Where brewing is still a craft

Bicycle parking spaces and toilets are available.

This tour is all about beer. Your abstinence is required here so that you can make it to the end without any accidents. But if you don't get into an excessive tasting mood, things can get interesting, as the breweries along the way produce the barley juice for serving in their own rustic pubs and beer gardens. And with a variety of flavours that can only be achieved by craftsmen. It is accompanied by typical Franconian dishes and hearty snacks. Thanks to this variety of flavours, Bad Staffelstein has been named one of 100 places of enjoyment throughout Bavaria. So above all, enjoy the whimsical atmosphere.

First of all, you have a walk of around one kilometre from the train station to the bike hire. You first follow Bahnhofstraße into the town centre, then a green corridor along the Lauterbach to Bamberger Straße. Now it's just a few more steps to Angerstraße.

The bike shop is located just a few steps away from the tourist information centre in the old fire station. Whether you want to go for a sporty ride or a leisurely bike tour, you will find the right rental bike here.

Once you have picked up your hire bike, cycle a few metres back to Horsdorfer Straße. A cycle path is available to you from Hopenmühle. Now follow the "Five Breweries Tour". The pretty half-timbered village of Horsdorf is a district of Bad Staffelstein. Situated below the Staffelberg, it runs alongside the Lauterbach stream which flows through the village. The village is proud to have won a gold medal in the national competition "Our village should become more beautiful" in 1995, as Horsdorf offers a special place to stop for refreshments with a romantic mill atmosphere.

The Alte Mühle Horsdorf is one of 16 mills in the entire Lautergrund region. Like other buildings in the village, it is a combination of stone basement storeys and half-timbered upper storeys. The half-timbered structures were built using pure carpentry techniques. The timbers were worked with an axe and joined together using only pure timber joints. The old mill wheel still stands here, and trout frolic in the crystal-clear waters of the surrounding mill streams. The mill, which was first mentioned in a document in 1272, is used for catering and is well worth a visit, including a tour of the mill's equipment. The beer garden attracts guests in the warmer months.

Loffeld is the nearest romantic village on the southern slope of the Staffelberg. The village is crossed by the Way of St James, the Main-Danube Trail and the Franconian Trail. The "old school" stands at the centre of the village. This is a striking half-timbered building dating back to 1752, for which the village community has been awarded the Bavarian Medal for the Protection of Historical Monuments.

The Staffelberg Bräu pub is a genuine Franconian inn in the finest half-timbered style. Inside, the Bräustübl has a traditional ambience. Here you can enjoy real Franconian snacks and - depending on the season - up to 12 types of beer to choose from.

You leave Loffeld by taking the Löwentalweg to the hikers' car park and turning right there. A cycle path awaits you here for relaxed cycling to Stublang. Leave the St2204 state road there and take a look around the village.

The Gasthof-Brauerei Hennemann awaits guests in Stublang. It has existed since 1856 and the brewery has remained unchanged for over 80 years. Only ingredients from the region are used.

In addition to the palatable Franconian lager and the popular wheat beer, there is also a selection of different bock beers. Seasonal country beers such as the dark "Räucherla" and the blonde "Sepperla" are added. This is served in the rustic taproom, which also has a large tiled stove to create a cosy atmosphere.

Just a few metres further on in Stublang, the Gasthof Dinkel welcomes its guests. It also has its own brewery. Its speciality is rye beer. Now it's another 1.6 kilometres to the neighbouring village of Frauendorf.

The Hetzel brewery is located in the Frauendorf district of Bad Staffelstein. It draws the water for its beers from its own spring. However, it does not have a bar on site. Specialities such as Frauendorfer Landbier or Frauendorfer Naturtrüb "Ur" are available in the online shop.

Now pedal hard once more - and you have reached the end point of the brewery tour. Schwabthal is characterised by tourism with a large number of hotels, inns, holiday flats and guest rooms. Here, one half-timbered house follows the next. Picturesque photo motifs wherever you look. One hospitable place in Schwabthal is the country inn "Zur Scheune". It is hard to believe that this was actually a "barn" until the early 1970s, but a few things such as bushels, flails and the like suggest that it was.

The Bad Staffelstein district of End is just right for the end of the tour.

The "Schwarzer Adler" country inn (since 1570) offers just the right ambience for an extensive break with a tempting selection of Franconian specialities. The outside wall proudly proclaims that the brewing rights for the original Franconian dark beer have existed here since 1779. For example, beer knuckle with Franconian dumplings and sauerkraut is served, preceded by a Franconian liver dumpling soup with baked peas.

The return journey now follows exactly the same route as the outward journey to the centre of Bad Staffelstein.
Once you have returned the bikes, you should combine the return journey to the railway station with a stroll through the old town. Here you will once again discover numerous half-timbered houses that bear witness to the highly developed art of carpentry in Franconia.

How about visiting the town museum at the end of the tour and paying tribute to the arithmetic master Adam Ries? Follow Bamberger Straße to the market square and turn into Bahnhofstraße. After a few metres, you will be standing in front of the bronze statue of Adam Ries with one of his pupils. From there you reach Kirchgasse with the town museum.

The Bad Staffelstein town museum in the former school building from 1856 is one of the most important in Bavaria thanks to its range of exhibitions. Maths enthusiasts who want to trace the roots of arithmetic will get their money's worth here. An entire section of the city museum is dedicated to Ries, including historical editions of his famous arithmetic books and an abacus. Adam Ries played a significant role in the fact that Roman numerals are no longer used for arithmetic today, but the much more practical Arabic numerals. Friends of geology and archaeology can also make interesting discoveries here in the extensive fossil and mineral exhibition. After all, there is evidence of human life in the region dating back eleven millennia.

On the way to the railway station, you will pass the Catholic parish church of St Kilian. The church, built in 1485, is the oldest building in Bad Staffelstein. Historians believe that its predecessor even dates back to Charlemagne. The tour ends back at Bad Staffelstein railway station.