The wine cellar under the Residenz, and the ones you can actually book
The Staatlicher Hofkeller lies deep inside the Residence, in the corridors of the former Prince-Bishop’s court cellar: 4,557 square metres of cellar and 891 metres of corridor under a UNESCO palace. Neumann was asked to build “an excellent wine cellar” into the plans, and he did.
Now the useful paragraph. Nothing sold on GetYourGuide goes down there. Both of the wine-cellar tours in this catalogue are at Weingut Reiss, a family winery in the town, and both are honest about it in their own listings. A cellar tour you book online is a good afternoon at a working estate. It is not the vaults under the Residenz.
What is actually under the building
The court cellar predates the tourists by rather a lot. It is a working state wine estate, not a display, and the corridors it occupies are the ones Neumann was asked to put into a palace that was still being designed. Nearly nine hundred metres of corridor is a scale that is hard to picture from the forecourt: it is a district rather than a room.
The estate does offer cellar tours and tastings. It publishes the dates and conditions on its own events page and publishes no durations, no times and no prices there, so there are none on this page either. Guessing at the length of somebody else’s guided visit is exactly the kind of detail a reader plans a train around. The estate is linked in the footer of every page here; ask them, not us.
If the Hofkeller is the reason you are coming, contact the estate directly before you book anything else around it. Nothing on any affiliate platform will get you into that cellar, and no amount of searching will change that.
The two cellar tours you can book, and where they are
Both are at Weingut Reiss, a family winery in the town. The shorter one is a guided tour of the winery and wine cellar with a trio tasting, water and bread, running one to two hours. The longer one is a vineyard tour with the cellar, five tastings and three savoury pastries, with glasses to take away, running about three hours — and it is priced for the whole group of up to twelve people, not per person, which is the single easiest way to misread this catalogue by a factor of ten.
What the reviewers describe is a family business rather than a state monument, and they describe it well. On the trio tasting: “Die Weinverkostung war ein tolles Erlebnis. Besonders schön war, dass die Inhaberin Martina selbst durch die Tour geführt hat – mit viel Herz, Wissen und Leidenschaft. Die Atmosphäre war familiär und herzlich, man hat sich sofort wohlgefühlt. Man merkt, dass hier ein echter Familienbetrieb mit Liebe zum Detail dahintersteht. Sehr empfehlenswert!” — a GetYourGuide traveller from Germany, on Würzburg: guided tour of the wine cellar incl. trio wine tasting. The owner guided it herself, and it is a real family business, is the substance of that.
And shorter, from the same listing: “Die Tour hat uns sehr gut gefallen und die Einblicke hinter die Kulissen eines Weinguts waren sehr interessant.” — Vanessa, Germany. Behind the scenes at a winery, which is what it says on the tin.
On the long day, one reviewer named the group it suits: “Tolles Erlebnis! Mega organisiert, sehr nette Menschen, Keira war ein toller Guide und wir haben sehr viel über Wein erfahren. Trotzdem kam der Spaß nicht zu kurz und trotz großer Hitze, konnten wir Wein genießen und haben die Weinberge sehen können. Absolute Empfehlung für kleine Freundesgruppen oder auch Paare.” — Sarah, Germany, on Würzburg: Vineyard Tour including Wine Cellar, 5 Wine Tastings and Pastries. Small groups of friends or couples — and since the price covers up to twelve people, the arithmetic rewards exactly that.
A cellar, not the HofkellerWürzburg: guided tour of the wine cellar incl. trio wine tasting
Priced per groupWürzburg: Vineyard Tour including Wine Cellar, 5 Wine Tastings and Pastries
Wine on the bridgeWürzburg Old Town Tour with Wine Tasting on the Alte Mainbrücke
If you want the wine without the cellar
Two shorter options stay above ground. The old-town tour ends with a tasting of three Franconian wines, 0.1 litre each, for participants sixteen and over, on the Alte Mainbrücke. The one-hour Brückenschoppen is the compressed version of the same idea: a sixty-minute guided tour with certified guides and 0.1 litre of Franconian wine on the bridge, meeting at the tourist information in the Falkenhaus. Neither of them goes near the Residenz, and neither pretends to.
The full catalogue is on every tour we list, and what Würzburg is known for beyond the palace is on what Würzburg is known for.
Frequently asked questions
Can you tour the wine cellar under the Würzburg Residence?
The Staatlicher Hofkeller, the state wine estate whose cellar runs beneath the palace, offers cellar tours and tastings and publishes the dates and conditions on its own events page. It publishes no times and no prices, so this site states none. Nothing sold on GetYourGuide goes into that cellar; the bookable alternatives are on this page and on every tour we list.
Are the wine cellar tours on this site under the palace?
No. Both are at Weingut Reiss, a family winery in the town: a one-to-two-hour cellar tour with a trio tasting, and a three-hour vineyard day with five tastings that is priced for a group of up to twelve rather than per person. Neither is the Staatlicher Hofkeller, and both listings say so in their own words.
How big is the cellar under the Residenz?
4,557 square metres of cellar and 891 metres of corridor, in the corridors of the former Prince-Bishop’s court cellar. Balthasar Neumann was asked to build an excellent wine cellar into the palace, and did. What you can see of the building above it is on what to see inside.