Travel blog - Tips to explore the world on a budget: Nuremberg

Nuremberg, Bavaria’s second-largest city on the Pegnitz River, embodies Germany’s layered past. It served as the unofficial capital of the Holy Roman Empire, hosting imperial assemblies at the Kaiserburg Castle and nurturing the Northern Renaissance art of Albrecht Dürer. In the 20th century, it gained notoriety for Nazi Party Rallies at Zeppelin Field and, after World War II, for the Nuremberg Trials, which shaped international law. The city’s 520,000 residents inhabit a meticulously reconstructed Old Town, revived after the 1945 bombings, with its half-timbered houses, Gothic churches, and medieval fortifications. Nuremberg is celebrated for its Christkindlesmarkt Christmas market, signature bratwurst, and Lebkuchen gingerbread. Free walking tours departing from Hauptmarkt or historic Nazi sites immerse visitors in the city’s vivid history—from the Imperial Castle and Dürer’s studio to the Craftsmen’s Court, Hanseatic heritage, the 1935 racial laws, wartime devastation, and the city’s modern reckoning at the Documentation Center and St. Lorenz Church.