bettyloo

I'll be travelling with my mother and ten year old daughter in July based in Leipzig for 10 days. We'd like to make day trips to Erfurt, Weimer, Dresden and perhaps one other place. My preliminary research seems to indicate a car would be cheaper and obviously more convenient as far as schedules go. However, I'm wondering how the driving is in this area of Germany? Also is parking an issue in these cities? Is the driving time between Leipzig and these places significantly different driving versus train (which seems to be 1-2 hours for all places)?

Thanks so much for any advice!!

quokka

Cheaper? Definitely not. Investigate the option of Länder tickets for the train. If you plan to visit nothing but cities, the train is the easiest way of travelling because it takes you right into the city centres, without any worries about traffic, one way streets, finding parking, parking fees etc. etc. The flexibility of a car is useful and makes sense if you plan to tour the countryside and visit places outside the cities.

J62

For 3 of you the cheapest and likely also the easiest will be to use trains. You can get a special Laender Ticket good for all of Saxony or Thuringia for 28 euros for the entire day, good for up to 5 people traveling together. There are restrictions on which trains and time of day (nothing before 9am), but those may not be too restrictive for you.


http://www.bahn.com/i/view/USA/en/pr...r-ticket.shtml

If you can pay a supplement to take high speed trains it'll increase your options for trains.

I'm not quite sure how the land ticket works if you cross from Saxony (Leipzig, Dresden) into Thuringia (Weimar, Ehrfurt). Given that Leipzig is close to the border between the 2 regions it would be great of the Thurungia pass included to/from Leipzig. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable than I will chime in.

FoFoBT

FWIW, I preferred the non-ICE trains between Leipzig and Dresden. They did take longer, but I wasn't in a rush. I sat in the upper level (first class) and had the compartment to myself - just relaxed and watched the scenery go by. (Along that train of thought, so to speak, I was surprised by the flatness of the landscape between Leipzig and Dresden...I don't know why, for some reason I thought there would be more hills)

From the Dresden train station, it's an easy tram ride (or taxi) to the old town or you can walk down through the pedestrian shopping area. I think it took me about 15 to 20 minutes at an ambling pace to get from the train station to the edge of the square where the Frauenkirche is. However, you probably don't want to do that with your mother.

One thing that's fun to do in the Dresden historic area is taking the bicycle taxi (you ride, it's the "driver" who does all the work).

Ingo

The Länder-Ticket is good for Saxony, Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt all at once. If you buy in Leipzig you can travel to Thuringia or Saxony-Anhalt on the same ticket. Definitely take trains, don't drive. Like quokka said, driving in(to) the cities doesn't make sense.

In 10 days you might take more than just 3 or 4 day trips. There are too many wonderful places to explore in the region. You could easily spend a month there. Halle e.g. is just a quick hop over by train from Leipzig. Or Wittenberg. Or go to one of the small towns close to Leipzig - Grimma, Delitzsch e.g.

quokka

Or Torgau. Naumburg.

Doing the city trips by train but renting a car for a day or two to do a trip into the countryside would make most sense to me. For example: Wörlitz garden realm and Ferropolis. The wine regions of Saale and Unstrut valley. Some places in and around the Harz mountains. Spreewald.

Ingo

Quokka, the OP only has 10 days!! LOL

bettyloo

Thanks so much everyone!! I forgot about the Länder-Ticket!

FoFoBT you made me laugh with the comment although you probably don't want to do that with your mother as my mother is relatively young and very active.

Ingo-thanks for the suggestions! My family came to the US from Erfurt which was the starting point of the trip, but in researching the area I'm very excited to explore! I wish we had a month!! I've always read your posts about Dresden with interest so I'm looking forward to visiting.

I was leaning towards a car because I have always enjoyed the smaller towns and the driving as well as it is often more convenient with a small child, but everyone makes good points in favor of the train. Plus she's not that small anymore!! I think it may be best to stick to cities this trip and plan a longer future trip to explore the smaller towns.

Thanks again all!!