Where to Stay in Dresden, Saxony

What is Dresden known for?

Dresden is known for its Baroque skyline and its royal art collections, the capital of Saxony rebuilt around the domed Church of Our Lady. Art fills the old court. The treasures of the Green Vault, the paintings of the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in the Semper Gallery, and the halls of the Albertinum grew from the wealth of the Saxon electors.

Along the river terraces the old town gathers those landmarks in one Baroque band.

What are the main landmarks in Dresden?

Dresden's landmarks crowd the Baroque old town, where a domed church, a treasure vault, and a run of royal museums stand close together along the river terraces above the water. The rebuilt Church of Our Lady rises over the Neumarkt, near the Kreuzkirche and the Dresden Cathedral. The Green Vault holds the Saxon jewels, while the Semper Gallery and the Albertinum keep the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister and the later collections.

On horseback stands the gilded Golden Rider. Baroque stone defines it.

What is the history of Dresden?

Dresden appears in the record in 1206, a small Slavic-rooted settlement on the river that would become the capital of Saxony. It rose from modest beginnings. Under the electors and kings of Saxony the town became a court city, and its rulers poured mining wealth into palaces and collections, raising the Church of Our Lady, the Green Vault, and the galleries that hold the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister.

That golden age gave the city the Baroque skyline it is known for. War tore through that inheritance in the twentieth century, when bombing in the closing months of the Second World War destroyed much of the old town in a single night. Ruin followed.

Over the decades that followed, the people of Dresden rebuilt the Church of Our Lady stone by numbered stone and restored the Semper Gallery and the Albertinum around it. As the capital of Saxony the city grew again along both banks, keeping the old Baroque plan at its centre. That reconstructed core still holds the city together.

Where is Dresden?

Dresden lies in the east of Germany, the capital of Saxony, set in a broad basin where a great river cuts through the low hills. The old town spreads along the terraces above the water, with wooded slopes and vineyards climbing the valley sides toward the sandstone uplands to the south-east. Level ground carries the centre.

This river basin, close to the border with the Czech lands, has long made the city a crossing between the German and Bohemian country.

What is the climate of Dresden?

Dresden has a moderate continental climate, sheltered in its river basin in the east of Saxony. Winters run cold and dry, with frost and some snow settling in the valley and on the sandstone hills around the city. The sheltered basin turns summer warm.

The sheltered basin holds the heat and keeps the vineyard slopes above the river warmer than the open uplands, while rain falls fairly evenly across the year.

How do you get to Dresden?

Dresden sits on the main rail lines of eastern Germany, and its main station and airport link the capital of Saxony with the larger cities to the north and west. Trains and trams meet in the centre. Roads and the river valley both carry traffic through the basin toward the Czech border to the south.

Most visitors arrive by train.