A few months ago, we received an invitation from the Nuremberg tourism board to come and tour the city and the area. It turns out there are now direct flights from Tel Aviv to Nuremberg, a somewhat unknown destination to the Israeli crowd.
After reading about the city and the surrounding area and seeing pictures of it, we decided it was a destination worth visiting and exploring.
Due to tight schedules on both our and the office of tourism’s parts, we ended up visiting for only 4 days. Since there were a ton of things we wanted to get done in Nuremberg and around it, we decided to construct a plan full of activity. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but we decided it was worth a try! I’ll tell you straight away that we managed to meet all of our objectives and even managed some things beyond the original plan ?
Information about Nuremberg
The name Nuremberg immediately takes us back to the Nuremberg laws and the holocaust, but we chose to visit it as we have other cities in Germany and Poland, as part of a memory of what was as well as a way to go on and keep living the present. Some can’t connect to that feeling and find it hard to visit these countries, which is understandable, but if you choose to visit Germany, Nuremberg and its surroundings will be a wonderful surprise for you.
Nuremberg is a modern city with many good cafés, local bars and good restaurants. You’ll find street food stalls and one of the foods I fell in love with: Nuremberg wursts (Small, delicious sausages). It has many unique museums like a vehicle museum with mostly trains and a toy museum. There are also many festivals and fairs and one of the famous Christmas markets in the world, running for 400 years. It has fascinating tours and a fun, jovial atmosphere. Nuremberg is close to Franconian Switzerland, about an hour’s drive away (A stunning area to travel with many beer breweries).
How to reach Nuremberg?
We came to Nuremberg on a direct flight with the Germania Airlines company. This is a regular flight rather than a low cost, and so includes a suitcase per person and an airplane meal. So fun. We were already accustomed to flying low cost, so for us this was an upgrade. You can find cheap prices for a flight, around 180 dollars, if you book tickets a long time in advance – For example, for May 2019 (It’s now October 2018). On the flight our seats were upgraded to seats with more leg room (We’re both tall, especially Roman) and we also received a coupon for a free alcoholic drink on the plane. The leg room and the wine were a great start for our trip.
Renting a car
A car isn’t required in Nuremberg (The city has very comfortable public transport, and like every big city, parking is an issue), but we decided to rent a car since after Nuremberg we were planning to continue to the Franconian Switzerlnd area, which requires a car. We rented a car through the Papam Papam website, from Europecar company. We got a brand-new vehicle and the service was great as well.
Where to stay in Nuremberg?
We got to sleep in Melter hotel and apartments. A 4-star hotel in a central location. We parked our car at the nearby parking lot (A 5-minute walk away from the hotel, costs 16 euros a day or only 10 euros a day for hotel guests). We got our apartment which had a small kitchen complete with appliances. There was a coffee machine, a stove and mini-fridge, a shower room with a nice shower and a comfortable twin bed. There is also a food table which serves well as a desk (Great for those who work while traveling, hint, we do :)). There’s a comfortable sofa and a TV.
Breakfast
Adjacent to the hotel is the restaurant Mondo where you can have a buffet breakfast at 12 euros a person. The price also includes coffee, such as cappuccino, cold coffee and more.
The meal includes cheeses and hams, breads, pancakes with berries, jams, granola, vegetables and more. Definitely a good return on investment.
There’s the option of ordering a croissant, yoghurt and coffee for 4.5 euros for those not looking for a full breakfast.
The hotel’s location
The hotel’s location is excellent, right in the middle of everything. All the museums and attractions we visited were within walking distance. Moreover, the hotel is surrounded by shops, food stalls, restaurants, cafés and of course bars. We went out to two bars, 3 minutes away from the hotel.
A bit more about the hotel
Service at the hotel was great and the apartment itself was very clean and pleasant. Oh, and the Wi-Fi was excellent. The hotel is new and only opened two years ago, however, even before arriving we’ve seen great reviews for it, so I’m glad we got to stay there.
Hotel price comparison and additional reviews.
VAT refund at the airport
On most trips we don’t get to shop, since we usually only bring a trolley, but this time we had a large suitcase and decided to use it to buy some clothes for our winter trips. We visited good travel shops and the items were priced accordingly, however they were still cheaper than back home. It’s important to remember and ask them for a VAT refund form for the airport, otherwise you won’t be able to get a refund.
At the airport on the first floor you should turn left and continue straight to the end. At the end you’ll see the lost and found station, and next to it is the VAT station where you can get your forms signed. Since our flight was at 6am, we couldn’t visit the VAT station itself afterwards to get our money back (Only opens at 10am), in which case you should send the signed forms by mail to the Global blue company.
Arrival from the airport to the city center
We used the car we rented out, but if you aren’t renting the easiest option is to take the subway (U2 metro), which takes you all the way to the central station in the old town within 12 minutes. I recommend checking google maps, since you might want to get off at the central station and continue on foot or switch to another metro to a station closer to your hotel.
48-hour Nuremberg card
If you want to visit museums and explore the city a lot, I recommend purchasing the Nuremberg card. It’s a 48-card which allows you free entrance to all the museums and many other attractions, as well as free public transportation. The card costs 28 euros per person, for two days, which is a great value if you do end up visiting many attractions and using public transport (Link for purchasing the card and more information). The card can be preordered and collected at the info desk at the airport or the tourist information stations around town.
Things to do in Nuremberg
We visited the train museum, the toy museum, did a tour of cellars which once served as a beer brewery, a tour of the city itself, a visit to the castle and its gardens, watched a short show of a 50m deep well, shopping, street food, souvenir and food stall fair, a visit to the Nazi party museum, spent time at local bars and more. Everything we did and a recommended itinerary can be found in the post about a 3-day itinerary of Nuremberg.
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