Bamberg is an old medieval city and has been residence of an archbishop for more than 1000 years. As a tourist magnet, Bamberg offers many different cultural highlights as well as a large variety of restaurants, pubs and beer gardens.

Things to do

Bamberg has more than 2400 historically important buildings listed on Bavaria's register of historic buildings (link in German only, accept the conditions of use [left radio button at bottom of text], wait for the Java applet to start, and then enter 96049 in the PLZ-field to go to the Bamberg map), so seeing them all in an evening is out of the question. The reason that Bamberg's heritage is so rich is that the city has been the seat of an archbishop for more than 1000 years and, for most of the time, was also the capital of an independent state. So significant amounts of money have been spent on its prestigious image.

The unique architecture of the old town with its cathedral, churches, and medieval buildings led to the inscription of Bamberg into the World's Cultural Heritage List of UNESCO. Bamberg is a tourist magnet with about 2 million visitors annually.

The following list is a suggestion of the most important places:

1. Bamberger Dom: consecrated on 1012 May 6, this cathedral is one of the most important romanesque buildings north of the Alps. 
2. Alte Hofhaltung: part of the old episcopal palace next to the cathedral, going back to the 11th century. Part of the 2011 three musketeers movie was filmed there. 
3. Neue Residenz: the new episcopal palace, built in the 18th century in baroque style and located opposite the cathedral.
4. Altes Rathaus: built around 1470 in gothic style with later baroque and rococo additions, this building stands on an artificial island in the middle of the Regnitz river.
5. Obere Pfarre
6. Michelsberg Monastry
7. Fischerei
8. Concordia manor
9. Böttinger-Haus
10. Regnitz, historic channel, and Luisenhain
11. Altenburg castle (nice walk, beautiful view)