Zirndorf is a small town near Nuremberg and home of the Playmobil Fun Land. Hotel Knorz is a 20 minute walk along paths to Playmobil, signposted by Playmobil figures.

Hotel Knorz offers bed and breakfast in a 1960's built but refurbished building on 3 floors (no lift). They have serveral family apparments, which include a fridge, two ring electric cooker, kettle and crockery. So you can bring that fussy child and eat in.
Breakfasts are a buffet of cerals, cold meat, cheese, smoked salmon and fruit, with fresh rolls and croissants and hot chocolate and chocolate spread for the kids.
The hotel is down a quiet side road, but the garden rooms have the advantage of being away from what trafic there is.

Staff were very helpful and with only one exception spoke english very well. The families staying were all german apart from us.

Zirndorf is a very attractive town with many old buildings and lots of outdoor seating at restaurants and cafes.

Volkhardtstr. 18
90513 Zirndorf
0911 / 96 06 350
knorzhotel@t-online.de
www.knorzhotel.de

Nearest station is Zirndorf, which has a 30 min service Monday to Friday, hourly at weekends. Alternatively you can get the U3 tube and then bus 70 or 72 from central Nuremberg.
It is a 10 minute walk from the rail station to the hotel.

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Playmobil Fun Land is a themed activity park based on the Playmobil children's toys. It is aimed at children under 12 and is fun interactive activities. There is minimal queing and no roller coasters, just lots of things to do. We spent two whole days there. Hight season entry (August 2009) was 10 Euros per person irrespective of age, so 40 Euros for a family of four per day.

Things to note:
Much of the play involves water, so come with swimming gear to stand under the waterfalls. If soemone gets wet, use the tumble dryers provided to dry clothes.
There is a large indoor section if it's raining. Outdoors, sandpits and things are covered with awnings on hot days.
Food and drink is NOT a rip off e.g. tea for one Euro, single scoop ice cream cone 80 Cents!
The cafeteria has lots of choice eg pasta with different sauces and pizza, very much aimed at kids. A kids meal is 42 Euros.
You pay a pfand (deposit) on all crockery which is then refunded when you hand it all in, so keeping everying tidy and clean.
Most staff speak very good english.
Much of the park is wheel chair accessibile (so good for buggies too) and they have a wheel chair raft on the boating lake.

We had two super days out and the kids would love to go back.

There is an appartment hotel with family rooms for four across the road from the park. However, as the park is not loacated in a particularly interesting part of Zirndorf we stayed at the Hotel Knorz, an easy walk to/from Playmobil and the town centre.

PLAYMOBIL-FunPark
Brandstätterstraße 2-10
90513 Zirndorf

Phone 0911/96 66-1700
www.playmobil-funpark.de
funpark@playmobil.de

Nearest station is Zirndorf which has a 30 minute train service from Furth which is on the main line to Nuremberg (or use the Underground)
Alternatively, get the bus 113 from central Nuremberg. Tourist info in Nuremberg have all the details and will printout timetables for you.

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Nuremberg provides easy access to the very well-maintained cycle paths that go to Prague and Vienna.

Cycling is also the quickest and cheapest way to get around the city, and the cycle path goes along the river Pegnitz.

Down at "Woerther Wiese" there is a nice beer garden and a sensory garden for kids. Community sports like football and juggling take place there too - just ask, and most of the time you are very welcome to join in.

At "Woerther See", the little lake near the inner city meadows you can rent a boat, and it's also a good place for jogging and keeping fit - running round the lake usually takes about 30-45 min if you are fit.

Of course, cycling is also good during the World Cup. Especially if you want to avoid traffic jams around the stadium.

For a detailed map of Bavarian cycle paths (German language) see:
www.bayerninfo.de/radler/h_radler_e.html

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In and around Nuremberg, you'll find a festival most weekends celebrating local beer varieties, usually every weekend in the summer, and mostly every month in winter.

Last weekend in June:
Altstadtfest Lauf - local bands play for free, market, car boot sale, beer gardens, crafts fair,
www.lauf.de/index.php?goto=termindetails&tid=3838 (German language site)

First weekend in July:
Kunigundenfest Lauf - historic parade including local groups and associations, free school theatre event on top of the local hill, lots of horses and costumed school children, fireworks, beer gardens, and a funfair.

First weekend in August:
Altstadtfest Hersbruck - beer gardens with free gigs, antique fair, little marathon and donkey race.
www.altstadtfest-hersbruck.de (German language site)

Last Sunday in August
There is a flower festival and parade in Roethenbach, which is tremendous. Since 1929, local groups and associations have designed puppets and logos and decorated them with flowers.
www.roethenbach.de/cmsweb/index.asp?menu=c_1008&style=100 (German language site); There are pictures at www.roethenbach.de/blumenfest2005/index.htm.

The most impressive funfair is usually in Nuremberg, but the beer is expensive and the atmosphere is better in Erlangen. The flower festival is very impressive, whereas the costume-rich celebrations are nice for children to watch and participate in.

There are many more festivals in the region that go under the names Kirchweih and Altstadtfest. There is also a garlic festival northwest of Nuremberg.

All the parades and festivals are usually free, but unfortunately the beer is not.

Local trains leave from the main train station out into the countryside. Get the information on the festivals from the local event magazine Plaerrer (www.plaerrer.de - German language site) or the tourist information office: Hauptmarkt 18; email: tourismus@nuernberg.de (www.tourismus.nuernberg.de)

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Nuremberg has a lot of small arthouse cinemas, a multiplex, a MAD simulation and a 3-D IMAX cinema. Most are owned by the same person Wolfram Weber.

The arthouse cinemas are now used more as cafes and pubs and places to hang out locally in a nice atmosphere, whereas the big one is more trendy and basically seems to support the little ones economically. Some nice arthouse cinemas are Casablanca, Meisengeige, and Metropolis.

There are no people inspecting tickets in Cinecitta, as this is done electronically. There is a foreign-language cinema for films screened in their original language at the Southern Cemetery, called Roxy.
And Nuremberg is also hosting annually the International Human Rights Film Festival: see www.fitame.de for details.

Filmhouse im KOMM has a filmarchive and makes them available for the public to copy and also to convert from US format into European format and similar, but it is pretty expensive.

Casablanca Cinema: Kopernikusplatz; tel: 0911 454 824
Cinecitta: various locations, see www.cinecitta.de
Meisengeige Cinema: Am Laufer Schlagturm 3; tel: 0911 204 724
Metropolis: Stresemannplatz 8; tel: 0911 538 848
Roxy Cinema: Julius-Loßmann-Strasse 116; tel: 0911 488 40; www.roxy-nürnberg.de; U-Bahn: Frankenstrasse; S-Bahn: Südfriedhof; Tram 8
Full cinema listings: nuernberg.stadtus.de/kino/kinoprogramm.html

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