Erlangen

Amir der Kaffemann

Amir is a near-fanatic coffee lover and expert, one of the best places to have a really good cup of coffee (he roasts his own blends). You can also have a decent tea, smoothies, and snacks such as bagels. It has only few outdoor seats available.

Arcaden

This is the bigger mall within Erlangen; it offers a wide variety covering most needs (including food offers on the ground floor).

Mon-Sat 09:30-20:00; Schausonntag (Sun: no sales, just showing) 10:00-17:00

Bergkirchweih

Berch

Begun in 1755, this festival is held every Pentecost (Whitsuntide - seven weeks after Easter) for 12 days every year. The first day is always the Thursday before the Pentecost weekend. Similar to Oktoberfest, but more German owing to the absence of tourists. The festival draws crowds around the 1 million mark, so hotels might get crowded and overpriced during this time of the year. At 23:00 the main action stops and the party crowd goes on to the various discos and bars that keep going until 05:00.

Bierkeller (beer cellars) at Entlas Keller

At Entlas Keller (the duck's cellar), you can visit the extensive underground paths and former beer storage areas. Before artificial cooling was invented, people dug cellars into the hills and brought ice in there to cool the beer throughout the year; at this place you can visit Erlangen's extensive underground.

Public tours Apr-Sep: Sun 11:00; groups and individual tours upon request·public tours: €6 including 1 drink (0.4 L), kids up to 12 years old free of charge; individual/group tours: €90

Blockhelden

bouldering hall

A bouldering hall in Dechsendorf, a somewhat outlying suburb.

All days to 23:00 Mon and Wed from 11:00; other days from 09:00 holidays 09:00-23:00·regular €9.90, reduced €8.90, under 13 €6.90, €2 discount on regular and reduced M-F before 15:00

Bongartz

CDs and LPs of modern music, pop, rock, indie, very strong also in electronic music.

Mon-Wed Fri 10:00-19:00, Thu 10:00-20:00, Sat 10:00-16:00

Botanical Garden

A nice place for a walk especially in rainy weather or winter. Visit the greenhouses. The garden offers an artificial stalactite cave, called Neischl-Grotte (which however is not always open).

Bubenreutheum (string instrument maker and music history museum)

You probably would not expect to find much in Bubenreuth, a rather small town just north of Erlangen's Burgberg. However, this Franconian town is home to great music and instrument makers. This museum is located in the town hall and has been initiated by a local association. It shows the local string instrument maker history (which most significantly relates to makers of violins), which is rich in the 20th century, after World War II. While not part of Erlangen, it's no farther than the south of the city.

Sun 14:00-17:00, group tours can also be arranged at other times·€2, reduced admission: €1.50, kids up to the age of 14 free of charge

Burgberg garden, including the Heinrich Kirchner sculpture park

Between villas, it spans about 30,000 m² and has many old trees. At its upper end, it contains a viewpoint and the best view over the city. A further highlight are the bronze sculptures by Erlangen artist Heinrich Kirchner.

Café Brazil

A relatively small menu but good food with mostly good daily offerings, often populated with students.

Café Brazil

A café and bar which offers a short but good menu of regularly changing dishes and cakes, and breakfast.

Mon-Fri 09:00-13:00, Sat Sun holidays 10:00-13:00, school holidays 10:00-13:00

Café Cycles

Student place with varying solid food but no big choice (offer depends on the day, e.g. burgers, pizza).

Café Cycles

A friendly café with a small set of dishes and a bar at night; it also offers some tables in a quiet side street so one can sit outside in summer.

Mon-Fri 11:00-02:00; Sat Sun 10:00-01:00

Café Margarta

A nice French, somewhat hip café with outdoor seating at the Marktplatz (market square), also offering breakfast

Café Mengin

Situated between the Schlossgarten and Schlossplatz, this good café offers delicious cakes; furthermore there is a great breakfast offering and later during the day other small dishes

Coffini

At a major intersection of the pedestrian zone with another street, near the Erlangen Arcaden mall, you can sit outside in the buzzing crowd in summer or in the somewhat quieter inner area which is in one of the old small "palace" style buildings of Erlangen. Fresh cake.

Dartmoor Inn

A pub started as an English-style pub, but gradually grew to become more of a sportsbar, which you should especially visit when interested in playing darts or eating fish and chips; it also offers burgers.

Mon-Sat 17:00-01:00 (Sat if football game is on, from 13:00)

Dechsendorfer Weiher

Großer Bischofsweiher

The "Dechsi" as it is frequently called has in the past had problems with algal blooms and was famously immortalised in an absurdist song by local band J.B.O. purporting the existence of a Great White Shark in said body of water. The Algal blooms were fixed through extensive redesigns of the lake, including routing one of its tributaries around it, but you can see maintenance work done on some of those installations from time to time. The Dechsi is frequently the site of events like "Rock am See" or "Klassik am See". Even when swimming is not possible, you can rent boats of various kinds or simply jogg around the lake.

Der Schallplattenmann

CDs and LPs of modern music, pop, rock, indie, very strong in world music.

Mon-Fri 11:00-18:00, Sat 10:30-14:30, June-Sept: Thu Fri till 19:00

Döner shops along the Hauptstraße

There are several döner places all along Hauptstraße, for example a good one is Zio Cey (especially for falafel).

E-Werk Kulturzentrum

Cultural centre showing great concerts (from famous to hardly known), which also hosts a cinema, festivals and a variety of other program, such as for example poetry slams. Basically, if it can be put under the broad umbrella of "culture" and there is a conceivable interest for such a thing in a student town, the E-Werk has it at least occasionally. They also run a "help yourself" bike repair shop Tu-Sa late in the afternoon, which comes in handy if your bike does things that flabbergast you but you don't want to spend outrageous sums to have it fixed or want to learn how to do it yourself. The offerings of the cinema are also interesting in that they often show lesser known international movies (often with the original audio and subtitles) and have a very reasonable general admission of €8.

Entla's Keller

One of the best known Keller during Bergkirchweih this one focuses on the food at least as much as the beer ("Entla" is Franconian for duck). It is also the only one to be open all summer long and it is as good a place as any to sample traditional Franconian cuisine and the unique Bierkeller experience. In 2021 they announced plans to open their own small scale brewery inside the tunnels under the mountain to brew beer for their beer garden sold except during the Bergkirchweih (when the large volume would overwhelm the small-scale operation).

April - last September Sun 11:00-23:00·Bratwurst €2, Schäuferle €9

Erlanger Teehaus

A good place for a tea or cake in the comfortable rooms or nice garden; it also offers good breakfast.

Mon-Fri 08:00–22:00, Sat 08:00–20:00, Sun 10:00-19:00

Erlanger Waldweihnacht

During the opening there is also an open air ice rink on the other half of the square (Marktplatz).

Mon-Sat 10:00-21:00, Sun 11:00- (starting end November and running until Christmas)

Ex Libris

Near the main campus with Audimax this store is aimed largely at university students and has an okay selection of foreign language classics.

Fischerei Oberle

A traditional seafood place family owned for over 350 years. They raise their own fish which you can also buy at their on-site fish shop. In 2018 they started brewing their own beer.

Thu to Sun: 11:30-14:00 and 17:30-21:00; also open on Wednesdays in summer from 17:30 to 21:00

Food court in Neuer Markt shopping mall

A small food court with solid food offerings (sushi, pizza, döner, vegetarian burgers international food); beside the food court there is also an Asian food booth.

Galerie im Treppenhaus

A commercial art gallery that regularly displays photo exhibitions.

Mon-Fri 09:00-20:00·Free

German reformed church Bohlenplatz

This is not a church any more, it is now a parish house. Reformed Christians from Palatine and Switzerland created the parish and consecrated their own church in 1734. In 1922, the French Reformed and the German Reformed churches merged.

Gummi Wörner

A rather hip bar, where students and Siemens employees are often seen; on Saturdays they usually open the basement and have a DJ play music.

Tue-Sat 20:00-02:00 (sometimes 03:00 on weekends)