Visiting Nuremberg and possibly Vienna

STEVIEBOY1 · 18 Nov 2019

Hi, I was reading an article in one of the weekend newspapers about Nuremberg, it looked to be quite an interesting destination. Has anyone been there? if so, what was it like, is there enough to do for a 2 or 3 day stay. I was already thinking of going to Vienna next year and I think I could combine the 2 cities as they seem to be rail connected.

Not sure yet how I would travel there from the UK, fly or go by train, I think sleepers are being re introduced from Brussels to Vienna possibly via Nuremberg next year?

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Spoorslag '70 · 18 Nov 2019

I was in Nürnberg (excuse me, it's usually easier for me to just write the German name) for a day a couple of weeks ago and found it rather nice. The town (centre at least) looked rather decent and the U-Bahn (especially the automatic one) is quite good fun (eventhough you notice it's just a minature version of the one in München). The tram museum is very much worth a visit (at least if that fills your boat) and the main location of the DB Museum (the German try of something equivalent to York) is also located (relatively central) in Nürnberg.

The NightJet service will be in Nürnberg around 01:00 in the morning or so (Nürnberg is the place where the Hamburg and Düsseldorf (or on some days Brussel from early next year) are split and combined to form trains to Wien and Innsbruck (and vv)), which might not make it a good idea to use that. It is however perfectly doable in a few hours (about 5 or so) from Brussel, which depending on where you start in Britain might make it possible by day trains in a rather good time.

Masboroughlad · 18 Nov 2019

It's a nice enough place. International tourism, rather than typical German city (Imho). Go on a city tour if you can. Some spine chilling WW2 history.

30907 · 18 Nov 2019

The Vienna-Brussels will run Sun and Wed, returning Mon and Thu. Mon ex Brussels and Wed ex Vienna will not be full of Austrian officials so might give you a better price. On other nights, the service still runs to/ from Duesseldorf and there is a decent Brussels connection in Cologne.
Brussels-Frankfurt-Nuremberg-Vienna is 2-hourly by ICE.

PS If you have a significant UK element to your journey, a 3-day interrail might be worth costing out vs Advance tickets.

Alfonso · 18 Nov 2019

STEVIEBOY1 said:
Hi, I was reading an article in one of the weekend newspapers about Nuremberg, it looked to be quite an interesting destination. Has anyone been there? if so, what was it like, is there enough to do for a 2 or 3 day stay. I was already thinking of going to Vienna next year and I think I could combine the 2 cities as they seem to be rail connected.

Not sure yet how I would travel there from the UK, fly or go by train, I think sleepers are being re introduced from Brussels to Vienna possibly via Nuremberg next year?

Also home to Playmobil-land, which is probably only of interest if travelling with under-tens.

LNW-GW Joint · 18 Nov 2019

If you want to combine the two, it's just over 4 hours on an ICE-T, every 2 hours.
A nice run with glimpses of the Danube near Passau and Linz.

TheEdge · 18 Nov 2019

I've been to Nuremberg a few times. The DB Museum is worth a look, especially the signal box overlooking the approach to the Hbf.

And no visitor with time should miss the Documention Centre, build in an enormous Nazi theatre in the very centre of the Rally Grounds

tasky · 19 Nov 2019

Nuremberg is great, the DB museum is certainly worth a look, the old town is good for a walking tour, the Nazi party rally grounds documentation centre is interesting too. It's an interesting city with a few different sides to it, I went at the beginning of this year.

It's quite cheap to go to if you buy a ticket with Czech railways from Brussels to Prague 'via Cheb' and then just break your journey in Nuremberg. This is allowed, see Seat 61 for details.

https://www.seat61.com/Czech.htm

STEVIEBOY1 · 19 Nov 2019

Thank you for your comments, sounds like it could all work out ok, (I think, as well as the Rail Museum, there is also a Tram Museum too?)

30907 · 19 Nov 2019

tasky said:
It's quite cheap to go to if you buy a ticket with Czech railways from Brussels to Prague 'via Cheb' and then just break your journey in Nuremberg. This is allowed, see Seat 61 for details.

https://www.seat61.com/Czech.htm

Stopping short at Nuremberg is possible, but I would vary Seat61's advice: set an extended maximum transfer (in Connection Parameters) on the CD site; this allows the 1825 ex Brussels to show up with an overnight in N. As you dont have to use a specific train in Germany, you can travel earlier that day from Brussels and be able to fend off queries from DB staff.
In the reverse direction it isn't OK, apparently.

Edit: gave duff info

gordonthemoron · 19 Nov 2019

You used to be able to do tours of the interior fortifications of the City Walls in Nuremberg however I can find no sign of them in Google now, they were run by www.historische-felsengaenge.de/

dutchflyer · 19 Nov 2019

30907 said:
1.As you dont have to use a specific train in Germany, you can travel earlier that day from Brussels and be able to fend off queries from DB staff.
2.In the reverse direction it should be OK.

@1.there is Zugbindung (have to travel in that train on the leg N-Cheb, which is an RE without seat-reservations, so you MUST arr. in N before that booked train departs. Prices from BRU or Aachen for less as 20€ very much and easy bookable untill around 30 days advance.(though mostly not SUNs)
@2. NO, if starting FROM CZ, the ticket must be checked and stamped by a CD/Czech conductor.

30907 · 19 Nov 2019

dutchflyer said:
@1.there is Zugbindung (have to travel in that train on the leg N-Cheb, which is an RE without seat-reservations, so you MUST arr. in N before that booked train departs. Prices from BRU or Aachen for less as 20€ very much and easy bookable untill around 30 days advance.(though mostly not SUNs)
@2. NO, if starting FROM CZ, the ticket must be checked and stamped by a CD/Czech conductor.

1. Yes, that's why I made the specific suggestion about booking the 1825. It doesn't stop you finishing short at Nuremberg, as noted upthread.
2. Apologies then, didn't know DB staff looked for the evidence, though I had heard that they sometimes didn't like the extended validity in Germany.
In that case, I would use the same workaround, booking the last possible train at 19.22 from Cheb, and do one of:
- spend a day pottering through southern CZ
- go the longer way on Railjet and fast train via Prague
- get to Nuremberg by ICE, then buy a Bayern-Boehmen-Ticket and spend a day on the secondary lines crossing the Bavarian Forest, making sure I switched to the CD ticket in good time!
Having looked closely at the T&Cs, the ticket is now only valid 2 days, so only the 3rd option makes any sense with a longer stop in Nuremberg.

ChiefPlanner · 19 Nov 2019

STEVIEBOY1 said:
Thank you for your comments, sounds like it could all work out ok, (I think, as well as the Rail Museum, there is also a Tram Museum too?)

We went a couple of years ago for the Xmas Markets - and stumbled upon a special open day at the Tram Museum which featured an innovative circular tour of the city with schnaps and Gluwein , only shame is the excellent commentary was in German and lost on us. Nice city and plenty of hearty eating places.

Struner · 19 Nov 2019

gordonthemoron said:
You used to be able to do tours of the interior fortifications of the City Walls in Nuremberg however I can find no sign of them in Google now, they were run by www.historische-felsengaenge.de/

You mean these? https://www.historische-felsengaenge.de/fuehrungen/historische-felsengaenge.html

gordonthemoron · 20 Nov 2019

Struner said:
You mean these? https://www.historische-felsengaenge.de/fuehrungen/historische-felsengaenge.html

Yes, and no. That's the company and the tour they still do is worth going on. But they used to do other tours including one through the tunnel at the bottom of city walls which had been used to fire cannons at troops in the moat, that part of the city walls was built after the siege of Vienna as the ruler was afraid the Ottoman's would invade. The fortifications were described as a 16th century Death Star

tasky · 20 Nov 2019

dutchflyer said:
@1.there is Zugbindung (have to travel in that train on the leg N-Cheb, which is an RE without seat-reservations, so you MUST arr. in N before that booked train departs. Prices from BRU or Aachen for less as 20€ very much and easy bookable untill around 30 days advance.(though mostly not SUNs)
@2. NO, if starting FROM CZ, the ticket must be checked and stamped by a CD/Czech conductor.

Just to be clear, are you only suggesting this is the case (a Czech stamp is needed) if the planned itinerary on the ticket isn't stuck to? Or on all journeys on the return leg?

I can't really see how they could enforce requiring a Czech stamp 100% of the time given it is perfectly normal for tickets not to be checked. I didn't have one on my return journey and didn't have any problems (but didn't stray from the planned itinerary).

Also, I used an e-ticket on the České dráhy app, so how does that work, given such tickets can't be physically stamped? Is data sharing good enough that DB can tell it's been scanned by a Czech conductor?

30907 · 20 Nov 2019

tasky said:
Just to be clear, are you only suggesting this is the case (a Czech stamp is needed) if the planned itinerary on the ticket isn't stuck to? Or on all journeys on the return leg?

It should be the case for all journeys on the return leg. What happens with e-tickets is an interesting question.
I have amended my previous post #13 as I realise that the ticket is only valid 2 days.

tasky · 21 Nov 2019

30907 said:
It should be the case for all journeys on the return leg. What happens with e-tickets is an interesting question.
I have amended my previous post #13 as I realise that the ticket is only valid 2 days.

This is interesting, what are you basing the claim about return journeys needing to be stamped on? Seat 61 doesn't mention it and he's usually pretty solid. Not saying you're wrong, just interested!

30907 · 21 Nov 2019

tasky said:
This is interesting, what are you basing the claim about return journeys needing to be stamped on? Seat 61 doesn't mention it and he's usually pretty solid. Not saying you're wrong, just interested!

It was dutchflyer who made the original point, I was merely clarifying his meaning.
The man in Seat61 clearly hasn't done the Cheb route himself (he asks for feedback) whereas I assume dutchflyer has done this or similar, and I defer to his experience.
(I haven't been that way either, it's actually a 2-car DB train but I presume there's a CD conductor for Schirnding-Cheb.)
Mark only mentions starting short on the CD ticket from Berlin, and again I am not sure he's done so personally.

Visiting Nuremberg and possibly Vienna

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