Trip Report: Bamberg

sounds great. i really hope to make it to bamberg sometime, though no idea when (haven't been to europe since a trip to london in college, don't speak german, and i'm not captain moneybags).

however, posting to note that some fastenbier kegs made it out to the USA (as you can see from reviews). i had some in brooklyn a few weeks ago, and thought it was amazing. definitely beat all the bottled varieties of schlenkerla's beers that i've had (and i really like those).

 

Sounds like a great time. I'm a big fan of the Klosterbräu Braunbier. It's very different from most everything else and it almost reminds me a little of the American amber lagers like Sam Adams and Brooklyn Lager.
What's the general rule for being able to try the Fastenbier anyway? I know it's a Lenten seasonal, but what's the general timeframe for seeing it in Bamberg (or the US)?

 

Thanks for the report. It sounds like you had a nice first visit to Bamberg, and I see you live in Germany, so I am sure you will go back. I am also glad you made it to Cafe Abseits. So many visitors do not go there on their first visit, and they are missing out. Did you meet Gerhard at Cafe Abseits?

 

I fell in love with Bamberg when I went for two days around this time last year. One of the most beautiful small cities in all of Europe. I'm glad you enjoyed your time there.

Did you make it to the Spezialkeller, their Biergarten on top of the hill? The views of the city and cathedral are outrageous. I remember spending a leisurely afternoon up there drinking Rauchbier and eating Gerupfter(Obatzda).

 

Great report - thanks for taking the time to put it up! Every time I hear something about Bamberg, it makes me even keener to visit. Perhaps I should try and do that this year. I've enjoyed Schlenkerla's beers in the past and can only imagine what having them served fresh from wooden barrels would be like....not to mention the other breweries in the city.

 

Gerhard is one of the proprietors of Cafe Abseits. He is very friendly to BAs (and non-BAs), and will go out of his way to make your visit memorable. Yes, it is a bit of a walk to Cafe Abseits, but there are plans to extend the train station over the tracks with an entrance/exit on the other side, and this will be very convenient for getting to Cafe Abseits.

 

Glad to hear you guys enjoyed yourselves. I'd say get back during summer, as the Bierkeller explode with activity; it's like a whole new world opens up. As to the Fastenbier: is it served form the wooden barrel? I know the Urbock used to be. At any rate, sounds like a real treat (I have yet to try the Fastenbier myself).

 

thanks for the write up.

I think Bamberg has to be my next vacation in europe, perhaps leapfrogging over a week in Munich. I won't regret that, will I?

 

I will put it this way. Over the last 9.5 years I have visited Germany 17 times, and 15 of those trips included stays in Bamberg, and only 1 included a stay in Munich.

 

Probably not, although Bamberg is small enough that you can actually do both rather easily if you have 7 days. My wife and I did a combo trip this last summer and just took the ICE from Munich to Bamberg on a Sunday morning and came back on Wednesday morning. We didn't get a chance to make it to Kaiserdom, but were able to go everywhere else more than once...and do some other non-beer sightseeing, too. Depending on how your hotel pricing works, you can just keep your Munich hotel room (and leave some of your luggage there) and grab a cheap room at Spezial or Faessla while in Bamberg.

In Munich we always do a lot of other non-beer sightseeing and walking around, so I doubt I'll ever go over to Germany without staying there at least a day or two.

 

Depends how much your trip is beer centric I guess?

As you've seen on other posts I've made, I get over regularly and it's with my drinking friends and ALL about the beer !

Guessing you'll be over for at 'least' a week, I'd say 3 nights Munich, 2 nights Nurenburg, 2 nights Bamberg would be a good combo.

I wouldn't spend the whole week in Bamberg tbh, great beer destination that it is!

BM me if you have rough plans, I regularly hop town to town, city to city. Did a night in Bamberg 3 years ago, left at 8am and was drinking in Berlin by 5pm (having travelled the backroutes on a Schones ticket at a cost of E35 for 4 of us!), beers being enjoyed en route - naturlich !

 

The back exit of the station is already open

 

As others have said, if your primary focus is beer, you won't regret Bamberg...and more importantly, you may regret Munich. I love Augustiner, Hacker-Pschorr, and even HB's beers and could drink them all day every day for a week; but for some it may get old fast...especially when you think about the sheer diversity of beers you can get by just walking a few 100 m through Bamberg to the next brewery or beer garden. What's more, those walks will be through an old town that is 100% protected as a UNESCO world-heritage site; you can get a better lesson on how Romanesque architecture evolved into Gothic and then to Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo by just walking up the hill from Schlenkerla to the cathedral square and scanning it 270 degrees from left to right.

Still, there's much to be said for Munich, as it is far more cosmopolitan than Bamberg, has much better museums, and a lot more exciting in general. Bamberg is a throw-back, in more ways than just with the Rauchbier. And that small-town feel can creep in after 4 nights or so.

Still, all things considered, I say fly into Munich; you get there early in the a.m. usually, so if you do like I did you can spend a few hours at the Augustiner Keller/restaurant depending upon the weather and then head out to maybe the Hofbraeuhaus (yes, it's a tourist spot, but so is Schlenkerla) or Der Pschorr...or to the Schneider Weissbierhaus and call it an early night. Next day you can head to Bamberg for 3-5 nights; explore the city, explore the surrounding villages, and, if you so choose, easily never drink the same beer twice. Then head back to Munich for a night (or two) before you fly back out. Heck, I might even say to do a day trip or even one night in Salzburg, if for no other reason than to go to that Augustiner.

At any rate, you can't lose with any of the above combinations. And man, I got to get me some of that Fastenbier here soon.

 

Really? Already? Last summer it sounded like it would be a long time before that project was finished. If you are able to cut through the Bahnhof, then it is pretty easy to walk to Cafe Abseits now.