Attraction · Erfurt · Updated on 1 November 2026.

Krämerbrücke in Erfurt

Krämerbrücke is an attraction in Erfurt, Thuringia. This place has a story in the app. 31 of the 50 well-known points of interest nearby are within 1 km. Within 280 m you'll find a bench, a public toilet, a water point and a bike pump.

Directions in Google Maps

The story

Wikipedia ↗

Story · Krämerbrücke

You're standing at the Krämerbrücke in Erfurt, the Merchants' Bridge. Have a look around. A narrow cobbled street, lined on both sides with three-storey half-timbered houses. It feels like an ordinary medieval street, but underneath you flows the Breitstrom, a branch of the river Gera. Only a handful of bridges in the world still have people living on them. Think of the Ponte Vecchio in Florence or the Rialto Bridge in Venice. This one has been lived on without a break for more than five hundred years, longer than any other bridge in Europe.

Read the whole story in the Outdoor Pitstop app: check in at this place and it is yours (with Pro; new users are Pro for the first 4 weeks).

Opening hours and admission

Wheelchair: Accessible

Source: OpenStreetMap and Wikidata.

Photos

10 photos from Wikimedia Commons. In the app you add your own photo when you are there.

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Photo: TomKidd · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0View the photo on Wikimedia Commons

Krämerbrücke Erfurt: a bridge with shops and homes

The Krämerbrücke in Erfurt is a bridge where people live and work. It is one of the few bridges in the world with houses on top. Known as the bridge of the merchants, it once sold herbs, wine and silk. Today you will find studios, galleries and cafés here. This attraction in Erfurt sits above the Gera, close to the Mikwe and Erfurt Cathedral.

What you see at the Krämerbrücke

Walk along a cobbled lane lined with half-timbered houses 3 storeys high. Beneath your feet flows the Breitstrom, a branch of the Gera. Some of the houses hang over the edge of the stone bridge, held up by wooden struts. Look out for the old doors and the signs above them, which once showed who lived there. On the east side stands the Ägidienkirche, and you pass through its gate to get onto the bridge. From the parallel Rathausbrücke on the south side, you can get a good view of the stone arches. At number 31, a permanent exhibition covers the history of the site.

The history of the Krämerbrücke

Market stalls stood on this spot as early as 1156. The first bridge here was made of wood, but it burned down again and again, so a stone bridge of 125 metres was built in 1325. It lay on the Via Regia, a route used by pilgrims and traders, who sold spices, incense and woad, the dye Erfurt was famous for. After a major town fire in 1472, new houses were built, and they were finished in 1486. There were first 62 of them, but later they were merged into 32 houses. A church once stood on the west side, but it was demolished in the nineteenth century. The bridge has been continuously inhabited for more than 500 years, longer than any other bridge in Europe.

Drinking water, toilets and benches near Krämerbrücke

You'll find a toilet 48 metres from the Krämerbrücke in Erfurt, at Nette Toilette, and it is free to use. There are 17 public toilets within 500 metres. Benches are also plentiful around the Krämerbrücke in Erfurt: the nearest is 24 metres away, at Rathausbrücke, and 94 benches stand within a radius of 500 metres. For drinking water, you'll need to walk 190 metres to the Fischmarkt. This tap is wheelchair accessible, and there are 8 water taps within 500 metres. At 280 metres, you'll find a bike pump at Selbsthilfefahrradwerkstatt FaWe - Fahr Weiter e.V.

Walking around Krämerbrücke

You can easily visit other sights from this spot. The Mikwe is 50 metres away, and a little further on, 76 metres from here, you will find the Kleine Synagoge, which is a museum. The Alte Synagoge in Erfurt is 120 metres away, and it offers an audio guide. If you walk a little further, the Erfurt Cathedral is 640 metres away, and it also has an audio guide.