Erlangen is a Franconian city of about 115,000 people, immediately north of Nuremberg, dominated by one of Germany's major universities and the sprawling Siemens research campus that has grown up alongside it. It has the feel of a wealthy, well-run university city: good bookshops, relaxed cafes, and a Baroque old town that reflects its origins as a planned settlement for Huguenot refugees after 1685.
The Huguenot quarter — the Altstadt — was built in a uniform Baroque style and still has an unusual coherence for a German city (most were badly damaged in WWII; Erlangen was relatively spared). Schloss Erlangen and its park, the Schlossgarten, form a pleasant green centre. The university's Botanical Garden is worth a visit, as is the Stadtmuseum for context on the city's Huguenot founding.
Erlangen is best known in beer circles for its Bergkirchweih, a spring folk festival held on the wooded slopes northeast of town in late May — the local cellars have been serving beer in the cool underground since the 18th century, and this is as authentic as Bavarian beer culture gets outside Munich's Oktoberfest. If you're visiting Nuremberg, Erlangen makes an easy and more relaxed half-day trip.