Germany · DE

Camburg

Camburg is a small, sun-belt town of roughly 3,000 people sitting in a shell-limestone valley on the river Saale, exactly halfway between the university city of Jena and the cathedral town of Naumburg in Thuringia. Since 2008 it has been a district of the merged town of Dornburg-Camburg, but it has kept the loose, easygoing feel of a river landing that has long lived off passing trade and the people who stop to enjoy it. Its signature sight is the Camburg itself: a lone 37-metre castle keep (Bergfried) crowning the hill over the southern edge of town, the only surviving fragment of a medieval fortress once wrecked in the Saxon Brother's War. Climb the tower for a sweeping view down the Saale valley, then wander the restored castle garden, the town's small museums, and the riverbank where paddlers launch boats for leisurely downstream trips.