Erlangen – French atmosphere and Bavarian traditions

When you visit Erlangen for the first time you will be amazed, for the town is not typically Bavarian or Franconian. Instead of narrow, twisting alleys with houses tightly packed together, it has broad streets, baroque buildings and airy squares where people play Boule or sit in the sun drinking coffee. There is a lively and cultivated French atmosphere, a savoir-vivre that the Huguenots brought with them in the 17th century when they had fled from France and were allowed to live in Erlangen.

Shopping and Lifestyle
Erlangen is a shopper’s paradise. The shopping centre “Erlangen Arcaden” is home to over 100 specialty stores, coffee shops and restaurants. Just a few steps away, numerous service centres and traditional stores provide an enormous range of colourful, exciting shopping opportunities. It is the charming side streets and alleys of the old town particularly which enchant foreign visitors year after year. This quarter offers a multitude of privately owner-run specialist shops, art galleries and gourmet delights of all sorts in its restaurants, bars and pubs.

Art and Culture
Erlangen is renowned as a town of festivals. One of the cultural highlights is the International Comic Salon which is an enormous fair featuring well-known comic publishers. The Markgrafentheater, the oldest Baroque theatre still being used as such in southern Germany, is the home base of the Erlangen Theatre. Small galleries and ateliers with idyllic inner courtyards are to be discovered in the old town. Top class art and cultural history are presented in the town’s gallery.

Traditions and Customs
Traditions and customs aren’t only maintained in Bavaria: they are with life and soul, and in Erlangen the same applies. There’s a huge lot to discover and experience in Erlangen, particularly as far as beer is concerned. Erlangen was once the most important beer exporting town in Bavaria. Even today the smell of barley and malt wafts over the town because two breweries still carry on the brewing tradition. However, Erlangen is far more noted for its “Bergkirchweih”, a Beer Festival which is the oldest in the world, founded in 1755, and attracting more than 1.3 million visitors each year.

Erlangen Nuremberg University
The Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg is one of the largest German research universities. It is of particular importance amongst the universities because it is the only large scale classical university with traditional subjects which also incorporates a technical faculty with a high international scientific reputation.

Whenever you are visiting the metropolitan area of Nuremberg, the medical and university town of Erlangen should be at the top of your list of places to visit. Erlangen is an attractive destination with many multi-facetted opportunities available: from scientific conferences and famous cultural festivals to exciting shopping weekends. Just try it: Discover Erlangen and you will see that this place is worth a visit.

© Erlanger Tourismus und Marketing Verein e.V.