Stein – the town in the green belt situated between two big cities – the traditional centre of German pencil production. Stein has many faces – it’s the town’s position which has been forming its character. On one side the town with its 15.000 inhabitants is still surrounded by rural countryside, on the other side there are two big cities Fürth and Nuremberg which means huge numbers of people commuting every day to work in the cities.

It's the geographical position between an unspoilt natural environment and the cultural attractions of a big urban area has made our town a highly sought after residential area with very attractive leisure facilities as well. If visitors take their time to leave the very busy "Bundesstraße 14" and explore the place by foot they will quickly realize that there is a lot more to this place than can be seen only by driving through in a car.

Numerous idyllic areas of outstanding natural beauty invite the visitor to switch off and relax. The beautiful valleys of the "Haselgraben", the "Bucher Graben' and the "Rednitzgrund" make Stein a place with a green heart.

Today Stein has a reputation as home to the big water leisure centre "Kristall-Palm Beach" which is well known far into Franconia and Bavaria. Numerous visitors and coach parties from far away places come there day by day to spend a perfect leisurely day at this unique centre which takes pride of in- and outside swimming pools, saunas, huge sun bed areas, Hot-Whirl Pools, open-air areas with a sauna village, five huge enormous water slides and of course attractive restaurants with lovely food. More mature visitors will enjoy the beautiful oriental bath which is supposed to be of healing power. It’s exactly this natural water discovered on the premises of the leisure centre which provides hope for the town of Stein to be called "Spa" which means "Bad" in front of its name one day.

Another, very different attraction, for all nature loving people is the "Freilandaquarium" of the Society of Natural History which is an area where people can see all sorts of native animals and wetland and waterplants. It’s ever so attractive, for adults and children alike, to watch different fishes, crawling animals, snakes, adders and even tortoises in their natural living environment. If you want to, you can call it a "Little Zoo" right next to your doorstep – and it’s free to go there – although a donation is always welcome.

Sports fields, bike trails and signposted routes for nice walks provide additional possibilities for visitors to spend their free time. Concerts by well-known artists and art-exhibitions are attractive for culturally-minded visitors of Stein.

The old part of the town has been carefully restored to its former beauty with lots of half-timbered houses especially along the banks of the river Rednitz.

A special attraction for visitors is the Faber Castell Castle with the adjoinning pencil factory which is situated right at the border to the neighbouring big medieval city of Nuremberg.

And there is one attraction that should not be in Stein because of the style it’s been built in – and this is an old farmhouse with an extremely unusual style for the area and situated in one of Stein’s still unspoilt rural areas – Gutzberg – and it’s called the "Black Forest House".

Last but not least – and this will certainly be of interest for many visitors – the "Jacobsweg" goes through Stein – a signposted net of routes, pilgrims can follow right down to Spain on the trace of Saint Jacob. In Stein, which lies on the stage Nuremberg – Rothenburg the little country church called "Sankt Jakobus" is the destination for the pilgrims.

Stein is also a place which is twinned with three other towns, Falkenstein in Saxonia, Guéret in France and Puck in Poland.

This film was kindly provided by the marketing agency AKTIV Kommunikations-Marketing GmbH.