Highlights of the Franconian Forest (Frankenwald)

Tourist Routes

The Franconian Forest is almost a junction of tourist routes. Coming from all directions, they cross the country along themes such as bier and castles, porcelain, or shale. Special attention should be given the Beer and Castle Route ("Bier- und Burgenstraße") which once originated in the Franconian Forest.

• Bier- und Burgenstraße (Beer and Castle Route - information in German only)
• Porzellanstraße (Porcelain Route)
• Burgenstraße (Castle Route)
• Thüringisch-Fränkische Schieferstraße (Thuringia-Franconian Shale Route - information in German only)
• Bierland Oberfranken (Beer Country Upper Franconia)
• Panoramastraße (Panorama Route - informatin in German only)
• Frankenwaldhochstraße (Franconian Forest - Upper Route)
• Saale-Radwanderweg (Saale River - biking and hiking trail)

There is a lot to see on those tourist routes - one of many highlights is "Naila Hell" on the Panorama Route. According to legend, the Hell Valley ("Höllental") owes its name to a scary encounter between the devil and a charburner whom the devil was there to take. Yet the char burner defended himself by crossing himself three times, and calling to Jesus, Maria, and Joseph. Enraged, the devil stomped on the ground, opening a canyon in which he disappeared in a cloud of rocks, fog, and the smell of brimstone. Thus the name "Hell Valley" was born.

Three separate nature-experience routs guide visitors through Hell Valley, themed Water, Forest, and Geology.

On the Road - from Culture to Beer Culture on "Bavaria's Green Crown", or the Beer and Castle Route

The Beer and Castle Route - which crosses Germany as Route B 85 over 500 kilometers - is not just one of many tourist routes with a catchy theme. It rather mirrors the compatibility of Culture and Folksiness, and also the growing together of the two formerly separated German countries into a true union.

What is today called Beer and Castle Route, covering 500 kilometers between Passau and Kyffhaeuser, was thought up in 1977 by the pub owner Günter Limmer of Kulmbach. "Beer" and "Castles" were to be connected to attract tourists. Therefore the core of the 100-member strong Beer and Castle Route can be found in the Franconian Forest between Lauenstein and Kulmbach.

Kulmbach, Germany's secret beer capital and largest town of the region, is the Southern gate of the Franconian Forest part of that route. In Kulmbach, too, a Castle towers above the town: the Plassenburg. An old Merian Fortress with its "Beautiful courtyard" ("Schöner Hof"), one of Europe's loveliest Renaissance courtyards, and with four museums, of which the Tin Figures Museum - with the world's largest diorama - is the best-known.