The Nuremberg U-Bahn is a rapid transit system run by Verkehrs-Aktiengesellschaft Nürnberg, which itself is a member of the Verkehrsverbund Großraum Nürnberg. The Nuremberg U-Bahn is Germany's newest metro system, having begun operation in 1972, although the Nuremberg-Fürth route (U1) uses part of the right of way of the Bavarian Ludwig Railway, Germany's first passenger railway opened in 1835. The current network of the U-Bahn is composed of three lines, serving 49 stations, and comprising 38.2 kilometres (23.7 mi) of operational route, making it the shortest of the four metro systems in Germany, behind Berlin, Hamburg and Munich.

Nuremberg is the largest city in Franconia, the second-largest city in the German state of Bavaria, and its 545,000 inhabitants make it the 14th-largest city in Germany.