Nuremberg Castle (Kaiserburg): tickets, hours and whether you need a tour
What it costs, and what the ticket types actually mean
Prices went up in January 2026 and the structure catches people out, because the castle is really three separate visits sold in one building. The combination ticket covers all of it; the two partial tickets exist because a lot of visitors only want one half.
| Ticket | Adult | Reduced | What it gets you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Combination ticket | EUR 10 | EUR 9 | Palas with the Double Chapel, the Imperial Castle Museum, the Deep Well and the Sinwell Tower |
| Palas and museum | EUR 7 | EUR 6 | The imperial apartments, the Romanesque Double Chapel and the museum. No tower, no well |
| Deep Well and Sinwell Tower | EUR 4 | EUR 3 | The guided well demonstration and the climb up the tower for the view |
| Courtyard, ramparts, gardens | Free | Free | The view over the roofs, the Sinwell Tower from outside, the Maria Sibylla Merian garden |
Children and young people under 18 go free, which makes this one of the cheapest family visits in the city. If you are seeing several museums, check the Nuremberg Card before buying anything: it includes the castle along with the city's other museums and two days of public transport.
You cannot buy this online
This deserves its own heading because thousands of people a month search for "Nuremberg castle tickets" and go looking for a booking page. The Bavarian Palace Department states it plainly: entrance tickets for the Kaiserburg cannot be ordered online. You buy at the cash desk in the outer courtyard, with cash or a card.
Anything you find online that promises castle admission is one of two things: a guided walking tour that includes entry in its price, or the Nuremberg Card. Both are legitimate. Neither is a castle ticket, and neither will get you in faster, because there is no separate queue to skip.
The one time this changes is December. During the Christkindlesmarkt the castle picks up the overflow on wet afternoons and the ticket desk can back up for twenty minutes or so. It is still not bookable — just go in the morning.
Opening hours
Summer hours run roughly 9am to 6pm and winter hours roughly 10am to 4pm, with the changeover in early October and late March. Unusually for a German museum it is open on Mondays. It closes on 1 January, Shrove Tuesday, and 24, 25 and 31 December — note that middle one, because it catches people who assumed a Christmas-market trip meant the castle was open on Christmas Day.
Last admission is before closing and the Deep Well runs on fixed demonstration times, so arriving in the final half hour means seeing the museum and missing the well. Allow an hour and a half for the combination ticket without hurrying.
What is actually up there
The Kaiserburg is not one castle but a hill with three things on it. The Palas is the imperial residence, and its Double Chapel — two chapels stacked vertically, the emperor above, everyone else below, connected by an opening in the floor — is the single most remarkable room in Nuremberg and the one thing here that is genuinely medieval rather than reconstructed. The Deep Well is a 47-metre shaft cut through solid sandstone, shown by a member of staff lowering a light down it in the dark, and it is far better than that sentence makes it sound. The Sinwell Tower is a climb and a view.
Every Holy Roman Emperor between 1050 and 1571 held court here at least once. That is the fact the castle is famous for, and standing in the Palas it is also the fact that is hardest to feel, because most of what you are standing in was rebuilt after 1945 like the rest of the old town.
Getting up there
It is a walk, and there is no way around that: the castle sits on a sandstone ridge above the old town and you climb to it. From the Hauptmarkt it is about twelve minutes uphill past St Sebaldus; from the main station, about twenty-five through the whole old town, which is the nicer way to do it. The gentlest approach is from the west up Neutormauer rather than the steps from Burgstrasse.
There is no bus to the gate and parking on the hill is minimal. Step-free access inside the Palas is limited by the building itself.
Do you need a guided tour?
For the castle alone, no — and I would not sell you one. The museum is well labelled in English, the Deep Well comes with a staff demonstration included in the ticket, and the building is small enough that you cannot get lost in it. Walking in off the street with EUR 10 is the right way to see the Kaiserburg.
Where a guide changes things is the walk up to it, and that is a different purchase. The route from the station to the castle gate passes through a city that was ninety per cent destroyed on 2 January 1945 and rebuilt to look as though it was not. Which walls are original, which are 1950s, why the reconstruction was argued about for thirty years — none of that is on a plaque, and it is the difference between a pretty climb and understanding what you climbed through. Tours that include castle admission bundle the ticket into that.
Castle entry includedNuremberg: Castle and Old Town Tour – incl. Admission tickets and a sample of Rotbier
Classic 2 hoursNuremberg 2-Hour Old Town Guided Walking Tour in English
Castle + war historyNuremberg: Complete Tour! Castle/Old Town/World War history
Compare the difference against the EUR 10 door price rather than assuming a combined ticket saves money — sometimes it does, often the tour is simply worth its own fee. The full list is on walking tours.
If you would rather see the parts of the city that are locked, the sandstone cellars under the castle hill are on underground Nuremberg — those you genuinely cannot do alone.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need tickets in advance for Nuremberg Castle?
No, and you cannot buy them in advance in any case. The Bavarian Palace Department does not sell Kaiserburg admission online. Tickets are bought at the cash desk in the outer courtyard with cash or card, and outside December there is rarely a queue.
How much does Nuremberg Castle cost?
The combination ticket covering the Palas, the Double Chapel, the Imperial Castle Museum, the Deep Well and the Sinwell Tower is EUR 10, or EUR 9 reduced, as of January 2026. A partial ticket for the Palas and museum only is EUR 7. Under-18s go free, and the courtyard, ramparts and gardens cost nothing.
Is Nuremberg Castle worth visiting?
Yes, and it is one of the better value visits in the city. The Romanesque Double Chapel and the 47-metre Deep Well are both unusual, the view over the old town is the best in Nuremberg, and a large part of the site is free to walk into. Allow about an hour and a half for the full ticket.
Is Nuremberg Castle open on Mondays?
Yes. Unlike most German museums the Kaiserburg opens seven days a week. It closes only on 1 January, Shrove Tuesday, and 24, 25 and 31 December - so it is shut on Christmas Day, which catches out visitors who came for the Christmas market.
How long does it take to walk up to Nuremberg Castle?
About twelve minutes uphill from the Hauptmarkt, or twenty-five from the main station if you walk up through the old town. There is no bus to the gate. The gentlest approach is from the west along Neutormauer rather than the steps from Burgstrasse.