Dresden Travel Guide: Florence on the Elbe, Rebuilt

Dresden from the Marienbrücke, looking upriver. (Photo: Mylius, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony, is known as Elbflorenz, "Florence on the Elbe", for its riverside setting and its long history as a centre of the arts and fine architecture. Allied bombing near the end of the Second World War devastated it, and East German planners then cleared much of what remained, but the city has rebuilt a great deal of its old beauty. Today it is a relaxed, attractive city of about 572,000 people, a regional centre for business, government and universities, and a major tourist destination.

A short history

Dresden became a city in 1206. Saxon princes, dukes and kings made it their home, above all Augustus the Strong, who was also King of Poland; many of the buildings and art collections date from his era. On 13 February 1945 Allied bombing destroyed three-quarters of the historic centre, and between 20,000 and 30,000 people died in the firestorms. In East German days the Dresden area was nicknamed the "valley of the clueless", because it was one of the few parts of the country that could not receive West German television. In 1989 there were protests here, especially when trains carrying East Germans who had taken refuge in the West German embassy in Prague were routed through the sealed-off main station.

The rebuilding has taken decades: the Zwinger reopened in 1964, the Semper Opera in 1985, and the Frauenkirche, the city's most famous landmark, in 2005. Many sandstone buildings look black; that is not soot or fire damage but the natural darkening of the local stone. East German architecture is still easy to see, from the Kulturpalast and Prager Straße to the prefabricated apartment blocks (Plattenbau) further out. And the four-lane Waldschlösschen Bridge cost the Elbe Valley its place on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Getting there and around

• By train: trains run from across Germany (Leipzig, Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich) and from Prague, Vienna, Zürich, Bratislava and Budapest, arriving at the Hauptbahnhof on the left bank or Dresden-Neustadt on the right. Connections are slower than in most German cities of its size. A Nightjet sleeper passes daily between Berlin and Vienna via Prague, and the line from Prague follows the beautiful Elbe valley.
• By air: Dresden Airport is served mostly by charter flights and is 12 minutes from Neustadt by S-Bahn; Leipzig/Halle and Berlin Brandenburg airports have far more destinations and direct trains.
• In the city: the historic Altstadt is compact and best on foot. Beyond it, an excellent network of S-Bahn trains, trams and buses runs through the night, with three Elbe ferries and two cable railways up Loschwitz hill. Dresden sprawls over more area than Munich with about a third of its people, but most of what visitors want is central.

What to see

In the Altstadt (Old Town):

• Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady): destroyed in the war and rebuilt; the golden cross on its dome was a gift from the English city of Coventry, itself bombed by the Luftwaffe.
• Zwinger: a Baroque palace of pavilions, fountains and sculpture that houses the Old Masters Picture Gallery, about 700 European paintings from the 15th to 18th centuries, strong in Italian Renaissance and Baroque art, with Raphael's Sistine Madonna, bought by Augustus the Strong's son. It also holds the Porcelain Collection, with pieces from China, Japan and Meissen, the first European porcelain factory, founded by Augustus, and a cabinet of historic scientific instruments.
• Residenzschloss (Royal Palace): gutted by fire in 1945 and restored, now home to the Green Vault, one of Europe's great treasuries of goldsmiths' work, the Armoury with its Turkish Chamber, and collections of prints, drawings and coins.
• Semperoper: the opera house, home of the Staatskapelle Dresden, founded in 1548 and one of the oldest orchestras in the world. Book performances well ahead, or take a guided tour.
• Fürstenzug: the world's largest porcelain mural, a procession of Saxony's rulers on horseback.
• Brühl's Terrace: the "Balcony of Europe", a promenade 500 metres long high above the Elbe.

The Zwinger. (Photo: Harald Hoyer from Schwerin, Germany, CC BY-SA 2.0)

The Semper Opera. (Photo: Bgabel, CC BY-SA 3.0)

The Residenzschloss, home of the Green Vault. (Photo: User:Kolossos, CC BY-SA 3.0)

In the Neustadt (New Town), across the river, a lively, partly alternative neighbourhood: the Baroque houses and antique shops of the Königstraße quarter; the Kunsthof, courtyards decorated by artists; and Pfunds Molkerei, a dairy shop covered in hand-painted tiles that the Guinness Book of Records once named the most beautiful dairy in the world.

Inside Pfunds Molkerei. (Photo: Gegeours, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Further out: the Großer Garten, the city's big park; the Yenidze, a former cigarette factory built to look like a mosque; the Blue Wonder bridge at Loschwitz and its suspension railway; the Elbe meadows, full of people on summer evenings; and Pillnitz Castle, with its Chinese pavilion and gardens, reached by paddle steamer.

Pillnitz Castle. (Photo: User:Nikater, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Eating and drinking

Dresden is famous for Stollen, the Christmas cake of yeast dough, raisins, butter and almonds, and locals argue endlessly about which bakery makes the best. Try also Eierschecke, a three-layer cake of yeast dough, quark and egg custard, and Wiegebraten, a meatloaf of pork and beef usually served with potatoes. The streets around the Frauenkirche and the Münzgasse are full of restaurants, and Brühl's Terrace is a fine place for a drink in summer; the Neustadt has the bars.

Dresdner Stollen. (Photo: Alice Wiegand, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Eierschecke. (Photo: Brücke-Osteuropa, CC0)

From late November to 24 December the Striezelmarkt Christmas market fills the heart of the Altstadt, and traffic with it.

Staying safe

Dresden is safe, like the rest of Germany. Avoid the Alaunpark at night, and keep to lit streets in the Neustadt after midnight. Far-right groups get attention in the media but are small.

Sources

• "Dresden" from Wikivoyage, by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changed: rewritten in hubnx's own words and condensed; listings of hotels, restaurants, bars and museums with their hours, prices and contacts left out; each photo under its own licence, credited in its caption. This page is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.