adrienne

After many changes, here is my final Dresden itinerary. I don't see how I can fit in anything else but perhaps it needs one more tweak. Thanks to Ingo for his suggestions which I believe I've followed.

Day 1
Arrival in Dresden
Vespers at Kreuzkirche

Day 2
Johanneum
Dresden Old Town Walking Tour
Catholic Cathedral
Augustusbrücke
Grossergarten (if nice weather)
Frauenkirche (possibly)

Day 3
Residenzschloss
New Green Vault
Historic Green Vault
Frauenkirche (if not seen on Day 1 or 2)

Day 4
Zwinger Palace
Zwinger Old Masters Picture Gallery
Porzellansammlung
Grosser Garten (if not done on Sunday)

Day 5
Catholic cathedral (if not seen on Day 2 or if there is an afternoon concert)
Albertinum
Skulpturensammlung
Semperoper guided tour

Day 6
Ingo's walking tour of Neustadt (mentioned on other thread)
Stadtmuseum

Thanks for any advice!

Mainhattengirl

Your plan sounds great, and I wish I would have had more time there.

I only had about 1.5 days in Dresden, so didn't get to do and see as much as I wanted. Spent my 1st afternoon in the Residenz, with the old and new Green Vaults, plus all the other rooms there. Once you are in there, you might as well see all of them. I enjoyed the Turkish Cammer a lot too. What I found though, was that I was getting overloaded on glitz, sparkles, and magnificent carvings on these rooms.

Unfortunately, got hit with lots and lots of rain. Saw both the Frauenkirch and the Catholic Cathedral that evening as both were open til 20:00. Then walked along the terrace overlooking the river, admiring the architecture and taking lots of photos.

Had a tour booked with Dresden Walks through the tourist info for the next day, but it was cold and pouring rain, so I cancelled it. (didn't have a jacket) Instead, I went through the underground fortifications, which was interesting, but only took about 30-45 min.
http://www.festung-dresden.de/de/festung_dresden/

I had seen a ton of Meissen porcelain during my visit to Potsdam, so didn't really feel the need to see any more. Really wished I could have gone on some walking tours though through the new city, as well as the old. Next time!

My InterCity Hotel offered free transportation tickets, as well as bike rentals, so this was nice. It was right across from the main train station and multiple tram stops. There is a huge Lidl at the station, open 365 days a year for handy shopping.

Have fun and hope you write a trip report for us.

adrienne

Hi Mainhattengirl - the underground fortification look interesting. I hadn't heard of them. I'll include them if I have time.

I wish there were more walking tours that were affordable. All the other tours I looked at were priced for groups, not individuals.

I think I've accounted for the major Dresden sights. I had no idea there were so many interesting things in Dresden until I started researching.

WeisserTee

Your Day 2 sounds busy...I think you might be hard-pressed to fit in the Grossergarten.

You've got a full schedule, but if you have extra time, you might want to go over to the Blue Wonder bridge and have a poke around the Blasewitz/Striesen neighborhood. Some nice cafes.

Also, have you got time to enjoy the fab pastries at Coselpalais some Saxon wines at the wine bars around town?

annhig

mmm - I think that what you are missing is a trip on the Elbe. A friend of mine just got back from Dresden and was telling me all about the palace they visited on the river trip they took - which made me realise how much we missed when we did our flying visit to Dresden a few years ago.

i think that i would try to move things about so that you can fit in a river trip at least once - day 5 perhaps?

adrienne

<< Your Day 2 sounds busy >>

It may look busy but it's not. The Johanneum will take no more than an hour to an hour and a half including the Meissen tile facade, there are 2 churches and I may not be able to get into one of them that day, one is a bridge - just a look at it, the walking tour is no more than 2 hours and the last is a garden with a little train to take you around - probably no more than an hour. All quite doable at a leisurely pace. The Johanneum is on the way to the walking tour meeting location.

<< Also, have you got time to enjoy the fab pastries at Coselpalais >>

Oh yeah! I have Coselpalais marked on my map!

Tell me about Saxon wines. I googled them but didn't come up with any sort of understandable description. If they're white and fruity I'll have to pass. I love robust, earthy reds.

I'm adding the Blue Wonder and an Elbe cruise to the list and will see where I can fit them in. Thanks for the recommendations.

annhig - do you know what palace and with whom did your friends do the cruise? Was it a full-blown river cruise or an hour or two?

annhig

adrienne - here's the website for the steam boat company that does day trips up and down the river.

https://www.saechsische-dampfschiffa...oesserfahrten/

I suspect that the Schloss they went to was the Pillnitz but I will endeavour to find out and report back:

http://www.schlosspillnitz.de/de/startseite/

Ingo

Sounds good to me. Too bad you didn't mention which exact days of the weeks - but I guess you researched closing days of the museums.

What annhig refers to is a paddle steamer trip on the river. See this website: www.saechsische-dampfschifffahrt.de They have timetables and fares. The palace is Pillnitz palace. A ride up there takes 90 minutes, back 60 minutes. You can do a round trip or either and take public transportation for the other trip. Oh, and you can easily include the Blue Wonder bridge area in that - in fact, the paddle steamer will pass the bridge and stop in Blasewitz right by the bridge.

Saxon wines are mostly white and dry - Riesling, Pinot gris, Traminer etc. But there are also - fewer - excellent red ones: Pinot noir, Regent, Dornfelder and Cuvees, of course. Very good wineries are Prinz zur Lippe, Schloss Wackerbarth, Jan Ulrich, Weinhaus Schuh.

Wine tasting and shopping possible at Sächsische Vinothek, in a tiny alley right behind Coselpalais:
http://www.saechsische-vinothek.de/

adrienne

Jan Ulrich has a winery? Is that "the" Jan Ulrich?

Thanks for the info on the boats. I'll have to see what the weather is like and try to slot in the boat cruise.

Day 1 is Saturday (vespers was the clue!). I did check opening times - I have them on my Excel file.

Ingo

No, it's not *that* Jan Ulrich. LOL

Ah, yes, of course ... the vespers.

Ingo

They still have the recitals at the Silbermann organ in the Catholic cathedral on Day 5, at 11.30 am, if I am not totally wrong. Would be a good time for a visit.

adrienne

<< No, it's not *that* Jan Ulrich. LOL >>

Oh well...I'm only interested if the freckled-face cutie is there!

Ingo - I paid attention to your advice on my other thread and put the Catholic Cathedral on day 5 for the concerts. I'll slip in on day 2 if it's open and check for the concerts.

I think I'm set. I can't add any thing else to the itinerary for Dresden. I have to save some energy for Berlin!

Thanks everyone for your input. This is shaping up to be a good trip. All I need now is sunny weather.