The Bergkirchweih, Erlangen’s Hilltop Beerfest
It’s late afternoon and I’m a few beers in. I weave my way through families pushing strollers and groups of friends gathered in front of beer cellars and stop for a quick “3 im Weggla,” three Nürnberg Bratwurst in a bread roll.
At the next Bierkeller, students sing drinking tunes and down liter-large beers while a couple in their sixties looks on bemusedly, perhaps recalling their own youth. I, too, have my next liter of beer in sight, this time at the Steinbach Keller.
Splashes of sunlight filter through the leaves shimmering in the breeze as I climb the steps to the highest terrace. I find a free seat between a young couple at one end of the table, and a dignified older gent clad in a traditional felt coat at the other end.
Strains of accordion music drift up from the cellar lane below as I take a draught from my stein emblazoned with storks perched on a crenellated wall. This is my first Bergkirchweih, and I’m enjoying the vibe in this laid-back city between Nürnberg and Bamberg.
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Erlangen and Its Beerfest
Erlangen is a university town with more of a provincial feel than its larger neighbours. But it is a Franconian town through and through, which means you won’t go thirsty. And like Forchheim to its north, you’ll find a wooded hill where the city’s brewers once lagered their beer—a perfect place to hold a beer fest.
With scores of regional breweries and thousands of seats for thirsty beer pilgrims under elms, oaks, and chestnuts, the Bergkirchweih welcomes upwards of a million visitors every year during its twelve-day run. The “Berch,” as it’s called in the local dialect, is one of Germany’s largest beer fests. It’s also reputed to be Germany’s oldest. 2026 marks the 271st time that locals will gather over liters of beer.
Despite the high number of visitors, far fewer foreign tourists make their way to this Franconian outpost than to Munich during Oktoberfest, lending the festival a distinctly local flair. Other customs set the Bergkirchweih apart as well. If you’re around on closing day, tradition has it that the last barrel of the festival is buried at the beer cellar where next year’s cask tapping (Anstich) will take place.
Erlangen’s Burgberg and Its Beer Cellars
Like many Franconian beer festivals, the Bergkirchweih began life as a parish fair (Kirchweih) commemorating the consecration of a chapel. In 1755 the local magistrate decided to move all fairs and religious processions to the Burgberg hill north of town. This included the annual Pentecost market, which was grafted onto the parish fair—a fortuitous decision, as we shall see.
The Burgberg is a low-slung sandstone embankment rising above a tributary of the Regnitz. It was quarried during the fifteenth century, its southern slopes used to house beer cellars since the late seventeenth century. The cellars tunneled into the rock helped catapult Erlangen’s brewers into the upper echelons of Germany’s beer-exporting cities during the nineteenth century.
Back to 1755. Conveniently, the embankment forms a lane stretching the length of the rise and joining the cellars like a string of pearls. Turns out the magistrate was on to something when he uprooted the Pentecost fair and transplanted it amid the beer cellars. It’s on this wooded southern slope that Erlangen has celebrated beer and the Bergkirchweih ever since.
A Few Contemporary Beer Cellars
Entla’s Keller
These days, Entla’s Keller (the “little duck”) is Erlangen’s most prominent beer cellar. It’s a beer garden* I’ve been meaning to visit for ages, so I made a beeline for this spot at the western end of the embankment as soon as I arrived at the Bergkirchweih. Like the other beer cellars along the lane, Entla’s has a few beer garden tables out front near an Ausschank that reaches deep into the hillside, with terraced seating climbing the shaded hill atop the cellar.
*To all ye knowers of Franconian beer lore, I use the word beer garden advisedly. To the rest of my readers: beer gardens go by the name of beer cellars in Franconia. Bierkeller = Biergarten.
Entla’s serves up Kitzmann’s Bergbier, a Festbier brewed for the Bergkirchweih by a brewery with roots in Erlangen. (Kitzmann was acquired by Kulmbacher in 2018.) Presented in one of the more whimsical ceramic mugs I’ve seen (ducks!!), Kitzmann’s Bergbier is a touch toastier than the Festbier of Munich’s Oktoberfest—a kind of cross between a Kellerbier and a Festbier.
Steinbach Keller
I finished up at Entla’s, gobbled down a Flammkuchen while watching a stream of dirndl and lederhosen flow by, and went in search of the Steinbach Keller for their Bergbier.
Aromas of dulce de leche, toast, and Leibniz biscuit swirl forth, joined by brown sugar syrup and herbal tea on the palate, along with roasted nuts and a dusting of baking spice. Even if the parts don’t entirely come together, it’s still a refreshing beer in the style of a Kellerbier meets Landbier, malt forward but not richly so. In a flash, the liter’s gone.
Impressions of the Bergkirchweih
Like Forchheim’s Annafest, the Bergkirchweih is a celebration of old-school beer cellars surrounded by abundant greenery, even if the focus on local beer isn’t as explicit as it is at the Annafest. The larger regional players are out in force, though you’ll also find Steinbach from Erlangen and Weiherer from Upper Franconia.
If just about all of Erlangen’s storied breweries are now owned by larger concerns, you can still catch a glimpse of the city’s beer history in the names of the cellars. These read like a who’s who of Erlangen’s one-time brewers and innkeepers, places like Henninger Keller, Helbig Keller, Birkners Keller, and Niklas Keller.
Beyond beer, you’ll find plenty of similarities with folk fests large and small, like rides, shooting galleries, and a Ferris wheel. Music is a mix of pop cover bands, accordionists, organ grinders, and the occasional oompah band.
What sets the Bergkirchweih apart is its sheer range of food, which runs the gamut from pizza and gyros to Central European fairground standards. You’ll find Flammkuchen, langos (Hungarian deep-fried dough), Bratwurst, Käsespätzle, open-faced sandwiches fried on a griddle, and even Belgian-style fries with mayo.
Many of the cellars serve sit-down meals, including Entla’s Keller, where you can fill up on Schweinshaxe. If you’re still hungry, you can stuff yourself on crepes, ice cream, candy floss, and folk fest staples like candied almonds and marzipan.
Or just have another beer.
Odds and Ends
Dates: The Bergkirchweih begins the Thursday before Pentecost, which can fall in late May or early June, and runs for twelve days. 2026: 21 May to 1 June. 2027: 13 May to 24 May.
Getting there: This is a fest that you can easily visit as a day trip from any of Franconia’s major towns or cities. The wooded hilltop that plays host to the Bergkirchweih is about 15 minutes on foot from Erlangen’s train station. You can also get a local bus from the station.
Accommodation: Erlangen is along the trainline between Nürnberg and Bamberg. Take your pick of accommodation: Bamberg, Nürnberg, Forchheim, or even Erlangen itself.
Prices: Cheaper than Oktoberfest, more expensive than other regional beer festivals. Just north of €14 for a Maß (liter) in 2026.
Related Posts
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From Horse Races to Beer Steins: Oktoberfest Since 1810
Photos by Franz D. Hofer
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