By Porter Lang
Seven hills, each with a church on top. That is how Bamberg gets compared with Rome, according to Wikipedia, which lists the hills as Cathedral Hill, Michaelsberg, Kaulberg, Stefansberg, Jakobsberg, Altenburg Hill and Abtsberg.
The old town was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993. The listing covers 142 hectares, with a buffer zone of 444. Wikipedia gives Bamberg’s population as 77,150 at the end of 2024, and notes that it stood at 17,000 in 1818, 31,521 in 1885 and 45,308 in 1905.
Emperor and cathedral
Emperor Henry II, who lived from 973 to 1024, established the Diocese of Bamberg in 1007 and ordered the cathedral built, Wikipedia says. He and his wife Cunigunde are buried there. The same article gives further dates for the cathedral that we could not confirm against a second source, so we are leaving them out. If a date matters to you, check it with the cathedral’s own information.
The town hall in the river
The Old Town Hall, dated by Wikipedia to 1386, sits on an island in the Regnitz and is reached by two bridges. Nearby, the 19th-century fishermen’s houses along the river are known as Klein-Venedig, Little Venice.
Gardeners and beer
Bamberg has a gardening past as well as a brewing one. Wikipedia says urban market gardening has been practised since medieval times and forms part of the World Heritage designation.
And then the beer. Wikipedia says the city has 11 breweries, that the region contains over 200 breweries in total, and that the city is known for its smoked Rauchbier.
Schlenkerla
One brewery tavern is the standard stop. Wikipedia says Schlenkerla has been in operation since 1405, when the building was a pub called Zum Blauen Löwen, the Blue Lion. Its legal name is HellerBräu Trum KG, and the Trum family has run it for six generations. The tavern has a Gothic ceiling called the Dominikanerklause and sits in the old town. The name, Wikipedia says, is Franconian dialect for something like dangling, reportedly from a brewer with a hobbling gait whose image appears on the bottle.
The brewery’s own page says an estate with a brewer is documented as early as 1387, and gives the 1405 date for the “house of the blue lion”. It also describes how the beer is made. Beechwood logs are burned at the brewery’s maltings, and the smoke penetrates the malt and gives the beer its smoky flavour. It describes copper kettles, decoction mashing, separate fermentation and lagering, and maturing in cellars cut into rock in the fourteenth century. It calls the beer a dark, bottom-fermented lager of 5.1 per cent alcohol, served in half-litre portions it calls Seidla, and says it is one of only two traditional producers of this kind worldwide, with Spezial the other. That last point is a brewery claim, and we have not checked it independently.
The brewery lists opening times of 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. daily, with the kitchen from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Hours change, so confirm before you travel.
How to walk it
Start on the island, with the town hall and the river. Cross to Little Venice. Climb a hill, any hill, and count the churches. Come down for beer, and ask the person at the bar what makes the smoke taste the way it does. With over 200 breweries in the region, according to Wikipedia, there is plenty more to try, and the local tourist office will be a better guide to them than we are.
Buying
We are not recommending any purchase here. Look, taste, ask questions, and write down what you learn. If a maker in Bamberg later joins our list, it will be because we have sourced them.
Roam first. Shop later.