Dresden questions.
 

I will be travelling by train from Berlin to Prague and will stop in Dresden, I can stop for six hours or eight hours and continue to Prague the same day. I will not stay overnight in Dresden as this doesn't work well for my schedule. I would like to see old city and the Historic Green Vaults in Dresden, how far is the later from the train stn and how long does the average visit take. I'd like to get to Prague early as I've read alot of negative things about the train stn and the surrounding area. I am tempted to book trains that allow a six hour stopover, which will give me 5 hours in the city. I need to travel from the train stn - the old town and back and also need to leave my luggage at the train station's left luggage office, I am allowing an hour for this. Is any of this doable in six hours, or do I need the eight hour stopover.

Another question, regarding booking the Historic Green Vault tickets online, once I click to book online the website automatically changes from English to German. What am I doing wrong? If I click English (to change the language) on the page with the booking form in German the website displays the homepage in English. This is the website I am using:-

http://www.skdmuseum.de/en/museums-i...lbe/index.html

Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.

Well the Dresden Hbf is about a half-mile or so stroll to the riverfront and venue of those historic buildings, including recently resurrected church. All - famous museums, opera house, etc and wall are in a very compact area - easy to walk there and back from station - storing your bags in a station locker.

PalenQ, thank you for the information, do you know if the HBF has a left luggage office? I doubt my suitcase will fit in a locker and I certainly don't want to find that all the lockers are full and I can't store my luggage somewhere.

You can leave your luggage on the first floor between Burger King and the model train toward the Pragerstreet. They call it Gepaeckaufbewahrung (luggage storage).
Then you simply walk along Pragerstrasse which is a rather nice shopping mile built in the interesting Le Corbusier/Bauhaus style. It will take you to the Altmark square where the Old town royal complex starts. Dresden old town is very impressive and grand so you may want as much time as possible especially if you want to see art inside the royal palaces. Besides the Green vault, you will want to eplore the immense zwinger palace which has been turned into museum galleries, the newly rebuilt Frauenkirche and the Bruehlse Terrace on the riverbank. You'll need about half an hour to walk from the train station because it's about a mille walk if not more.

As for the green vault, it looks like you can only buy it in German, you should just try it because it's rather straight forward. I've never been to the green vault personally, but according to the German text, the ticket is sold as a timed entry ticket (zeiteinlass).
You simply use the calendar to pick your date and then optionally you can choose your entry time for which you are given a half hour window, so if you arrive at 11 am, the earliest I would recommend would be 12:30 just in case there is any train delay plus getting lost. I would even pick 13:30 if lunch is in order before museum entry.
Under "Uhrzeit" (time) you can scroll down your ideal entry time because they won't let you in after your chosen half hour time. If the entry time you want is full then you will be given a choice of the remaining available time. The ticket costs 12 euro including the pre purchase fee. You must have a valid email address, use Mastercard or Visa for payment and you must print your ticket after the online purchase.

Thanks for all the feedback.

I was looking at the 8.36 am train from Berlin that arrives at 10.52, and I was going to take a 1910 train to Prague, but now the train maybe late comment makes me consider a 1710 train instead. I have been on the ICE in Germany and have found German trains to be puntucal, is this route notorious like Italian trains for being anything but punctual? I am worried about safety and getting to my hotel in Prague on arrival.

DAX, thank you for the information on the Historic Green Vault's website. I'll go ahead and book the ticket once I get my train booking done.

>I doubt my suitcase will fit in a locker

Why do you believe so?
If your suitcase doesn't fit into a locker, you will have lots of trouble travelling with it.

Here's the English website for ticket bookings for the Historic Green Vault:
https://ticket.hgg-skd.de/kresource/...&lang=en&loc=2

With six hours you'll really only have time for a quick glance at the top sights. The Historic Green Vault will probably take up 1:30 h if you follow the audio guide. The New Green Vault would take up one hour at least IMO.

DAX (hi!) gave you excellent advice. There's nothing to add at the moment. I wouldn't worry about the lockers - so far I haven't heard of suitcases that didn't fit in. But of course you can use the manned left luggage office - same price.

Btw, I have stayed in a hotel vis-a-vis from the main train station in Prague and didn't find the area unsafe. It was in winter when it got dark even much earlier. I also walked through that park in front of the train station to get to the State Opera house and back - no problems at all. Why not taking public transportation? Where is your hotel in Prague?

I.

Ingo, thank you for the link.

I haven't booked a hotel in Prague yet, I am now looking for a hotel near the train stn to make things easier on arrival and departure (I leave Prague by train too). I was going to book my Bahn tickets yesterday for an 8 hour stop in Dresden but chickened out as this would have me arriving in Prague at 9.30 pm. It does sound like I need the 8 hours in Dresden to visit the Historic Green Vault. I'll go ahead and book the Bahn tickets and work on finding a Prague hotel.

I stayed at the Falkensteiner Maria and thought it was ok, at least for Prague. Nearby is the Souvereign, also pretty good, maybe even better (business friends of mine stayed there).

which train station?
Praha hlavní nádraží ?

danon, from what I can understand it is Praha hlavní nádraží stn, but on Bahn's website the station is only listed as Praha. I did post this on the thread I started about Prague too after your reply on that thread.

Ingo, I will look for info on the Falkensteiner Maria.

I was in Prague last summer.. took DB train to Dresden, the departure station was Holesovice .
It may have changed, or the arriving station may be different... it is just that the two stations are in different locations.

Most, if not all trains from Dresden to Prague now go to the main train station Praha hlavní nádraží. They used to terminate at Holesovice, but that's no longer the case.

Thanks for the heads up, danon. I took a quick look at Bahn.com and the train stops at both stations, Praha Holesovice and Praha Hlavni Nadrazi. The later is the last stop. I would prefer to stay near Praha Hlavni Nadrazi since the train I'll take to leave Prage departs from here and does not stop at Praha Holesovice station.

Glad our Dresden native Fodorite Ingo (Hello!) is onboard as he's the best travel resource for Dresden. If you read my input on your Prague thread, I did arrive in Prague at 9:30pm and I had no problem walking at night there even though I arrived with my young daughter. We never felt unsafe walking at night in Prague old town, so technically you can do an 8 hour stop in Dresden especially if you are staying across the street from the train station. If possible you should consider staying overnight in Dresden as it is really worth it. German trains are mostly on time but the weather (flood) can cause delay.

I've been to the Green Vault. I wouldn't call the area near the train station in Dresden very dicey, it seemed pretty safe to me. I think I walked it once going from there towards the river. There's a new area in there, as I recall, with Ibis or Mercure hotels or something, and stores. I think I was going to a movie theater in there.

I'm sure there are some hotels near the main station in Prague, there always are. I just can't remember which they are. Of course, it's not very far from Wenceslas Square and there are several hotels on it, although I don't find that such a nice place to stay.

This is a good website for Prague
http://www.marys.cz/prague_guide/trains/