One Day In Dresden – The Ultimate Itinerary

Dresden is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. And amazingly, most of it was rebuilt after destruction during a bombing raid near the end of World War Two.

It’s a Baroque wonderland, with some of the most beautiful churches and palaces from that period in the world.

It’s home to several amazing art galleries, including the Old Masters Gallery, one of the best and most enjoyable in Europe.

Dresden is also an excellent base for exploring the Saxony region, from the Saxon Switzerland National Park to Leipzig to the film mecca of Görlitz and more.

Morning is the best time to take a walk around the Altstadt, the historic and monumental part of Dresden.  Most of the places to visit don’t open until 10.00 am, so it’s the ideal opportunity to wander the old streets and seek out some of the best views of Dresden.

The Brühlsche Terrasse is a great place to start. This walkway was once known as the ‘Balcony of Europe’ for its superb views. From here, there’s a wonderful view down the Elbe with some of the Baroque skyline of Dresden on one side, and Dresden-Neustadt across the river.

Follow the steps down to Augustusstrasse and the Fürstenzug, a 102-metre-long mural depicting the history of Saxony’s Wettin dynasty. It’s known as the Procession of Princes in English. It was originally executed in sgraffito style, but as this wasn’t durable, it was re-done with around 24,000 Meissen porcelain tiles. As you’ll discover during your day in Dresden, expenses were rarely a problem!

The precincts of the Zwinger Palace are open from 6.00 am, and normally early morning would be a great time to explore this elaborate Rococo gem. You can climb the stairs to some of the galleries for views over the Palace and the city, or wander in the courtyard with its fountains. At the time of writing access here is limited due to restoration work, but this will be reopened in due course.

If you still have time before everything opens at 10.00 am, take a walk (or tram) across the Augustus Bridge (Augustusbrücke) to the iconic Golden Horseman (Goldener Reiter) statue of Augustus the Strong.  He began Dresden’s transformation to the ‘Florence of the Elbe’ in the late 17^th century, and was more than happy to spend a few marks along the way.

Our Little Man at the Canalettoblick

As I mentioned near the beginning of the article, you won’t have time to see everything in the Residenzschloss (also called the Royal Palace or Dresden Castle) in just one day in Dresden. You’d need three to four hours minimum for this.  

But I wouldn’t leave Dresden without seeing one of the highlights – the Historic Green Vault (Historisches Grünes Gewölbe) on the ground floor of the Castle.

You need to book your ticket in advance – at busy times of year you may need to do so a few days before your visit. So you need to plan your day around your visit here.  Click on this link to book your ticket.

The Historic Green Vault – together with the New Green Vault upstairs in the Royal Palace – makes up the largest collection of treasure in Europe. The Historic Vault is also one of the oldest museums in Europe – it was opened to the public by Augustus the Strong who, as you will have gathered by now, rather liked to show off his wealth.

The Historic Green Vault is a series of ten rooms, each with treasures of a different material. These include amber, ivory, silver, gold, bronze and various jewels. Unfortunately there is an outright ban on photography there, whereas you’re free to photograph any of the exhibits in the New Green Vault upstairs.

The Frauenkirche is one of the great landmarks of Germany. Like much of the centre of Dresden, the church was obliterated by Allied bombing in February 1945. It was the final element of historic Baroque Dresden to be restored, with the new church finally completed in 2005.

It’s an extraordinary building, the finest of several Baroque churches in Dresden from its 18^th-century heyday. The most striking thing about the church is its height – the dome is almost 300 feet (90 metres) high. And standing below it in the nave, it feels like you’re staring all the way up to the heavens.

Amazingly, much of the ornate altarpiece was reconstructed from pieces of the original salvaged after the church’s destruction. The paintings in the dome, by Christoph Wenzel, depict the four Evangelists and the four virtues of faith, hope, charity and mercy.

You can get a closer view of them if you decide to ascend the dome, which costs €10 for adults and €5 for children. The first part is by stairs, then there is a sloping ramp inside the dome before a short climb to the outdoor viewing gallery. The views over the city are superb. 

After your whistle-stop tour of Dresden it’s perhaps time to take things a little more slowly.  A great way to see more of the city is to take a cruise along the river Elbe – these depart from the quay below the Brühlsche Terrasse.

The stretch of the Elbe around Dresden is the most famous section of the river. As well as the historic Dresden skyline, there are also several castles around Dresden, and on this Dresden river cruise you get to see three of them, and the famous Blue Wonder bridge to the suburb of Loschwitz.

The three castles were built in the 19^th century above vineyards overlooking the Elbe. They are an impressive sight, better from a distance (i.e. on the river!) than close up. One is now a high-end gastronomy school, another a top restaurant and the third a luxury hotel.

You could easily fill several days in Dresden, with a multitude of things to do in the city and further afield.

With extra time available, I’d look to visit the rest of the Residenzschloss (Royal Palace). If anything, the New Green Vault is a more enjoyable experience than the Historic Green Vault, especially without the Photography Police!

The newly restored State Apartments are a recent addition, showing the opulence in which Augustus the Strong and his successors lived. The Armoury (with the Turkish Chamber, complete with Ottoman-era military tents), the Collection of Prints, Drawings and Photographs (Kupferstich-Kabinett) and the Coin Cabinet complete the series of exhibitions.

There are several more museums to see around Dresden. The Albertinum is the best-known, housing the State Art Collection’s modern art from the Romantic period to the present. The Transport Museum (Verkehrsmuseum) is great for visitors of all ages, and is located on the Neumarkt, the same square as the Frauenkirche.

Two of Dresden’s finest Baroque churches are close to the centre of the city.  The Catholic Cathedral, also known as the Hofkirche (Court Church) and Kathedrale Sanctissimae Trinitatis, is across the street from the Zwinger Palace and Semperoper. Its crypt is also the resting place of many members of the Wettin dynasty that ruled Saxony for centuries.

The Kreuzkirche – Holy Cross Church – towers over the Altmarkt, the setting for Dresden’s famous Christmas Striezelmarkt. Its tower commands amazing views over the city. And it’s home to the Kreuzchor, a renowned boys’ choir that has been singing since 1371.

Further afield, the brilliant German Hygiene Museum has a great exhibition on the human body for kids, and a history of medicine and cosmetics more suited to adults.

Dresden is an outstanding base for exploring Saxony. There are so many places to visit within an hour or two – and by public transport. And that’s why we decided to base ourselves there for a few weeks to see everything.

Top of many people’s list is the Bastei Bridge in the Saxon Switzerland National Park. This 19^th-century romantic stone bridge was built across the Bastei rock formation, 700 feet (200 metres) above the River Elbe.  Saxon Switzerland – and Bohemian Switzerland, across the border in the Czech Republic – is full of sandstone rock pinnacle formations. And there are some outstanding hiking routes in the area.

This Saxon Switzerland tour from Dresden takes you by bus to the Bastei Bridge and Konigstein – and saves you the climbs to both.

You could also visit Saxon Switzerland on a paddle steamer cruise to Königstein and the mighty fortress above the village. You could opt for a return or one-way trip, allowing yourself time to climb up to the Castle, and travelling back on the S-Bahn train to Dresden.

The nearby town of Pirna is one of the gateways to Saxon Switzerland. I expected a small satellite town of Dresden – far from it. It has a beautiful old centre with a wonderful Market Square (Marktplatz) famously painted by Bernardo Bellotto. Its Frauenkirche church is outstanding, hidden away just off the main square. And there are a range of other attractions, from the Baroque Garden at Grosssedlitz to one of the better DDR Museums in the former East Germany.

The suburb of Loschwitz is a wonderful half-day trip from the centre of Dresden. Around 1900 it was the most expensive city suburb in Europe, with some amazing neo-Gothic and Art Nouveau villas. Two beautiful funicular railways were built around this time, both carrying passengers up the steep hill close to the river. These are a great little trip back in time, for adults and kids alike.  Loschwitz is also a short bus ride from Schloss Pillnitz, a summer residence with three palaces and a Baroque Garden by the riverside.

Also in the Dresden suburbs, Schloss Moritzburg is an 18^th-century fantasy castle built for Augustus the Strong. Its setting is stunning, on an artificial island in a lake. It’s a 20-minute bus ride from Dresden-Neustadt on the 477 bus.

Before Dresden, the pre-eminent city in the region was lovely Meissen, half an hour down the River Elbe. It’s renowned for its porcelain factory, but the best reason to visit is its gorgeous old town (Altstadt), a maze of cobbled streets winding slowly up to the Albrechtsburg Castle and Cathedral.

This group day tour from Dresden takes you to Meissen and Schloss Moritzburg – and includes a trip to the Porcelain Factory.

Further delights await to the east of Dresden.  Bautzen is a lovely medieval town, the capital of Upper Lusatia and the cultural centre of the Sorbs, a Slavic minority that have lived in the area for well over a thousand years. The medieval town walls are magnificent – walk across the bridge over the River Spree for the best view.

Half an hour further east, the border town of Görlitz has made a name for itself as a film location.  ‘Görliwood’ has been the setting for the movies as varied as The Grand Budapest Hotel, Inglourious Basterds, Around the World in 80 Days and The Book Thief.

Görlitz has been used for so many films because it’s so well preserved. It was one of very few German towns to make it through World War Two without serious damage, so its atmospheric streets are as authentic as anywhere you’re likely to find across Central Europe.

Dresden is very easy to reach.

The city has an airport, only 10 km (6 miles) from the centre. There are some flights within Germany with Lufthansa (to Frankfurt and Munich), and also many seasonal destinations around the Mediterranean. Leipzig Airport is around 90 minutes away, and flies to similar destinations.

So if you plan to fly to Dresden from the UK, western Europe or North America or elsewhere your best bet is to fly to Berlin and catch a train from there.

Dresden is very well connected by train. We day-tripped there from Prague a couple of times, the journey taking around 2 ½ hours each way.

Dresden is also just 2 hours from Berlin by train, and one hour from Leipzig.  All trains stop at the main station, Dresden Hauptbahnhof (Dresden Hbf on timetables). Many also stop at Dresden-Neustadt, a few minutes’ ride away across the Elbe.

Dresden is also well served by Flixbus, the main long-distance bus service in Central Europe. The main Dresden stop is on Ammonstrasse, close to the Dresden Budapester Strasse tram stop, a short walk behind the Meininger Hotel on near the main station.