Spending a few days in Dresden in early June. Any lodging and or location suggestions? Usually go with Rick's choices, but can't find any for Dresden. Tried to do a search on this site, but no luck. Couple in our 50's. No chains or anything too fancy. Just a good-value room in a good location, as Rick says. And favorite restaurant if you have one handy! Thanks!
Posted by
Redmond, WA
295 posts
Rick's Berlin guide has a section on Dresden, including hotels and how to make reservations for the green vaults. We stayed at the Hotel Kipping and loved it - walk out of the train station and in one block you have a great room. Remember to request an AC room (no extra charge). Don't miss the incredible sporting goods store in the small shopping mall to your right as you walk the short distance to town - they even have an indoor pool to try the kayaks.
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
You probably want to stay around the Neumarkt. This is the rebuilt historic area. The rest of the city... well, fine if you like hyper-modern or Soviet-style central planning. Educational, but not particularly cozy.
I can't recall seeing a single hotel that wasn't a chain, except for one digny looking place near the zoo. I got a very good rate at the Steinberger der Saxe hotel, but I visited off season. If you want to stay in the restored area, I think chains are your only option.
The best restaurant I experienced in Dresden, surprisingly, was Canadian-themed, called "Ontario". I also had a pretty decent meal at a Bierkeller-type restaurant on the Altmarkt, but I forget the name.
Go to Dresden with a different set of expectations than you would to, say, Munich, Heidelberg or ever Frankfurt. You simply won't find all the little family-owned restaurants and hotels that Mr. Steves always raves about.
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
PS- I visited Dresden and some of the surrounding area very recently and I wrote a dispatch under the "Trip Reports" section of this website, if you want to read more.
Posted by
Germany
868 posts
What Tom writes is, sorry to say this, only partly true. For instance, it isn't true that the entire city consists of Commie blocks. Large parts of the city survived the war without damages, "only" the historic centre was completely destroyed. Today the partly reconstructed old town is surrounded by Commie blocks, which are surrounded by mostly preserved suburbs. Some of these suburbs are very nice, like Loschwitz and Wachwitz on the banks of the Elbe, or Striesen, a wonderful 19th century living quarter. Of course most tourists don't stay there, since the heart of the city is ~20min away. But i you like it quiet and romantic a hotel somewhere around the Blue Wonder bridge is highly recommended. Loschwitz for example is a old wine village.
And "little family-owned restaurants and hotels" also exist in Dresden, but not in the city centre. Because of the destruction of the old town the heart of the city was a wasteland until 10 years ago, and the small restaurants and hotels only survived in the suburbs. For most Dresdeners not the old town but the Neustadt quarter or the area around the Blue Wonder bridge is the heart of the city. Saxony has a distinct Coffee culture (Saxons are also called Kaffeesachsen = Coffee Saxons), and the best bakeries for example can be found there. Close to the Blue Wonder for example is the Wippler bakery, which offers typical Saxon cakes like Eierschecke, poppy-seed cake or Kleckskuchen. Restaurants like Körnergarten, Schillergarten or Luisenhof, all close to the Blue Wonder bridge, are also highly recommended.
Posted by
San Francisco
14980 posts
Hi,
It's true that the famous historic and cultural core, the Innenstadt, was obliterated and gutted in Feb 1945 and that the outlying areas, the railways, the War Academie, Neustadt and so on were not targeted. It seems to me just by way of observation (and I may be wrong on this) that the presence of those hideous commie blocks varies from city to city. I saw more of them in Magdeburg than in Dresden. But then in Dresden I visited only the restored area and just a bit across the river into Neustadt.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
2 posts
There is a charming residential neighborhood called Gruna, just on the other side of the Grosser Garten from the Altstadt - a short tram ride to all the major sights. The immediate area is walkable to shops and bakeries and there's a nice biergarten in the park. We stay with friends who live in Gruna, but there are a few very attractive small B&B/pensions in the neighborhood as well:
Pension Mätschke, Tetschener Straße 21 , http://www.pension-dresden-maetschke.de/ (site in German)
Pension am Großen Garten, Beilstraße 30, http://www.pension-am-grossen-garten.de/en/ (site in German or English)
Pension Pamp, Tetschener Straße 15 http://www.dresden-pension-pamp.de/ (site in German)
I don't have any experience staying at these places but they look nice and I recommend the area heartily.
Gute Reise! :)