Seeking recommendations for driving tour of Saxony area

Hi,

Although I have been to Leipzig and Dresden a few times, I'll only comment on Magdeburg, got there on a regional train from Berlin.

Good that you've chosen to see Magdeburg. Like Dresden it's on the Elbe. In July of 2009 I spent 2 full days there, walked all over. You can walk across the Elbe too, just as in Dresden.

Magdeburg is well worth seeing, above all, the Zentrum. It does show the hideous examples of Soviet architecture, these Plattenbau and Mietskaserne buildings. Those visitors I saw ( then) were all German, no foreign tourist at all, if so, chances are they'll be Russian.

Historically, among other things im Zentrum Magdeburgs, was also a German military memorial, ie, the soldiers' monument.

Quedlinburg is a stunner for sure. Don't miss the cathedral treasury; Google for info in the US connection. As of 2015 the Tourist Office rented a city audioguide. The historic area is rather large; you could spend all day with that guide. The historic center is very, very cobbled. I regretted having opted to detour to the Tourist Office in the middle of the cobbles upon arrival rather than rolling my bag straight to my hotel on the edge of the historic area.

Not many Americans seem to know about Quedlinburg, but Europeans are aware of it. You can expect a lot of fellow visitors.

There are so many things to discover that I need to ask for your interests or want-to-experiences, e. g. food, hikes, history, culture, landscapes, ...

If you want to drive through beautiful landscapes instead of just Autobahn I recommend parts of German Alleys Route.

A very good tool to explore possible sights for a tour is the interactive map of the German Tourist Board. Click on the left jand side your priorities and scroll into the map. There you will find descriptions and links.

Also the states* tourism websites are worth visiting for regional inspiration, e. g. Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony.

Tip for navigation: Sygic navigation app works with downloadable maps and does not need any Internet connection when you downloaded the map at home. It saves smartphone battery, money (no local SIM needed) and avoids stress of downloading partial maps every day.

Tip 2: In German addresses you will often find the word "Straße" (street). The letter "ß" is NOT a "b" but a German Eszett. to replace it in address searches use "ss"; so "Strasse".

Tip 3: Save money by using a website for nearest gas stations and good fuel prices, e. g. https://www.clever-tanken.de/. General fueling in the morning is expensive. Just enter you location name or zip code. Stopping next to a restairant or cafe shall give you the chance to use their open wifi.

By choosing the Hunderwasser building in Magdeburg, I suppose you are interested in architecture.

I would recommend a few more other attractions nearby. There are a coupe of UNESCO world heritage sites.

Bauhaus and its Sites in Weimar, Dessau and Bernau - https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/729/

Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/534/

Route of the Romanesque - https://www.impactour.eu/pages/strasse-der-romanik-germany-0

Thank you so much, Fred and acraven and MarkK and Jeff! I really appreciate your suggestions. acraven, I would have missed the Quedlinberg treasury had you not called my attention to it! MarkK I really love the idea of a drive hrough the tree alley roads, thank you so much, and thank you for the other very helpful links as well. Wow I love those. Jeff, yes I love architecture and I love those links you posted.

The Hundertwasser hotel in Magdeburg looks like so much fun and I have already seen his works in New Zealand. I hope to see his building in Vienna soon as well. I didn't intend on this, but I'm becoming a collector of seeing his buildings!

I don’t know if Vienna is part of this trip or a future one but we just returned from Vienna. I wanted to see the Hundertwasser building, museum and cafe but it’s closed until early 2024 the website says. I had seen it in 2005 and wanted to experience it again. https://www.kunsthauswien.com/en/

Mona! Thank you for letting me know! Yes Vienna was planned for a Christmas markets tour this year. Thanks to your sharing this info, I will now not be disappointed if I don't get that week off work and will willingly reschedule the trip until next year!

About 50 miles northeast of Hannover is Uelzen, with a Hundertwasser train station.
I'm also a Hundertwasser fan. In 2017 I had to shorten a trip and had to cancel my reservation at the artHOTEL Magdeburg, which is in the Grüne Zitadelle. I was quite upset about not seeing Magdeburg.
There was also a Hundertwasser building that I biked past (appeared closed) in (possibly) Bregenz, Austria, along the Bodensee. I'm not sure exactly where it was.
Have a great time on your trip!

I don't know if Erfurt is too far off your route, but it's a very old city, with a lot of history. Weimar is nearby. I wanted to see the Zeiss museum in Jena, but we didn't have time. If you get to the (mentioned) Gartenreich WHS, it might be interesting to find the nearby street of outdoor restaurants and maybe boarding houses in vacation month. The Leipzig fine arts museum has a nice collection.

We’ve spent a lot of time in this wide two State region, Saxony and Thuringia.

In Quedlinburg also explore off of the newly paved pedestrian area to find the streets with the old cobblestones and more half timbered houses. The main pedestrian area had this type of cobblestone until about 7-8 years ago.

Stop in Wernigerode and walk up to the castle above this charming town. There is also an old steam train that originates in this town and chugs through the forested slopes up to the top of the highest peak, The Brocken. When we were there in 2022 there was a horrible infestation going on in the trees and many were dying. It looked like sawdust under many pockets of trees. We also noticed the concrete tank paths leading up to and around the peak. They are part of the old 1km swath of border set up between former East and west Germany. There is now an organized, reflective walking system of these borders. https://www.harzinfo.de/erlebnisse/tour/harzer-grenzweg-am-gruenen-band

In Leipzig we’ve been fortunate to find festivals happening in its beautiful center on all three of our visits. A very meager/somber Christmas market in 1990, harvest festival in September of 2018 and an all German choir festival in May of 2022. Explore the decorative passageways, attend a concert at the Bach church, St Thomas, and look up everywhere there is a great deal of beautiful glass and Jugendstil embellishments in this city that have been restored (since our first visit in 1990).

In Dresden I wouldn’t miss the Gemaldagalerie in the Zwinger Palace area. The combination ticket is worth it if you have time and interest in the other nearby museums. A separate, timed ticket is sold for the Green Vault treasury. The Frauenkirche has been rebuilt during our 3 visits and has been completed for less than 10 years. Look in the lower level of the church to see displays of its bombing devastation and long delayed rebuilding efforts.

If you want to compare an interesting city that was in the West to these cities which were in the East, Goslar is a city we visit when we are in this area.

Travel by train and car can be a bit slower than other areas of Germany so don’t be discouraged if you can’t see it all on your visit. We still have more we want to see if given another opportunity and would gladly go back.

Time allowing a driving trip farther south towards the Saxon Switzerland National Park; Bastei Bridge, Königstein etc. Elbe river cruise? Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge) nut crackers, smokers, Schwibbogen etc. Seiffen, Annaberg-Buchholz. Some hiking around Oberwiesenthal? Have stayed in Bad Schandau, Seiffen, Annaberg-Buchholz and Oberwiesenthal. All were nice and relaxing. Maybe not the top tourist destinations for a one-time tour. Plenty of tree lined routes and narrow roads with vistas. Some of the lesser traveled route.