2 days in Dresden
 

Hello,

I'll have two days (Thursday/Friday) in Dresden in late October. Arrive 8 am Thursday, depart 7:45 pm Friday from the bus stop near main train station (using Flixbus to Prague).

I could use a little help as am still not totally understanding all of the various buildings and combinations.

I will plan to walk everywhere, with the likely exception of cab to/from hotel and bus-stop. Staying at Motel One Zwinger. Will probably get the two day Dresden City Card? It looks like a few of my sites are included.

Thursday:

Hofkirche: begin 9 am

Nympenbad - outside

Furstenzug mural - outside

Walk around park nearby, maybe see if I can peak into Opera House (don't think I can fit a formal tour in)

10 am or a little later Zwinger: Alte Meister and Porzellansammlung and Sculpture Gallery. AlteMeister Cafe for lunch. Is this actually inside the Alte Meister Museum?

Frauenkirke

Maybe Bruhl's Terrace?

Kreuzkirke until 6. Can cut if day gets too long/tiring

Dinner at Kastenmeiters at 7:15 pm. Maybe head back to hotel in between.

Drink at Twist

Friday:

Albertinum at 10 am

Lunch quickly somewhere? Maybe Eidelweis?

Reisenszchloss: Green Vault and Historic Vault, maybe Armoury and works on paper quickly. Do I have to reserve a vault time?

Cafe Schinkelwache: Thinking should start 5:45 to be done in about an hour with enough time to grab bag from hotel and head to train/bus station.

I would love to do a tour of the Opera House and a river cruise, but I can't see how to fit those in.

Any suggestions for quick lunch places on the Friday or anything that can be cut (like Kreuzkirche) to shave a little time would be helpful.

You'll want to get the Dresden Museums Card, not the City Card. The latter covers public transportation and gives just a few lousy reductions.

You can peek into the Opera house - the box office is on the ground floor. You won't see much, though. The gorgeous interior is upstairs and in the auditorium.

Alte Meister cafe (restaurant) is in the same building, but not inside the Alte Meister picture gallery. There's a door on the ground floor, though, through which you can enter the restaurant and also return. Of course the restaurant also has a regular entrance (nice terrace, btw) from outside.

There are lots of places around Neumarkt square where you can have a quick lunch. From pizza places over steak house to German food. No need to go to Edelweiß, which is a bit pricey IMO. If you want better value or save some money, go to nearby Weisse Gasse where a dozen or so restaurants offer lunch specials for 6-8 Euro.

In the last months it was never necessary to pre-book tickets for the Historic Green Vault; there were always plenty available. And you need just ONE ticket. No, I would not reserve in advance - but buy before you go to the other museums in the Royal Palace, so you know when exactly you can enter the Historic Green Vault.

Frankly, you are spending way too much time in museums for my taste. You'll be totally museum-ed out. Tired. Exhausted. Your focus is obviously on the art museums in the old town - and you totally neglect the rest of the city. I highly recommend you do a quick detour for lunch or maybe in the evening to the other side of the river. Get at least a quick first impression of the New Town (Neustadt) district - beyond Alberplatz it's vibrant with lots of ethnic restaurants, clubs, quirky shops and street art.

Great info from Ingo who is a local Dresdener - I just add this to lend great value to his/her recommendations.

Thanks for your great advice. I appreciate this but am a huge museum buff. Maybe I can at least walk to the other side on my one night there.

Or, if you were to cut a museum, what would you cut? Maybe Alte? I really love 18-19th century art, so I think the albertinum is a must for me.

18th is in Alte Meister, 19th is in Albertinum ;-)

I would probably cut the Porcelain and/or Sculptures. Or just peek inside, get a quick overview. But that's me ...

Just an ART museum buff? Or museums in general? Did you know that the city museums (not State) are free Friday afternoon? Like city (history) museum with city gallery, the (small) Museum on the Romantic era (historic Kügelgen house), Tech Collections ...

Good idea. I think I'll move through porcelain and/or sculptures pretty quickly. Mostly an art museum buff.

( A brief highjack to say Hello to Ingo. We hope you are well ).

This might give you an idea of what we saw:

https://flic.kr/s/aHsjpsKahy

and this place is good for a light lunch with a glass of wine:

Hi Miki - all good here, hope you are doing well also!