Bergkirchweih

The Bergkirchweih is Erlangen's spring folk festival, held on the wooded Burgberg hill northeast of the city centre for eleven days in late May and early June. It centres on a series of old sandstone beer cellars built into the hillside in the 18th century, which kept the local breweries' stock cool through the summer. The festival tradition of tapping those cellars in May has continued without interruption since the mid-1700s.

Unlike Oktoberfest, the Bergkirchweih takes place on a wooded hillside under chestnut trees rather than in a fairground. The atmosphere is relaxed and genuinely local — the crowd is overwhelmingly Franconian, the beer is Erlangen-brewed, and the whole thing feels closer to a large village party than a tourist attraction. If you are anywhere near Nuremberg in late May, it is worth the 20-minute train ride.

things to do sight
A story
The Bergkirchweih cellars were built into the sandstone hill in the 18th century to keep beer cool without refrigeration. The underground passages maintain a year-round temperature of around 8°C. The tradition of drinking up on the Berg in May predates Oktoberfest by a century.