Bamberg in Two Days

Bamberg eats Franconian deeply: the Rauchbier is the table’s anchor — smoked malt beer, dark as tar, tasting of ham and campfire, poured at the Schlenkerla (the 1405 tavern on the Dominikanerstraße, the institution) and the Spezial cellar across town; the Fässla and Mahrs Bräu carry the rest of the town’s ten-brewery bench. Food follows the smoke: Bamberger Zwiebeln (onions stuffed with meat and braised in beer), schäufele pork shoulder, horseradish sauces and the river carp of the Regnitz valley.

The Schlenkerla’s oak-panelled cellar is the town’s essential table — touristy and honest at once, the Rauchbier drawn from wooden kegs in the vault. The Spezial’s cellar and the Fässla’s garden are its siblings; the Mahrs Bräu’s “Ungespundet” is the locals’ softer pint.

Beyond the smoke: the Klein Venedig’s riverfront kitchens, the Grün’s market-square restaurants, and the Gärtnerstadt’s student taverns carry the range. The Frühling’s market (the Grüner Markt’s stalls) feeds a walking breakfast; the market food hall at the market covers picnic supplies.

Camping travellers: the Campinginsel’s riverside pitches sit 20 minutes’ walk from the old town (bus 909 rides it in five), and the town’s markets cover self-catering; the Schlenkerla’s cellar tables are worth the queue at every hour — go at opening (5 p.m.) for the quiet pint.

The Inselstadt inside the old town is the right base: the Rathaus, the Domberg and the river all walkable, hotels in burgher houses (the Residenzschloss-quarter’s inns and the Sandstraße’s small hotels) carrying the UNESCO character. Book early for the Sandkerwa week in late August.

The Domberg’s hill hotels (by the Neue Residenz) trade a two-minute climb for the quietest, most atmospheric beds in town — the rose garden at breakfast is the premium’s justification.

The Gärtnerstadt east of the centre holds the cheaper rooms and apartments — students’ quarter, five minutes from the Rathaus, lively in term time.

Camping: the Campinginsel Bamberg (a caravan park on a Regnitz island south of the centre, year-round, about 250 pitches, bus 909 to the old town) is the city’s standard site — riverside, quiet, and close enough to walk. The Main-Donau canal path runs its edge for riders; book ahead for the Sandkerwa.