Hof

Hof is in Upper Franconia.

Understand

Hof sometimes called Hof an der Saale, to distinguish it from other towns of that name, used to be on the very edge of West Germany, bordering both East Germany and the Czech republic. As such it enjoyed special subsidies until the fall of the wall and has entered a sort of crisis since 1990. Still it it is a lovely town that is rarely visited by casual tourists

Get in

By train

• 🌍 Hof Main Station. There is a regional express (RE) from both Nuremberg and Dresden with hourly departures. as this used to be a through service, trains from both directions wait for each other in Hof. The lines towards Dresden and Leipzig are electrified while the line towards Nuremberg is not.  

By bus

Some Intercity buses in Germany stop in Hof.

By car

Both A 9 and A 72 pass close by

Get around

The Stadtwerke Hof cover most of the city with a dozen bus routes. Other than that the city is not all that big and generally walkable.

See

• 🌍 Fernweh Park, Graben 26. all day. A park where numerous people have left signs of places they visited or come from. If you donate a sign yourself, you get a free tour. free. (updated Aug 2015)
• 🌍 Streichholzmuseum Wirth, Georg-Könitzer-Straße 19, 95028 Hof, ☎ [phone]. F 15:00 to 18:00. Showing figures built from matches as well as matchboxes 

Do

• 🌍 Untreusee. an artificial lake (2km by 700 meters) just out of town. It can be used for swimming, fishing and all types of water activities, including cruising on small craft. A restaurant is close by as a re several other things to do (updated Aug 2015)
• Kletterpark Untreusee, Stelzenhofstr (at the Untreusee). from March 28 to November 8: From 10:00 (holidays and weekends) or from 13:00 (Mo-Fr.). different rope climbing parcours with different difficulties child 12€ reduced 16€ adult 20€ multiple entry and family tickets available. (updated Aug 2015)

Buy

Eat

As this is Franconia, Bratwurst are obviously very much part of the local cuisine. Hof however has a special feature in the Wärschtlamo (Franconian for Sausage-man, high German would be "Würstchen-Mann") who serves sausages from a mobile stand, street food style. The Hof Bratwurst is made from lean pork and some beef. It is cut very finely with the addition of ice cubes, and then about 50 grams of sausage meat is filled into a pork gut with a diameter of 18-22 mm. It is usually sold and eaten in pairs.

• 
  Wärschtlamo
• 
  Bratwursts with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes

• 🌍 Meinels Bas, Vorstadt 13, ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. Also has a beer garden on site mains from 5.50 €. (updated Jun 2015)
• 🌍 Gourmet Palast Hof, Ossecker Straße 175, 95030 Hof, ☎ [phone]. daily 11:30 - 15:00 and 17:30 - 23:30. Asian food and live-cooking buffet style soft drinks included in price Buffet lunch 13 €, dinner 23 €. 
• 🌍 Kastaniengarten, Kulmbacher Str. 4, 95030 Hof, ☎ [phone]. Belonging to the Sorat Hotel upscale regional food daily 12:00 - 14:00 and 18:00 - 22:00. 
• 🌍 Season's und Tante-Emma, Ludwigstraße 36, 95028 Hof, ☎ [phone]. Tu-Sat from 17:00. Season's is a restaurant while Tante-Emma is a coffee-bar 
• 🌍 Bulut, Marienstr. 67, 95028 Hof, ☎ [phone]. M - F 11:00 - 22:00, Su 11:00 - 22:00. Turkish food (updated Apr 2019)

Drink

Sleep

• Jugendherberge Hof (Youth Hostel), Beethovenstraße 44, ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. from 18€ per person. (updated Aug 2015)
• Hotel Strauss, Bismarckstraße 31, ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. single from 47€ double from 76€. (updated Jun 2015)

Connect

Go next

• The tiny border hamlet of Mödlareuth, 13km (8 miles) north on the B2 highway, was divided by a wall in the days of Cold War Europe as part of a glorious workers' paradise. An open-air museum records the history.