Am Ölberg, Burg.
Lunch break
Wirtshaus Hütt'n, Bergstraße 20, about 50 m off the route, open Mon 11:00–24:00, Wed–Sun 11:00–24:00, Tue closed.
Wood on every side and Franconian home cooking on the plate, the plain kind, at prices a city magazine called fair. More on what to eat in Nuremberg.
4. Kaiserburg
about 20 minutes of walking from the start · inside open Mon–Sun 09:00–18:00
Everything on this side of the river tilts towards it. Take Burgstraße up and do not stop: it is the straight way to the top, and it gets no gentler on the way. The last stretch is a real climb, and there is no version of this walk where it is not.
Next: St. Sebald, 410 m, about 6 min, along Burg, Am Ölberg, Untere Schmiedgasse, Albrecht-Dürer-Platz.
5. St. Sebald
about 26 minutes of walking from the start · inside open Mon–Sun 09:30–18:00
Go round to the east end. The roof over the choir is far steeper and far higher than the roof over the rest, so from down by the river it reads as a second building standing behind the first. A hundred years later they did the same trick on the far bank. Two steep roofs, one river between them.
Next: Schöner Brunnen, 200 m, about 3 min, along Rathausplatz, Hauptmarkt.
6. Schöner Brunnen
about 29 minutes of walking from the start · inside open Mon–Sun 00:00–24:00
The tallest thing on the big square, and the only one standing on its own. Gilded stone stacked upward until it runs out, shaped like a spire that mislaid its church. Go right round the back of it. It was made to be read from all sides, and most visitors only ever see one.
Next: Frauenkirche, 80 m, about 1 min.
7. Frauenkirche
about 30 minutes of walking from the start
Be standing in front of it at noon. Something up on the gable starts moving, it lasts a couple of minutes, and then it is over for the day. I am not telling you what. Get there early and take the middle of the square, because everyone else works that out too late.
Next: St. Lorenz, 390 m, about 6 min, along Plobenhofstraße, Museumsbrücke, Königstraße.
8. St. Lorenz
about 36 minutes of walking from the start
Do not come at it sideways. Walk up Karolinenstraße instead and keep your eyes ahead: the street was planned with this west front as the thing at the far end of it, and it works. Then go and stand under the doorway, close enough that you have to tip your head right back.
Back to the start: Weißer Turm, 570 m, about 9 min, along Brunnengasse, Breite Gasse.
Every stop counts from the street; the hours are for going inside. Opening hours from OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors. Check before you go.
After the walk
The rest of Nuremberg.
This loop is 8 sights. The Old Town is 217 streets, and I have opinions about all of them. Every street of the Nuremberg Old Town, with what to eat and where.
Cobble Gobble is a walking game for iPhone: every street is a line of dots you collect by walking it, and the phone stays in your pocket. Your first city is free.