Prost! This Oktoberfest, Take Your Beer to Go Along the Fünf Seidla Steig

The Fünf Seidla Steig–or Five Seidla Climb–is a popular “beer hike” in Germany and is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year.

The trail connects five small breweries around Franconian Schweiz–an area near Nuremberg. The trail is 10 kilometers one-way or 20 kilometers roundtrip.

If that seems like a lot–don’t worry! The stops to sample beer at each brewery will break up that trek and, if you’ve worked up an appetite, you can also take a little extra time to sample their traditional German food.

The hike is a great day trip from Nuremberg. Starting from the Nuremberg Nordostbahnhof, you’ll need to take the R21 regional train to Weissenohe to begin the hike. The trains leave hourly on the weekends but more often during the week. It takes about 50 minutes to get to Weissenohe from Nuremberg. When you arrive in Weissenohe, look for the “Frankenweg” signs leading the way to the first brewery, which is just 300 meters from the train station.

The trail officially kicks off at the biergarten in the first brewery: Klosterbrauerei. Along with your first beer,make sure you grab a “Stempelkarte” or “stamp card” here and don’t forget to get a stamp at each biergarten you visit! You’ll need to get it stamped at all five breweries in order to purchase one of the commemorative Seidlas at the end of the trail.

After you finish your first beer, follow the “Frankenweg” signs up the hill and through the beautiful countryside. You’ll cross a busy road and then continue following the signs up one more hill. The second brewery, Brauerei Friedmann, is at the top and its two-level biergarten hosts a great view of the valley below.

Just down the hill, in the middle of town you’ll find the Brauerei Lindenbräu which hosts a brewery that makes six types of beer and a biergarten. They also have six guest rooms if you want to stay in the area for the evening.

From Lindenbräu, follow the signs and other trekkers to get back to the trail. This is a part of the path that gets tricky, so you may want to download the directions from the trail’s website to take with you just in case.

You’ll likely hear a lot of fellow trekkers greeting you with the traditional Bavarian salutation “Servus” as you make your way out to Brauerei Hofmann. Founded in 1897, it has been run by the same family for five generations!

Finish the trail at the lovely biergarten at Elch-Bräu, which has a great selection of food as well as beer and whiskey!

From here, you can reverse course and make your way back to the Gräfenberg train station on foot. But, if you’re tired, don’t worry! Just outside the biergarten, you can catch the shuttle bus back to Gräfenberg to catch the train.

After you’ve had five beers at five breweries and collected their respective stamps, show the brewery your “Stemplekarte” and you can purchase a commemorative stein for your trip. These run around 10-15 euros depending on whether you want a manufactured or handcrafted stein. The breweries also have other souvenirs, like “Frankenweg” signs, for purchase as well.

This isn’t Oktoberfest–this is a place to enjoy great scenery and off the beaten path breweries. So there are some rules for the trail.

No bachelor parties, masks, or costumes (though traditional dress like Lederhosen and Dirndls are ok).

No loud electronic music or singing that would disturb the neighbors.

The biergartens reserve the right to refuse service to those who appear to be over-served or are harassing other guests.

And, of course, they ask you to be considerate by picking up your trash!

The Gräfenberg Zone biergarten is not officially part of the Fünf Seidla Steig–but it’s still a well-known last stop for those trekking the trail due to its location just outside the Gräfenberg station.

A vegan biergarten, it’s also known for its provocative souvenir t-shirts and mugs. You’ll find a lot of people grab a final “wegbier” (to go beer) here before catching the train back to Nuremberg.