Bamberg is known as the Venice of Germany and it’s easy to see why. A river winds through buildings as quaint as a fairytale, and the bridges connecting the town provided an energizing reprieve from jet lag.

We were most curious to try Bamberg’s famous Rauch beer, which is beer that has been smoked. Sounds strange in theory, but my dad kept saying it was the best beer in the entire world. If this place isn’t on your bucket list for beer tourism, you should add it now!

What to Do

• Altes Rathaus. The most iconic landmark of Bamberg is set between bridges and a flowing river. The old part of the building sits over the water while the newer part is covered in gorgeous frescos. Several locals sat along the bridge walls to enjoy ice cream or met here to drink a few beers. Something I’ll always refer to as “botellón” having lived in Spain. Altes Rathaus is the botellón spot!
• Schlenkerla, die historische Rauchbierbrauerei. Aka— the historic place to get smoked beer. This brewery has been around since 1405! Even though it was 75 degrees outside, the inside of this brewery transported me to a warm, cozy winter getaway. You’ll know you’re here when you see a crowd of people drinking dark beer out front. Head inside, grab a rauch beer, and drink it wherever you want! The red tokens will get your glass deposit back. What is smoked beer like? To me it was kind of like lager mixed with crispy bacon. Very hard to explain, but also very unique and delicious.
• Kachelofen. This place was hopping with locals at dinner time. We stopped in for a beer and admired all of the old photos and trinkets covering the bar walls. Not a huge fan of the doll house after binge watching Sharp Objects lol. Wish we ate here but there is only so much you can try while jet lagged.
• Brauerei Spezial. My favorite spot! On the newer side… if you count year 1536 as new. We were the only non-German-speaking people in the entire brewery. It’s a local haunt where everyone plays cards over smoked beer. The game is schafkopf, which translates to sheep’s head. We didn’t play but sat at a table with 4 guys betting over a few euros. They helped us order from the all German menu and we chowed down on some schnitzel and pork medallions in a brown butter jus. Heavenly is an understatement.

My biggest advice is to wander the streets and see where you end up, as this is the perfect town to do just that.

Getting There

There are several direct trains daily from Munich. We stopped through Nuremberg on the way and our train was headed to Berlin and onwards to Hamburg. Amazing how connected this country is via rail! We waited until the day of to get train tickets (69 Euro one way) in case our flight was delayed into Munich or customs/immigration took too long. Which it did.

Where to stay

I’ve always filtered for “full apartment” on Airbnb, but I’m glad we made an exception to get a room in Dr. Beeke’s gorgeous flat. The view in the photo below is from the kitchen! When we arrived back, we chatted with our host and her daughter about life and unanswered questions on Franconian geography over local wine.

There are several hotels in the area that are affordable. No major American chains that I could see though, which added to the overall charm of this town.

I hope all of you can make time for a quick getaway to this Franconian gem!