Things to Do in Nuremberg in May

This tour weaves through the narrow, shadowed lanes of the Altstadt, past half-timbered houses with window boxes overflowing with red geraniums, before ascending to the sandstone ramparts of the Imperial Castle. The experience culminates in a dimly lit tavern, where you can taste the city's famous rotbier, a deep red lager with a malty, almost nutty flavor, served in traditional stoneware mugs.

You'll travel in a comfortable vehicle along the autobahn. But detour into the rolling Franconian countryside, where you might stop in a walled medieval town like Rothenburg ob der Tauber, hearing the echo of your footsteps on its empty, cobbled main street and smelling the faint, sweet scent of flowering linden trees.

You'll stand on the vast Zeppelin Field, feeling the unsettling scale of the unfinished Congress Hall and hearing the guide's voice bounce off its colossal, raw brick walls. The private format allows for direct, subtle conversation about this difficult chapter in Nuremberg's history.

Moving from the sizzle of three-inch rostbratwurst on a beechwood grill to the dense, spicy chew of lebkuchen sampled in a centuries-old spice shop. You'll feel the crisp shell of a schneeball pastry shatter between your fingers and taste the sharp, vinegary tang of a local sauerkraut.

Lets you set the pace, perhaps pausing to feel the cool, worn brass of the Schöner Brunnen fountain's wish ring or to hear an organist practicing in the cavernous, incense-scented interior of St. Lorenz Church. Your guide can point out the subtle carvings on merchant houses and explain the network of tunnels beneath the main squares.

Potentially focusing more on the Documentation Center museum or the specific construction techniques of the sites. You'll spend time inside the cold, concrete corridors of the Congress Hall, hearing the distant drip of water and examining the period photographs that line the walls.