Bamberg and Upper Franconia
Bavaria, Germany
Sat-Sun, October 4-5, 2025
Custom Dates Also Available
- Minimum group size of 6 people and 2-month lead time.
- Rich will be in Europe from Sept 29 – Oct 11, 2025, so possibility of scheduling an additional Bamberg Immersion during that window.
- Contact Rich to request custom dates or inquire about being added to existing groups.
Price: 2 days for $799
Likely breweries, visits, tours, and meals:
Heller-Trum (“Schlenkerla”), Spezial, Fässla, Mahr’s Bräu, Klosterbräu, Neder, Hebendanz, Weyermann Malting, and more
10% discount for Beverage Industry! Cicerones®, Certified Beer Servers, Sommeliers, WSETs, and employees of restaurants and beverage producers & wholesalers get 10% off!
Beauty, History, and Beer
Bamberg is a charming city in Upper Franconia, and is the heart and soul of one of the most important brewing traditions in the world. As a region, Upper Franconia has the highest number of breweries per capita in the world, and Bamberg itself has 9 breweries for its 70,000 people. Set among 7 hills, much of the city’s old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with narrow, winding streets flanked by half-timbered buildings, and arched bridges criss-cross the Regnitz River and its canals.
Beers with Soul: Rauchbier & Kellerbier
During a stroll through town, you’re sure to smell the sweet smell of wort and beer brewing, as well as wood smoke, both from cozy fires in fireplaces, as well as from breweries and maltsters smoking their barley malt. Bamberg is famous for the brewing of rauchbier, a type of malty lager with a deliberately smoky, savory aroma from smoked malts. (It’s a barbecue lover’s dream!)
Rustic lagers called kellerbier — smooth, bready, and unfiltered — are also a local specialty. The city and surrounding towns play host to an amazing number of quality breweries and variety of lager and weissbier styles, always with more complexity, heart, and soul than you can believe can come from just malt, hops, yeast, and water.
Special Beer Styles:
- Kellerbier, Ungespündet: fresh, bready, unfiltered lager
- Rauchbier Märzen: malty lager brewed with smoked malt
- Rauchbier Weizen: weissbier brewed with smoked malt
- Braunbier: toasty, hazelnut-colored lagers
- Franconian lagers: Bavarian lagers generally with more assertive maltiness and bitterness than elsewhere in Bavaria
- plus: lots of perfect helles, pils, hefeweizen, and a couple schwarzbiers, too
Local Dishes:
- Bamberger Zwiebelfleisch: braised beef and onions braised in local dark beer
- Schäuferla: bone-in roasted pork shoulder with crisped skin
- Bamberger Zwiebeln: seasoned-pork-stuffed roasted onions
- Gepökelte und Geräucherte Rinderzunge: pastrami-style beef tongue
- Blaue Zipfel: pork sausage, poached in a sweet-and-sour vinegar broth
- Forelle: trout, often lightly smoked over hot coals or breaded and fried
- Käsespätzle: soft wheat dumplings with melted cheese and grilled onions
- Kürbis: orange squash, made into silky soups and added to salads pastas (autumn)
- Kaiserschmarrn: rich pancake, applesauce, and ice cream dessert
Local Customs We’ll Join In On:
- drinking beers while standing in the cobblestone streets outside breweries
- drinking from earthenware steins
- drinking in tiny, single-beer breweries in the country villages
- using the fewest number of letters to order a beer: “a U!”
- drinking beer at beer garden next to beer cellars dug into the hillside
Local Non-Beer Sights We’ll See:
- Bamberg Cathedral, Michaelsberg Monastery, and the Altes Rathaus
- UNESCO World Heritage Old Town
- nearby towns with historic centers
- beautiful canals and islands
- hilltop views of town and surrounding hilly countryside
Hotel Recommendations
Functional/Budget Category:
- Hotel Central
- Best Western Hotel Bamberg
Promenadestrasse 3, Bamberg ~ Hotel Website ~ TripAdvisor
My comments: Basic hotel with breakfast. Great location, 5-min walk to the heart of the Old Town, 15-min walk to the train station.
Luitpoldstrasse 7, Bamberg ~ Hotel Website ~ TripAdvisor
Mid-Range Category:
- Altstadt-Hotel Molitor
- Hotel Bamberger Hof Bellevue
- City Hotel Bamberg
Obere Mühlbrücke 2-4, Bamberg ~ Hotel Website ~ TripAdvisor
My comments: Small, charming hotel with clean rooms, an honor bar stocked with some local beers, and an incredible location among the canal locks, bridges, and 50 feet from the amazing Klosterbräu brewery and restaurant. Elevator. 5-minute walk to the heart of the Old Town, 25-min walk to the train station.
Schönleinsplatz 4, Bamberg ~ Hotel Website ~ TripAdvisor
My comments: A somewhat grand old hotel with a Belle-Epoque vibe. Nice, spacious rooms. Elevator. 5-minute walk to the heart of the Old Town, 18-min walk to the train station.
Willy-Lessing-Strasse 20, Bamberg ~ Hotel Website ~ TripAdvisor
My comments: Basic hotel with generously sized rooms, high ceilings, and large windows, but the furnishings are a bit cheaper than they look in the photos. Great breakfast in a room-sized former bank vault. Elevator. 5-minute walk to the heart of the Altstadt, 25-min walk to the train station. 10-minute walk to the heart of the Old Town, 12-min walk to the train station.
Boutique/Historical Category:
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Boutique Hotel Little Venezia
Herrenstrasse 2, Bamberg ~ Hotel Website ~ TripAdvisor
My comments: Charming! Adorbs! Old and creaky! A stay you won’t forget, in a 500-year-old wooden building with warmth and quirkiness and uneven floors. No elevator. Because of its location near many restaurants and bars, it can be a bit noisy, so bring earplugs. In the heart of the Old Town (50 feet from the famous Schlenkerla restaurant), 25-min walk to the train station.
These hotel recommendations are based on a combo of location, online reviews, and my experiences. I’ve stayed at some, but not all, of these hotels. I don’t get any perks or discounts for referrals. You should feel free to book at any of these, but of course you’re welcome to choose other accommodations.
10% discount for Beverage Industry!
Cicerones®, Certified Beer Servers, Sommeliers, WSETs, and employees of restaurants and beverage producers & wholesalers get 10% off.
Beer Immersions are an amazing way to study and learn about beer, and they’re incredibly fun, memorable team building opportunities.