Franconia (Franken) is a region of northernBavaria, a state ofGermany. Within Franconia are the historically important city ofNuremberg, the UNESCO World Heritage town ofBamberg, and a huge range of outdoor activities in theFranconian Switzerland andFranconian lake district.
This article only covers the parts of Franconia administered by the Bavarian government in Munich as theRegierungsbezirke of Oberfranken (Upper Franconia), Unterfranken (Lower Franconia) and Mittelfranken (Middle Franconia) although the cultural boundary does not coincide with the administrative boundary and parts of the cultural region of Franconia are to be found across state lines. Culturally Franconians identify themselves as being different from Bavarians.
| Upper Franconia Hilly region in north east, land of breweries |
| Middle Franconia Around Nuremberg |
| Lower Franconia Vineyards near the river Main. |
Franconia's history as an entity separate from Bavaria stretches back over a thousand years. It was a duchy in the Holy Roman Empire.
Franconia used to be comprised of many independent principalities and petty duchies and knighthoods until it became part of Bavaria around 1806 (different territories were annexed by the Wittelsbachs at different times but 1806 is the commonly accepted "overall" date) as a result of theNapoleonic Wars. This has two main consequences: first, the dialect and religious composition of two neighbouring villages may be notably different (which used to cause tensions but is now of mostly folkloric interest); second, there is still some resentment towards Bavaria and many people do not like to be lumped together with their "colonisers" down south. While you will not encounter open hostility, try to avoid calling Franconians Bavarian. Many people also include part(s) of adjacentLänder in Franconia as they are linguistically, culturally and historically more connected to Franconia than to theLänder to which they belong in terms of administration. Those regions include:Sonneberg and Thüringen south of the Rennsteig (in fact Sonneberg voted to join the NurembergMetropolregion and there are talks of switchingBundesland) and the region of Baden-Württemberg calledHeilbronn-Franken. On the other hand places likeAschaffenburg are linguistically close to neighbouring regions. Coburg in turn was one of the several petty states that were considered "Thuringia" prior to its creation in early Weimar times, but decided in a 1920 referendum to join the state of Bavaria rather than Thuringia, in part due to feeling more Franconian than Thuringian. In short, the cultural borders are a bit fuzzy around the edges.
The local dialect ("Fränkisch") can sometimes be a bit hard for those familiar with standard German to understand, although it is not as different as Bavarian. People have a tendency to pronounce t like d, p like b and sometimes k like g. This is also often noticeable when they speak foreign languages.English prevalence is around the (West) German average with a high number of speakers in the big cities and university towns like Erlangen. Other foreign languages include French (the most common living second foreign language in high school) and to a lesser degree Italian and Spanish. Immigrant languages such as Turkish and Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian can be found in some parts of the bigger cities, particularly Nuremberg.
Nuremberg, Bamberg, and Würzburg all have frequent ICE service from most routes in Germany. There is less frequent service to Coburg. The Nuremberg-Munich railway is in excellent condition and one of the fastest in the country (even regional trains reach top speeds around 200 km/h without costing extra). The connection to Berlin via Leipzig/Halle and Erfurt opened for a big upgrade in December 2017 and now Erlangen is only three hours by train from Berlin.
Erlangen also has some ICE service which often also stops in Nuremberg. The infrequent ICE service to Bayreuth has been stopped and there isn't any long distance train service forthcoming until the line gets electrified.
From Dresden there is regional service to Hof with connecting services (scheduled to wait at the same platform to make changing trains easy) to Nuremberg. As this is regional travel theLändertickets as well as theQuer durchs Land Ticket (€44 for one person €8 more for any additional person up to a group of five) apply.
Connections due east to the Czech Republic are in a bad state and none of them is electrified. You'll often be faster taking a bus, especially if your final destination is Prague.Cheb is however reachable relatively easily by train.
The only relevant airport within this region from a traveler's point of view is inNuremberg (NUE IATA) with service to many destinations around Europe and connecting service viaFrankfurt Airport all around the world. While the airport is not directly connected to the railway network, the Nuremberg main station can be reached via subway (U-Bahn) in about twelve minutes and there is a direct bus to Fürth and Erlangen main station respectively. Low cost carriers offer a pretty wide range of European destinations from NUE.
FromFrankfurt airport (FRA IATA) there are direct ICE connections via Würzburg (1:25 hours, rates starting at €29 one way) or Nuremberg (2:25 hours) with connecting services to all places in Franconia. In many cases flying to Frankfurt and connecting by train is less hassle where no direct flight is available.
You might also consider flying intoMunich airport (MUC IATA) and take either regional trains or the ICE to Nuremberg. The Munich airport is far away from town and you will have to first get into Munich (roughly half an hour to forty minutes travel time) before you can change onto a train to Nuremberg, unless you go by car or bus.
WhilePrague airport (PRG IATA) is geographically close the worse than average train connection (the bus is actually faster when going to Nuremberg) make this not the best option for most travellers.
Several bus companies operate throughout the region. They are usually slower than the train but often cheaper. An international bus operated by Deutsche Bahn also connectsNuremberg (leaving right in front of the main station) with Prague. For domestic buses within Germany seelong distance bus travel in Germany
TheMain Donau Kanal runs from Bamberg in the North through Nuremberg and onwards to Bavaria.
A big chunk of Franconia and also some parts of the neighbouring regions are covered by theVGN tariff-union, which covers almost all trains, buses and the Nuremberg subway and tram (Straßenbahn). While single local tickets can be comparably expensive, group and day tickets can be a bargain, especially for longer distances.
Schäufele is a traditional dish in Franconia. It is made from the pork's shoulder meat. Normally it is then served with potato dumpling (Kartoffelklöße), sauerkraut (or red cabbage, or savoy cabbage) and gravy.
Bratwurst most notably the small Nuremberg variety commonly served asdrei im Weggla (three Bratwursts in a small bread roll) orsechs auf Graud (six Bratwursts with Sauerkraut and a slice of bread) and the various "Franconian" varieties that are usually bigger. Traditionally almost every city had its own slight variation on the basic recipe or how to prepare them, and Coburg is notable for roasting them on an open fire with conifer cones added to the fire for taste.
WhileBlaue Zipfel could be described as just another way to cook Bratwurst it is notably different in taste, as the sausages are cooked in an acidic liquid rather than fried.
Karpfen or carp is produced mainly around Höchstadt (Aisch) and several villages in that region have a carp in their coat of arms due to its historic (and continuing) importance as a foodstock and export-article. It is commonly eaten in the months "with r" (literally speaking that would be September–April) eitherblau (blue, that is cooked) orgebacken (that is fried, thus making even part of the fins edible) Legend has it that the Franconian carps owe their peculiar round shape to a medieval decree deeming anything "beyond the plate" to be the bishop's property, thus prompting medieval monks (then the principal producers and consumers of the fish) to breed for rounder carps. Make of that what you want.
Lebkuchen Nuremberg is justifiedly famous for its gingerbread-like sweet Lebkuchen and in fact the "echt Nürnberg Elisen-Lebkuchen" are a geographically protected specialty that may only be produced in or close to Nuremberg under a special recipe. They are traditionally eaten around Christmas, but nowadays can be found by mid-September and don't be surprised to find specialised stores in Nuremberg, selling them year-round. Many ice-cream parlours sell Lebkuchen instead during the winter "off-season".
Spargel (asparagus) is harvested from mid-April (depending on weather) until (traditionally) June 24th. It is commonly eaten white with sauce Hollandaise and ham, but there are variations and green asparagus, that used to be almost unheard of is gaining popularity. During the Spargel-season almost every self-respecting restaurant has at least one Spargel dish on offer and the devotion with which Spargel is consumed if not to say venerated might seem quasi-religious to outsiders.
Franconia is world-renowned forbeer and is actually the region with thehighest brewery density in the world. Many small breweries, especially in Oberfranken only produce small amounts for consumption in their attached brewery-restaurants. Even small rural villages often still have their own breweries, although the declining demand and increased competition with bigger brands and their marketing budgets have taken their toll especially in the 1970s and 80s. There is a slight resurgence with some craft-beer like start-ups reviving names and traditions of long gone brands as well as starting anew from scratch.Breweries in Franconia lists breweries, beer cellars, brewery museums.
Many Franconians like to point out that there isBierfranken (beer-franconia, especially Oberfranken and big parts of Mittelfranken) andWeinfranken (wine-franconia, mostly Unterfranken and the area close to the Main river). While the latter is a comparatively small region in terms of area thewine of Franconia can certainly compete with most other German wines and the famousBocksbeutel (a special form of bottle, that looks like a male goat's ...bag, hence the name) is an excellent souvenir.
Less of a souvenir isFederweißer, wine in various states of fermentation that is available only seasonally. Shortly after harvest it is very similar in taste and alcohol content to simple grape juice but the older it gets, the more alcohol it will contain. Be careful when storing the bottles as they are more or less open and will leak when not put with the tap facing upwards.
Apart from some neighbourhoods of Nuremberg that deal with the common big-city issues of all German towns that size, Franconia should not concern you security-wise.
When climbing in Franconian Switzerland make sure that your equipment is in a good state and of good quality and make sure you or your guides know what you are doing as accidents happen from time to time.
As everywhere soccer games can get a little out of hand and fans may become hostile when drunk or after a lost game. This is especially true for theDerby (local parlance for a rivalry game between close geographic neighbours) between Nuremberg and Fürth. Of course 99% of Fans are peaceful and only want to support their team, but there are always exceptions.
| Thisregion travel guide toFranconiais ausable article. It gives a good overview of the region, its sights, and how to get in, as well as links to the main destinations, whose articles are similarly well developed. An adventurous person could use this article, but pleasefeel free to improve itby editing the page. |
