Nuremberg - Excursions - AMa

I will be on the Legendary Danube cruise with AMA in June. We start in Prague and get on the ship in Nuremberg around 4. The next day we have a choice of two tours - World War II which we will do but the other tour is medieval Nuremberg which is the Castle and seems to be the town. I want to do that too. Will I have time to do that the night before? How far is this town from where the ship docks? How will I get to town and is it easy to walk around at night and what are the must sees? If it isn't close - are their any private tours?

Thanks so much - I want to do it ALL;)

Hi -

The boat does not dock close to town in Nuremberg.

If you wish to take the WWII tour, you do get to the castle.

I did the castle tour - and my DH did the WWII tour. We had a bit more free time in the city centre when we were done with our tour. DH saw the parade grounds (that was what he really wanted to see while we were there...) - but did get to the castle as well. The tours only takes a few hours.

Not sure what time you will leave Nuremberg - but perhaps AMA will provide a shuttle in the afternoon for people who wish to stay in town. We travelled the other direction (ie: started in Budapest) - so am not much help with timing here. Also - we were there on a Sunday - and not everything was open.

When in Nuremberg, you must try the Lebkuchen... It is amazing!!!

We generally stay in town well beyond the last boat provided shuttle (no matter what the port) and often grab a cab; the cost of a taxi back to dock from central Nuremberg is about 12E. It is quite lively at night in the center and interesting to walk around.

We had a great experience on the whole cruise tour from Prague to Budapet. We travel from Prague on a long bus ride thru Germany to Karlovy Vary, were we were able to walk around and have lunch. Then it was on to Nuremberg. The weather was somewhat wet, rain showers. WWII Nuremberg was somewhat of a disapointment since we stay on the bus with only two stops. We did not get to see the Court Room since it is being renevated. The rest was a drive by. It was on to the "old town" of Nuemberg where we had a walking tour and free time. Then it was back on the bus to meet the ship.

We also extended our trip to stay an extra day in Budapest and were extremely pleased that we did it.

I will be on the Legendary Danube cruise with AMA in June. We start in Prague and get on the ship in Nuremberg around 4. The next day we have a choice of two tours - World War II which we will do but the other tour is medieval Nuremberg which is the Castle and seems to be the town. I want to do that too. Will I have time to do that the night before? How far is this town from where the ship docks? How will I get to town and is it easy to walk around at night and what are the must sees? If it isn't close - are their any private tours?

 

Thanks so much - I want to do it ALL;)

I have not taken this cruise, but lived in Augsburg, Germany (90 miles south of Nuremberg) for four years. I did a lot of TDY to Fuerth, near Nuremberg. Fuerth is where Henry Kissinger came from.

You can see Nuremberg in half a day. I don't know where the port is located, but the main cathedral and walled city area is at most a half a day. Visiting the former rally site is a very short visit. I tried to find the site on one of my visits there and no German knew of its location (or would not tell). No taxi driver knew. I found out from other Americans there serving with the Army. The site had been converted to four athletic fields (the concrete platform sans swastica was still there). The Army has left Nuremburg, so I don't know if the sports fields are still there.

By the way, Nuremberg was largely leveled by allied bombing in WWII, so most of the city is rebuilt. Of course, the Germans do a great job rebuilding with the same stone and the original style.

4774papa, I don't know when you were in Nuremberg. What is currently to be seen is the Naz* Documentation Center (I don't know when it opened), with a museum and a walk around the area. The exhibit is a one way walk, and Rick Steves suggests requires 2 hours just for the videos you can see along the way. He rates the Documentation Center a 3. The rally grounds occupy 4 square miles behind the museum. This is rates only a 1. The Documenentzentrum (I'm not sure that I am spelling it right) shows up on all the transit maps (it is on tram 6 or 9; I assume at the end of the line).

Thanks Everyone - Sands28 - Do you know if the Court Room is open now. Also you took Tour A on AMA but still got to go to old town. Mine seems to be broken into two tours. when did you have to get back to the ship? I will be posting soon on Vienna and hope you will be able to answer those questions.

Did you stay on the bus because of the weather or was this the tour - mostly just drive by?

Thanks everyone again - Briody

Courtroom 600 is open from Wednesday to Monday, but closed Tuesday. However, it is a working courtroom so you might not be able to get in on a weekday. There are weekend public tours. There is also an exhibition.

http://museums.nuremberg.de/courtroom600/index.html

I can't answer for the AMA tours. The Nuremberg docking is not that close to the center of town, because the canal doesn't go through the center. The docking is at Hafenstrasse and Rotterdammer Strasse which is south of the center.

4774papa, I don't know when you were in Nuremberg. What is currently to be seen is the Naz* Documentation Center (I don't know when it opened), with a museum and a walk around the area. The exhibit is a one way walk, and Rick Steves suggests requires 2 hours just for the videos you can see along the way. He rates the Documentation Center a 3. The rally grounds occupy 4 square miles behind the museum. This is rates only a 1. The Documenentzentrum (I'm not sure that I am spelling it right) shows up on all the transit maps (it is on tram 6 or 9; I assume at the end of the line).

gnome, I was in Germany from 87-91. I don't think there was a museum there at that time.

briody - when we did the AMA cruise (Oct 2009) the literature identified Tour A as the WWII tour. My DH did that one - and I did the castle/town tour. He did get a tour of the castle as well, although it was not set up that way in the brochure.

Although there are many posters who said they have heard that the parade grounds were a let down, my DH was happy that he went. Most of the people in his group were also pleased. He was very interested in standing in a place that held a significant spot in history. He remembers seeing pictures of the area - so he wanted to stand on the same soil.

As with many excursions, perhaps it is the guide who makes or breaks the experience. He was very pleased with the guide they had - ours (for the town tour) was OK, but not stellar.

If you are interested in WWII, then you should try to go to the Museum of Terror in Budapest - and also see the "Shoes on the Danube" memorial.

We also took the WWII tour in Nuremberg. We did go to the parade grounds, and as Franski mentioned it is the guide who makes (or breaks) the tour. We had a historian who spoke about Hitler's rise to power and discussed how they would have rallies at the parade grounds. He also spoke about current laws that have developed since WWII. I'm sorry, but I don't remember his name, but your tour director may be able to tell you if he is working during your tour.

We also stopped outside the court where the Nuremberg trials took place. We could not go into the courtroom because it is in use.

After we made our stops we went to the center of Nuremberg where we made one more stop; then we were free to visit some of the shops and wander around the downtown area. We also had some Lebkuchen, which was excellent.

We were going from Budapest to Nuremberg, then Prague too. We made a stop in Karlovy Vary, a beautiful little town which has a strong Russian presence to this day.

We had an excellent lunch at a Thai (!) restaurant. I took so many pictures on the way back to the bus. We had an excellent local guide on the bus trip too. She told us so much about her life in Czechoslovakia, then later the Czech Republic.

What fascinated me about the tours was hearing the history of all these countries which were in close proximity, but which had such different

histories that overlapped at certain points, as in WWII and afterward with countries breaking into different countries or going through major political change.

If you arrive in Nuremburg on a Sunday you will find that most of the town is closed for the day. We enjoyed our tour of the museum and wished that we could have had a bit longer to enjoy it. We were rushed at the end to see it all. We had an excellent tour guide, but because we took so long at the museum we did not get a tour of the downtown area which was a bit disappointing not to be able to see the castle.

Briody:

According to the AMA Itinerary you arrive on a saturday or a sunday in Nuremberg. Do you start on the 8th, 22nd or 23rd of June in Prague? Long story short: As already mentioned, shops are closed on a Sunday in germany. If you really need something, there is a small supermarket in the main railway station, close to the city center. Museums are open on weekends, they are usually closed on monday. The very new museum in the palace of justice building is closed on Tuesday - because we still share it with the justice department.

As already mentioned, the Port is a bit away from the city, the Main Danube Canal just touches the southern outskirts. Taxi costs from Port to City Center / Courtroom 600 are est. 14-18€ one way.

You said, you want to do both, the medieval Nuremberg and the WW2 Tour. One way to get both would be: After you arrived at 4 (hopefully without delay): Get a Taxi and rush to the Documentation Center at the Nuzi* Party Rally Grounds OR the Memorium Nuremberg Trials (Courtroom 600) immediately. Both Museums do not allow Guest to enter past 5 p.m. as they close at 6 p.m.

My own first choice would be the new museum about the trials. The Documentation Center is great, but without a guide i do not really recommend a walking tour outside of in on your own. There are just a few boards spread over 4 square miles, and not really a lot of builds left.

The next day, get on the WW2 Tour offered by AMA (to cover the other Topic, Rallies or Trials, the one you have not explored yourself the afternoon before). The WW2 Tour ends in the very city center at the Beautiful Fountain on the main market square. AMA usually offers 1-1.5hrs free time till departure, so that would be a great chance to explore the medieval history on your own. From the market square you'll walk up to the castle in ca. 15minutes. It depends on too many external factors if the WW2 Tour also passes the castle. Don't depend on that, otherwise you might be disappointed.

*the board software censored the Nzi-Word with an "a" :)

Ingo, thanks for the great advice to all of us who will be visiting your city! Let me get this straight. You are recommending to go to the new museum on our own, and also the WWII tour? Does that mean the tour does not include the museum(courtroom)? As an alternative we are thinking of going to a 7 PM opera performance when we arrive on a Sunday afternoon for our first day in Nurnberg (the tours are the next day as you have noted). Any feedback you can give would be great!

Jesterscourt: If you go into courtroom 600 with your tour depends on a.) your cruise line (their programs differ a bit, but I don't know the details for this season yet). b.) If a trial takes place (never on weekends, but likely from Monday - Friday).

I would recommend the Memorium Nuremberg Trials Museum due to the fact, that you see not that much in contrast to the Nuzi Rally Ground. There usually all groups have a 15-30 stop and there are some buildings left. In contrast at the Palace of Justice you only see one huge early 20th century building and a 25feet concrete wall.

Don't get me wrong. The Imperial Castle is impressive. I actually doubt, that there are many castles on most of the itineraries that played such an important history in the history of Germany. And the reconstruction & repairs are historically very accurate. If one just arrives at Nuremberg and has not seen many other castles & medieval churches, then the city center is never a waste of time. Esp. on a weekend evening it is really great with all the people in the cafes. But I experienced that groups that have already been traveling on the river for some days are sometimes really happy to deal with the recent german history instead of facing more castles and churches. In fact, last season an australian group last July bribed me with a cool beer NOT to say anything about the cathedral. :D

If you go to an opera performance, then you'll most likely have no time for a museum (keep in mind the 5PM deadline for museums). Then strolling through the old town sounds better to me; the Opera building is just on the other side of the moat.

And please do not forget to coordinate your plans with your program director. In the chain of command, PDs are above internet strangers ;)

This is a description of what we will do: The tour will be on Monday so what do you think:

Degree of Difficulty:

Thank you Briody for the breakdown of the WWII Tour. Ingo e, are you a bilingual tour guide or a transplanted native English speaker? Your English is impeccable! As I read more about Nuremberg, I may have more intelligent questions for you and others who have been there. Thanks to all for such an informative thread! Steven

Jestercourt: I'm a native german speaker, who improved his English a bit with the help of AMC, CBS, ESPN, HBO, NBC, Showtime.. not to forget AFN, the only good radio station in Germany for a long time ;)

Well, if you got more questions on Nuremberg let me know.

Well thank God you didn't mention Fox News!(just kidding!)

Ingo, is the Memorium Trials Museum located adjacent to Courtroom 600 and is that where the Documentation Center is? Also, is that the same as the Fascination and Terror exhibition? I'm trying to figure out exactly what to tell a cab driver if we go on our own Sunday afternoon. Thanks.

In 2007 I was in Nuremburg with AMA and had one of the most amazing food experiences of my life - I still to this day remember how astounded I was at my very first bite of the Nuremberger Sausage sandwich that I ate that day. I wish I had kept the name of the restaurant that made it so that i could send others there -

A little way from the fountain square was a courtyard - in one of the walls of the inner buildings was a door that led into a restaurant. You walked through this restaurant to the very back where there was a take out counter where you ordered your sandwich. I ordered Nuremberger. They wrap it in tin foil and then you take it outside, all warm and aromatic, unwrap a portion and bite into a little piece of heaven on earth. All these years later I yearn to have one more of these sandwiches. If you can find it it is worth it!

Jeax, I will make it my mission to see if that little takeaway place is still therenwhen we go in April! Maybe, Ingo can snoop around and find it for us! Thanks forth suggestion..

Ingo, is the Memorium Trials Museum located adjacent to Courtroom 600 and is that where the Documentation Center is? Also, is that the same as the Fascination and Terror exhibition? I'm trying to figure out exactly what to tell a cab driver if we go on our own Sunday afternoon. Thanks.

The trials museum is adjacent to the courtroom. The documentation centre is adjacent to the rally grounds. Neither are in the centre of town. The trials museum is 4 subway stops fro the Hauptbahnhof (Further Strasse 110, enter on Barenschanzstrasse, take U-1 subway line to Barenschanze, it's just behind Pit Stop sign.) The documentation centre is southeast of the Old Town, take tram #9.

Thanks for clarifying that. I thought the Rally Grounds, Documentation Center, and Courtroom were all located in the same area. It's convenient that the Trials Museum is located on the U 1 subway line, so, given enough time, one could get there from the dock using public transportation. Then you could see the Rally Grounds and Documentation Center with the guide when you go on the ship's excursion the next morning.

The "Documentation Center Nuzi Party Rally Grounds" ( http://museums.nuremberg.de/documentation-centre/index.html ) is located on the rally ground itself. Thats southeast of Nurembergs old town. ( http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=49.430138,11.118357&spn=0.012909,0.019097&z=16 )

The "Memorium Nuremberg Trials" ( http://museums.nuremberg.de/courtroom600/index.html ) is in the east wing of the Palace of Justice (on the floor above courtroom 600) west of the oldtown. ( http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=49.454446,11.048073&spn=0.003226,0.004774&z=18 )

And your ship will be somewhere here on the canal: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=49.410429,11.066022&spn=0.012914,0.019097&z=16

If you scroll a bit and adjust the zoom, then you'll also spot the other two sites. Sorry, didn't knew how to mark them in one map :(

That Courtroom 600 is located at the U1 Subway (Bärenschanze Station) does not really help. There is one Bus Stop (Line 67 (direction NOT to Fürth)), but 67er Bus only stops every 40 minutes on a weekend. So i really recommend to go to the Memorium by Taxi. But it is very convenient to go to citycenter after you have been at the Memorium by 3-4 stops by subway.

And AMA tours do not enter the exhibition at the Documentation Center. So you have to make a decision: Nuzi Propaganda or Nuzi Trials. On page 1 of this thread i made a suggestion, what i would do ;)

Oh, and the restaurant mentioned by jeax must have been this one: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=49.45448,11.077531&spn=0.000806,0.001194&z=20