Next dates
2027 dates not yet announced — typically around June. We're watching and will update this page when they land.
Future dates
- 2027May 29 – Jun 7, 2027
Quick answer
Nördlingen Pentecost Fair is a volksfest in Nördlingen, Bavaria. It runs from June 6–15, 2026 — opening on the second Saturday after Pentecost, not Pentecost weekend itself. Swabia's oldest folk fair rolls out its beer tent on the meadows beside Nördlingen's perfectly preserved medieval walls — ten days of revelry inside a meteor crater.
Swabia's oldest folk fair rolls out its beer tent on the meadows beside Nördlingen's perfectly preserved medieval walls — ten days of Pentecost revelry inside a meteor crater.
Held each year on the Kaiserwiese just outside Nördlingen's fully intact 14th-century ring wall, the Pfingstmesse opens on the second Saturday after Pentecost — not Pentecost weekend itself — and pairs a traditional Volksfest beer tent with one of Bavarian Swabia's biggest midways. The main festival tent, Festhalle Bayernland, hosts nightly Bierzelt music with liter Maß of Augustiner Helles and Kuchlbauer Weizen, alongside roast chicken, ox-on-the-spit, and classic rides. The town itself sits inside the 15-million-year-old Ries impact crater — a surreal setting for a medieval fair.
The full story
The Nördlinger Mess' unfolds each year on the Kaiserwiese meadow just outside Nördlingen's fully intact medieval ring wall, inside the Ries — a crater gouged 15 million years ago by a meteorite strike, an improbable setting for any Bavarian folk festival. The name promises a Pentecost fair, but the calendar tells a different story: the ten-day run consistently opens on the second Saturday after Pentecost rather than over the holiday weekend itself, and the 2026 edition runs June 6 through June 15 — not the Pentecost weekend of May 23–25. Opening day keeps to a fixed script: a Saturday-afternoon parade through the old town, followed by the mayor's ceremonial tapping of the first keg on the festival grounds.
The fair's roots reach back to 1219, first mentioned in an imperial charter of Emperor Frederick II concerning Nuremberg merchants' trading rights at the Nördlingen and Donauwörth markets — a document that makes this one of the oldest continuously held fairs in southern Germany, even though it describes trading rights rather than a direct grant to the town itself. At its medieval peak in the 14th and 15th centuries, the fair drew merchants from as far as the Netherlands, Poland, and the Alpine passes, trading grain, salt, iron goods, glass, and musical instruments on a scale that rivaled Frankfurt's own great fair. That commercial weight faded from the early 16th century onward, as shifting trade routes and competing fairs eroded Nördlingen's role, and by the 19th century the event had fully settled into the folk-festival format recognizable today.
Inside the main festival tent, Festhalle Bayernland — running at the Mess' since 1971 — the current pour is Augustiner Helles and Kuchlbauer Weizen, table seating and live music included, alongside roast chicken, ox-on-the-spit, and a full fairground of rides and games. Around 130 market stalls and a dedicated regional consumer exhibition round out the grounds, a living echo of the fair's trading-market origins. Grounds admission is free throughout, with rides, tent seating, and food and drink priced individually. The run closes on Herrenmontag, the traditional half-holiday marking the festival's finale, and the town's complete medieval wall circuit remains an easy, worthwhile add-on for anyone already visiting the tent. See Nördlingen Pentecost Fair page or explore Swabia.
History
The fair traces to 1219, first mentioned in an imperial charter of Emperor Frederick II concerning Nuremberg merchants' trading rights at the Nördlingen and Donauwörth markets — making it one of the oldest continuously held fairs in southern Germany. Originally an international commodity market that rivalled Frankfurt in the late Middle Ages, trading everything from grain and salt to books and musical instruments, it declined in commercial importance from the early 16th century onward and had fully morphed into today's folk festival by the 19th century, keeping a Pentecost-season place on the calendar even though it now opens roughly two weeks after Pentecost itself. This is a distinct event from Nördlingen's other town festivals — the separate Stabenfest tent and the triennial, non-annual Historisches Stadtmauerfest — which share the same town but not the same name, tent, or beer supplier.
On Tap
- Local focus
- Swabia's oldest folk fair, with a beer tent set on the meadows beside Nördlingen's perfectly preserved medieval walls.
- What to try
- Walk the medieval wall circuit before or after your tent visit — the setting is as much the draw as the beer.
- Best for
- History-minded visitors who want ten days of Pentecost revelry inside a genuine meteor crater town.
- Bavaria On Tap take
- Few German beer tents can claim a medieval wall backdrop and a meteor-crater location — Nördlingen's Pentecost fair has both.
Frequently asked questions
- When is Nördlingen Pentecost Fair in 2026?
- Nördlingen Pentecost Fair in 2026 runs from June 6–15, 2026. It takes place at Kaiserwiese, Nördlingen.
- Is Nördlingen Pentecost Fair free to attend?
- Entry to Nördlingen Pentecost Fair is free.
- What is the history of Nördlingen Pentecost Fair?
- The fair traces to 1219, first mentioned in an imperial charter of Emperor Frederick II concerning Nuremberg merchants' trading rights at the Nördlingen and Donauwörth markets — one of the oldest continuously held fairs in southern Germany. It was originally an international commodity market that rivalled Frankfurt in the late Middle Ages, and its commercial importance declined from the early 16th century onward before it fully turned into today's folk festival by the 19th century.
- Where is Nördlingen Pentecost Fair located?
- Nördlingen Pentecost Fair takes place at Kaiserwiese, Nördlingen in Nördlingen, Swabia, Bavaria, Germany.
- Does Nördlingen Pentecost Fair happen over the Pentecost weekend itself?
- No — despite its name, the fair doesn't run over Pentecost weekend. It opens on the second Saturday after Pentecost each year; in 2026 that's June 6, about two weeks after Pentecost Sunday (May 24).
- Is this the same as Nördlingen's Stabenfest or Historisches Stadtmauerfest?
- No. The Stabenfest is a separate Nördlingen town festival with its own tent and a different beer supplier (Fürst Wallerstein), and the Historisches Stadtmauerfest is a different, non-annual, medieval-costume city-wall event held only every three years. The Pfingstmesse is the one held every year on the Kaiserwiese with the Festhalle Bayernland tent.
- Family-friendly
- Free entry
- Indoor / rain-friendly
- Reservation recommended