Dresden Germany Travel Information

Dresden Location: Dresden is located along the river Elbe in the German state of Saxony, in the southeastern corner of eastern Germany, halfway between the capital Berlin and Prague. Dresden an hour northwest of Leipzig. (See location map of Dresden, Germany on the right.)

Population of Dresden: Dresden holds around 500,000 people.

Dresden Tourist Office: The Dresden Tourist Office is located at Ostra-Allee 11. Web site: Dresden Tourism.

Dresden Train Stations: Dresden-Hauptbahnhof is the main station. You can reach the old city by short walk. Dresden-Neustadt station is located on the opposite side of the river Elbe and has tram service into the central city.

Dresden Airport: Dresden Airport is located 6 miles (9 km) northeast of the city. The new terminal is connected via a pedestrian bridge and a tunnel from the S-Bahn connection to central Dresden.

Dresden Discount Cards: Dresden City Card - 48 hours of free admission to 12 museums and free transportation on trams, busses and the Elbe ferries in Dresden, plus discounts on other attractions. 19 Euros.

Dresden Regio-Card - 72 hours of free admission to the same 12 museums and free transportation, plus discounts on other attractions. 29 Euros.

Dresden's Top Attractions:

While Dresden may be best known for the carpet bombing of the old town by allied forces that that left 30,000 dead, Dresden has recovered.

As Dresden prepares for it's 800 year jubilee more restorations are ongoing. Frauenkirche, the largest Protestant domed building in history, was rebuilt in 2005; 250,000 people, half the population of Dresden, visited it in the three days after opening.

The Altmarkt (old Market Square), first mentioned in documents dating to 1370, with the rebuilt town hall (rathaus) and 18th century Landhaus (housing the state museum) is the heart of Dresden.

Altertinium is Dresden's leading art museum.

Deutsche Hygiene Museum is, as you might expect, about German health. Special exhibitions are held here

Großer Garten Park is the largest central park in Dresden, a green city with 63 per cent of its area devoted to woods and green spaces, probably one of the greenest cities in Europe. Within is the zoo and botanical gardens.

Königstrasse or King Street, on the right banks of the Elbe in the quarter known as Neustadt is a street of patrician houses, hidden restaurants, elegant boutiques and passageways full of stores.

Neustädter Markthalle The covered market hall, which first opened in 1899, was reopened in November 2000. Inside is a museum called Kraftfahrzeuge Ostmobil featuring collector's item vehicles, mostly from Saxony and Thuringia, some four wheeled and 50 two wheeled.

Zwinger is Dresden's baroque showpiece designed as an orangery and a setting for court festivities. Inside is now the Old Masters Picture Gallery, Armoury (Rüstkammer), Porcelain Collection, Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon (rare schientific instruments), and the Zoological Museum.

Steamer Trips on the Elbe. The Saxon Steamship Company will take you down the river on eight historic paddle steamers, the oldest and largest fleet of paddle steamers in the world.

Events in Dresden

Dixieland Jazz Festival (May)

Dresden Jubilee 2006 - Calendar (in German)