Kulmbach Travel Guide
A detailed destination guide for your next Germany vacation
Kulmbach Overview
Kulmbach is the capital of the district of Kulmbach in Bavaria in Germany. The City is famous for the Plassenburg (Plassenburg vacation rentals | Plassenburg travel guide) Castle, which contains the largest pewter-figure museum of the world (Tin soldier) and its famous sausages. Kulmbach is located in the middle of the bavarian municipal district called Upper Franconia, about 15.5 miles (25 km) northwest of the city Bayreuth (Bayreuth vacation rentals | Bayreuth travel guide). At the southern border of Kulmbach the river Main arises from the small creeks White Main and Red Main.
Where to stay in Kulmbach?
Check out our selection of hand-selected and quality Kulmbach vacation rentals and holiday apartments.
Things to See in Kulmbach
- German pewter-figure museum Plassenburg (Plassenburg vacation rentals | Plassenburg travel guide), with more than 300,000 tin figures
- Plassenburg museums
- Armymuseum Frederick the Great
- Landscape museum Oberfranken
- Bavarian brewery and bakery museum
There are two main breweries in Kulmbach, the small Kommunbrau Brewery and the big Kulmbacher Brauerei with the Bavarian Brewery Museum The brewery Kulmbacher, one of the largest in Germany was founded in Kulmbach and made it famous for its beer. The city is also known as the secret capital of beer. Additionally, at the end of July Kulmbach celebrates a very large festival called Bierfest (Beerfest), beginning on the last Saturday in July and continues through until the first weekend in August. Be advised that getting accommodation might be a bit difficult at the time of the Bierfest. But not impossible, if you're early enough with for reservations.
The Alstadtfest (Old Town Festival) takes place on the first weekend in July and is organized by the restaurants, bars and pubs in the old part of the town.
[ source: wikipedia ]
Maps and Driving Directions to Kulmbach
Travel Insider Tips for Kulmbach
I think a visit to the Plassenburg Festung, in Kulmbach, is worth a stop. They have the world's largest indoor Tin Soldier museum.
Shared by Patrick Bradley, Feb 2010
The Plassenburg Fortress in Kulmbach, has always been my favorite castle to show visitors, and it still is...! It houses the World's biggest tin soldier museum...!
Shared by Patrick Bradley, May 2011
Kulmbach city center with its traditional architechture
[ source: Flickr]
Popular Points of Interest in and near Kulmbach
Plassenburg Castle
[ source: Wikipedia ]
This massive fortress belonged from 1338 to 1791 to the Burgraves of Nuremberg and subsequent Margraves of Brandenburg, members of the Hohenzollern family. In 1559, Georg Friedrich von Ansbach commissioned Caspar Visher to build a four-winged complex. The Schöne Hof (Beautiful Courtyard), an arcaded courtyard richly decorated with relief work, is one of the finest examples of German Renaissance art.
Further highlights are the Hohenzollerns in Franconia
Museum, the Frederick the Great
Army Museum (Windsheimer Collection) and the Margravial Rooms with historic pictures of the construction work, portraits of margraves and the gilt canopied bed of Margravine Maria (ca. 1630).
Bavarian Brewery Museum
[ source: Museum website ]
Beer brewing and sampling under one roof – that is what awaits you at the museum (opened in 1994) in part of the historical buildings housing Kulmbach's monastery brewery. There is a fascinating and informative exhibition about all aspects of beer, with professionally presented displays covering approx. 3,000m². An entertaining tour through a small reproduction brewery takes visitors back to the world of brewing at the turn of the 19th century. Original documents, photos and exhibits from all over Bavaria are on display, along with a multivision show that tells visitors about beer brewing in a computer-controlled high-tech company. At the heart of the museum is the glass brewery
with its gleaming copper kettles, where you can watch the master brewer at work on brewing days before sampling the finished product for yourself.
Hours: May - October: Tuesday - Friday 10am - 5pm, Saturday & Sunday 9am - 5pm. November - April: Tuesday - Sunday 10am - 5pm.
Admission: Adults 4.50 €, Concessions 4 €.
German museum of tin figures
[ source: Museum website ]
Founded in 1929, the museum has over 300,000 single figures and is the world's largest collection of tin figures. The visitor experience scenes from everyday life in the Stone Age, participates in ancient hunts, meet the Romans and the Germans, knights and mercenaries. 5 floors can be explored in a graphic way the past to the present in miniature.
Hours: April - October: daily from 9am - 6pm. November - March daily from 10am - 6pm.
Admission: Adults 4 €, Concessions 3 €.
Related Sites
We collected some useful links related to Kulmbach. If you know a few more sites not listed here, or also know some insider tips or point of interests for this destination? Please share and submit your Germany travel tip. If approved it will be shown on this page!
- Homepage of Kulmbach: Kulmbach (official home page)
- Wikipedia: Kulmbach
More about the History of Kulmbach
The principality was established after the death of Burgrave Frederick V of Nuremberg (Nuremberg vacation rentals | Nuremberg travel guide) on 21 January 1398, when his lands were partitioned between his two sons. The elder son, John III, received Bayreuth (Bayreuth vacation rentals | Bayreuth travel guide) and the younger, Frederick VI, received Ansbach (Ansbach vacation rentals | Ansbach travel guide).
In 1655 Bayreuth was partitioned into Brandenburg-Bayreuth and Brandenburg-Kulmbach, but the lands were reunited in 1726. The last line of Brandenburg-Bayreuth died out on 20 January 1769 with the death of Margrave Frederick Christian, and Bayreuth passed to Christian Frederick. On 2 December 1791, Christian Frederick sold the sovereignty of his principalities to King Frederick William II of Prussia, and from 28 January 1792 Bayreuth was ruled by Prussian-appointed governors.
[ source: wikipedia ]
What makes this Live Like a German Kulmbach Travel Guide special...
This Kulmbach travel guide provides you with an overview of Kulmbach, Kulmbach pictures, and a local travel guide that suggests many special trips, unique activities, and vacation ideas, that you can't find in a typical Germany travel guide.
Some of this information is compiled from popular and well-known sources (e.g., such as Wikipedia, Wikitravel, and great pictures from Flickr). However, what makes this Germany travel guide special is that most of the travel suggestions and insider tips are provided by local residents, property owners, and our readers, who share and submit their travel tips with us. All submissions are then editorially reviewed to ensure high quality. All this information is logically organized within this destination guide to make it easy for you to find things quickly.
In addition, the Kulmbach destination guide features restaurant recommendations, restaurant reviews, where to go for grocery shopping, sports activities, getting around, cultural events and highlights, entertainment, and health related information - so you are informed for your travel to Germany, and you can learn about all the cool things you can do during your Germany vacation!
