Best in 3 to 5 Days

Best in 3 to 5 Days

Spend your first day and night in Dresden, with its impressive Zwinger complex and fine museums. Set out the next afternoon for Meissen, to see how its famous porcelain is produced. Continue northwest to spend the next two nights in Leipzig, where Bach once resided.

If You Have 5 Days

Spend your first day and night in Dresden. Finish taking in its splendors in the morning and continue to Meissen, stopping long enough for a visit to the porcelain factory, before ending the day in Leipzig. On the third day, head north to the birthplace of Martin Luther and the Reformation, Wittenberg. An indirect route then takes you to the old Harz Mountain towns of Quedlinburg, Wernigerode, and Goslar, the unofficial capital of the Harz region. Drive south to Eisenach, and prowl through the Wartburg Castle, where Luther translated the Bible in hiding. The final stops are Erfurt, a city of towers that mostly managed to escape wartime bombing, and Weimar, where you might want to peek into its most famous hotel, the charming and luxurious Elephant.