Was hoping someone could recommend a good hotel in Coburg for an upcoming trip to Germany. Is there a good Christmas market? Is this a pretty easy place to get around without a car? Thanks for any comments.

The site http://www.coburg-tourist.com/englisch/index_1.html has nine pages on tourist attractions. There are hourly trains on the branch line: Nuremberg is 96minutes away, Bamberg is 63 minutes, Sonneberg 21 minutes and Lichtenfels 16 minutes. I am sorry I cannot help on oher points.

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23.12.03, begins with a candle light parade by the Coburg Children?s Choir through the town centre. Christmas tree decorations, wooden toys, ceramics and porcelain of all kinds dominate the scene of the Coburg Christmas Market, while the fragrant aromas of roasted almonds, lebkuchen and the famous Coburger Bratwurst (sausage) pervade the air. A carousel in the centre of market square delights the children. And music adds to the wonderful atmosphere of the Christmas Market. The State Theatre performs a fairy tale play with a Christmas theme. In addition, Santa Claus arrives every weekend and on Wednesdays in a horse drawn carriage to distribute gifts to the children.

The same pages include a note on the large and famous Christmas market in Nuremberg.

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We visited Coburg from our base in Bamberg last year. Coburg was OK, but not nearly interesting as Bamberg architecturally and in terms of the number and variety of sights.

Thanks Ben and Rufus. Rufus - when you were in Coburg did you have a car or did you travel by train? I need to spend several days in Coburg, but would be happy to stay in Bamberg if getting there and back was convenient. I would prefer not to rent a car. Thanks again.

We had a car. Driving was easy--and we were able to stop at interesting looking spots along the way. I don't enjoy driving as a general rule, but had no problems. We used both trains and rental cars on our trip last year--each has advantages and disadvantages.

If you need to spend several days in Coburg, I would just stay in Coburg--it's a nice town and interesting in its own right. We just preferred Bamberg.

I am an American who has been living in Coburg with my husband for the past 2 years. Coburg has an great castle and a nice center of town area but I agree with the other poster in that Bamberg has more variety. It is very easy to get around town without a car but Coburg is fairly isolated in relation to the bigger cites of Bavaria. A nice hotel would be the Romantik Hotel Goldene Traube. The Christmas Market is nice but small. It begins Nov. 28. There are several trains running to Bamberg daily with the longest one taking about 45 min. If you have any more questions please don't hesitate to ask!

Thanks march222, I appreciate your reply.

Do you know if there is bus service from Coburg to Heilgersdorf? (I have a feeling I might need to rent a car.)

Thanks again.

There is bus service from Coburg to Heilgersdorf. For details see http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de. Curiously the afternoon busses seem to go direct while the morning busses require a change.