Explore Bamberg

The Old Town Hall stands on an artificial island in the Regnitz river, linking Bamberg's Berg and Insel districts by two bridges. First recorded in 1387 and rebuilt in Gothic style in the 1460s, it was remodelled in Baroque and Rococo form in the 1740s-50s, with illusionistic frescoes painted on its facade in 1755.

Schlenkerla is a historic tavern in Bamberg's old town, trading since 1405 and run by the Trum family for six generations under the name Heller-Bräu Trum. It brews Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier using a traditional open fire-kiln malting method that most breweries abandoned in the 17th century, and serves it beneath a Gothic ceiling.

Little Venice is a row of former fishermen's houses from the 17th century lining the left arm of the Regnitz river in Bamberg's old town. Their long wooden balconies were once used to dry nets and equipment, and the quarter can be seen from the opposite riverbank or on a boat tour. It hosts the Fischerstechen jousting event during the Sandkerwa festival each August.

The New Residence was built as the Bamberg prince-bishops' palace in two stages: a Renaissance wing begun in 1604, and a Baroque front wing added in 1697-1703 by architect Leonhard Dientzenhofer. It now houses the Bamberg State Library's collections, a state gallery of Old German and Baroque paintings, and a rose garden.

Bamberg Cathedral is a late Romanesque cathedral built between 1002 and 1237 on the orders of King Henry II, with four towers rising 81 metres. Inside stand the Bamberg Horseman equestrian statue, the marble tomb of Henry II and Kunigunde carved by Tilman Riemenschneider, and the only papal grave north of the Alps.

The Historical Museum Bamberg occupies the Alte Hofhaltung, the former bishop's residence next to Bamberg Cathedral, noted for its half-timbered inner courtyard. Founded in 1838 and housed here since 1938, it displays stone sculptures, handicrafts, clocks, coins, and historic astronomical instruments spanning prehistory to the present.

Michaelsberg Abbey is a former Benedictine monastery on a hilltop above Bamberg's old town, founded in 1015 by Bishop Eberhard I. Its abbey church of St. Michael, built in Romanesque and later Baroque style, closed for structural repairs in 2012 and reopened to visitors in April 2026. Former monastery buildings now house a city retirement home and a brewery museum.

The Altenburg is a medieval hill castle on the highest of Bamberg's seven hills, first recorded by 1109 with its current keep built around 1400. Restored since the early 19th century, it now houses a restaurant and a hall used for events, and overlooks the old town and the Regnitz valley.