Nuremberg's medieval core is small enough to cross on foot, and most of what defines it — the walls, the castle gardens, the rally grounds — costs nothing. Three days of free viewpoints, €4 street lunches and €3 village beer.
The castle's terraced gardens on the old bastion are open April to October, roughly 08:00 until dusk, with no ticket needed. The adjoining Freiung terrace gives the same red-roof panorama the paid Sinwellturm charges for.
Nuremberg's best-preserved medieval lane: around 20 half-timbered tanners' houses from the 14th to 16th centuries, one of the few Old Town streets that survived the January 1945 bombing largely intact. Free to walk.
A 13th-century burial ground where roughly 6,000 flat sandstone tombs sit under thousands of roses, planted and tended by the families themselves. Albrecht Dürer (grave 649) and sculptor Veit Stoss lie here. Open daily from 07:00.
The 1824 Kettensteg is continental Europe's oldest surviving iron chain suspension bridge; from it you see the covered Henkersteg and the Weinstadel. Cross to Trödelmarkt island for a free riverside bench and picnic.
The Südstadt's working-class market fills Aufseßplatz on market mornings, with Franconian growers selling potatoes, cheese, sausage and seasonal fruit well under Old Town prices. Brezen and filter coffee from the stalls runs about €3.
Three grilled Nürnberger sausages in a crusty roll with mustard is the city's standard cheap lunch, around €4. The street hatch at Bratwurst Röslein on Rathausplatz serves it without the sit-down table surcharge inside.
Nuremberg's most multicultural quarter sits three tram stops west of the walls. Turkish bakeries near Fürther Straße sell börek and lahmacun for €2-3, and the Vietnamese and Syrian kitchens around Austraße do full lunches for €7-9.
A bare-bones Franconian pub pouring village brews from small breweries around Nuremberg at roughly €3 a half-litre, with Schäufele and bread-heavy plates under €12. Wooden benches, regulars, no English menu.
Housed in the unfinished Congress Hall, the largest surviving Nazi building. The exhibition covers the rally grounds and the post-war trials. Entry is €6, €1.50 reduced, and children under 18 go free. Tram 8 stops outside.
The grandstand where 200,000 people massed for the 1930s rallies is open ground you can walk onto for nothing, steps included. The two-kilometre granite Große Straße parade axis runs from it towards Dutzendteich lake.
A hill roughly 60 metres high built entirely from 1945 war rubble, now birch-covered, with the Congress Hall and city skyline visible from the top. The Silbersee below is a flooded clay pit; the loop path is free and near-empty.
The city lake, a 15-minute walk east of the Old Town, has free public grilling areas, a small sand beach at Norikusbucht and west-facing benches for sunset. Kiosk beer runs about €2.50 against €5 in the centre.