Lorenz's Old Town

Nuremberg is Bavaria's second-largest city, with over 520,000 inhabitants. The Pegnitz divides the almost entirely walled Old Town into the Sebalder and Lorenzer sides. On the northern edge, the Imperial Castle stands, where all emperors and kings of the Holy Roman Empire temporarily resided between 1105 and 1571. Albrecht Dürer lived from 1509 until his death in 1528 in his house at the Tiergärtnertor.The city also confronts its dark history: a Documentation Center is located on the former Nazi Party Rally Grounds, and the Nuremberg Trials began in the Palace of Justice in November 1945. The Germanisches Nationalmuseum is considered the largest cultural history museum in the German-speaking world, and during Advent, the Christkindlesmarkt draws visitors.

The Sebalder Altstadt is the northern part of Nuremberg's Old Town, bounded by the city wall and Kaiserburg to the north and the Pegnitz to the south. It is named after Saint Sebaldus, whose tomb lies in St. Sebald, the city's oldest parish church. During World War II, the district was so severely destroyed by air raids that in the early post-war years it was called the 'Sebalder Steppe'. Today, many historical, partly reconstructed houses stand alongside plain buildings from the 1950s and 1960s, and over half of the stations on the Historical Mile are located on this side of the Pegnitz.You climb from Hauptmarkt up to the Castle, admire the timber-framed and sandstone ensemble around Dürer-Haus and Pilatushaus at Tiergärtnertor, and stroll through Weißgerbergasse with its cafés, bars, and small shops. Beneath your feet lie the Felsengänge, cellars, and galleries that have been carved into the sandstone since the 14th century. At Weinstadel and Henkersteg, the Old Town reveals itself from the riverside. The next subway station is Lorenzkirche (U1) on the Lorenzer side, from there you cross over the Pegnitz.

West of the Old Town lie two districts with very different characters, separated by the Pegnitz River. North of the river, St. Johannis grew up around a lazaretto first mentioned in 1234, a station for lepers. On the Johannisfriedhof, also called Rosenfriedhof due to its many roses, Albrecht Dürer and Veit Stoß are buried. In the Hesperidengärten, reconstructed Baroque gardens demonstrate how Nuremberg patricians once cultivated citrus plants here. South of the Pegnitz lies Gostenhof, first mentioned in 1311 and largely undamaged during World War II. Long notorious as the "Glass Shard Quarter," the district has acquired an an alternative image since the 1980s with pubs, initiatives, and artist studios; its acronym "GoHo" alludes to SoHo in Manhattan.Here you can stroll through old cemeteries with elaborate epitaphs, relax in the Baroque gardens, and explore Gostenhof's pubs in the evening. Composer Johann Pachelbel is buried in the Rochusfriedhof; the Memorium in the Palace of Justice on Fürther Straße commemorates the Nuremberg Trials. The U1 stops in Gostenhof at the Gostenhof and Bärenschanze stations; at Plärrer, on the border with the Old Town, lines U1, U2, and U3 intersect.

In the southeast of Nuremberg lies the former Nazi Party Rally Grounds of the NSDAP, an area spanning over 16.5 square kilometers. Most of the structures remained unfinished: The Congress Hall, whose foundation stone was laid in 1935, reached only 39 meters in height instead of the planned 68.5 meters and never received a roof. The Zeppelintribüne, designed by Albert Speer, is the only completed building on the site. Today, these monumental buildings are located within Volkspark Dutzendteich, featuring its lakes, and cycling and walking paths. The Documentation Center in the North Wing of the Congress Hall has been showing its new permanent exhibition “Nuremberg and the Nazi Party Rallies” in trial operation since May 22, 2026; the official opening is scheduled for November 4, 2026.You best start at the Documentation Center and then walk along the Große Straße and Dutzendteich lake to the Zeppelintribüne. The grandstand's facade is currently being restored, with the renovation of the entire Zeppelinfeld expected to be completed by 2030. In summer, you can rent paddle and rowboats at Dutzendteich lake. Tram lines 6 and 8, as well as buses 36, 45, 55, and 65, stop at Doku-Zentrum; however, replacement buses occasionally operate on the tram route due to construction work. You can reach Dutzendteich station with the S2 and tram lines 7 and 10.

Nuremberg is Bavaria's second-largest city. Perched on a sandstone ridge above the Old Town is the Kaiserburg (Imperial Castle), where all emperors and kings of the Holy Roman Empire temporarily resided between 1105 and 1571. The Germanisches Nationalmuseum (German National Museum) is considered the largest cultural history museum in the German-speaking world.In Bamberg, the Old Town has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1993, and in Würzburg, Balthasar Neumann's Residenz (Residence) with its Court Garden since 1981. The Romantic Road, founded in 1950 as Germany's first scenic route, leads from Würzburg via Rothenburg ob der Tauber, with its 3,360-meter-long city wall, all the way to Füssen.