Our area

 

Lauf (25.000) is a little town on the river Pegnitz in Northern Bavaria, Middle-Franconia. There's a nice museum there, lots of nice little shops, restaurants and 2 train-stations, just 20 minutes ride to Nürnberg. Nuremberg (500.000) is a great town for shopping, and there are lots of interesting museums and a historical old part with a castle. Historical places like Rothenburg/T. are close (about 60 minutes drive), and it is about a 1.5-hour-drive to Munich, Neuschwanstein Castle or other interesting places in southern Bavaria. But Franconia (that's the area we live in) is very nice as well. We're close to the so-called "Franconian Switzerland" (Fraenkische Schweiz), great for hiking, caves, rocks for climbing, old castles, and there's also a newly developed lake-area closeby called "Franconian lakes" (Fraenkische Seen).
Getting there by plane is easy: There's an airport in Nürnberg (NUE) www.airport-nuernberg.de, check www.airberlin.de for inexpenisive flights.