Train travel from Zeitz to Goerlitz

The website for transit in Görlitz is www.vgg-goerlitz.de/.

What do you call the city center. According to Google maps, there is a tram from the Bahnhof to within 1/3 mi walking distance of the Untermarkt. I doubt that the trams (or buses) are included in the rail pass. Usually only the S-Bahn in cities is included. Were you using a Sachsen-Anhalt (Länder) Ticket, trams and buses would be covered, as would travel by regional trains from Zeitz. If you have any use for the additional rail pass day, you might consider doing the entire trip with a Sachsen-Anhalt-Ticket (26€ for 2 people). (Note, the Sachsen-Anhalt-Ticket covers all day travel by regional trains in the states (Länder) of Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, and Thüringen.)

How many in your party. The website says a one-way ticket is 1,40€, a Tageskarte (day pass) is 3,-€/person, and a group Tageskarte is 6,50€. If there are two of you, I would get the Tageskarten (2). Invest the extra 20 cent in case you want to do anything more than a round trip.

I've never seen a bus in Germany that didn't take cash and give change. Streetcars (which you will probably take first) usually have a ticket automat on board. You probably need to cancel (entwerten) tickets bought on the streetcar.

Thanks to both of you. I am new to this site, although I have used Rick Steves' books, cd's, luggage, etc. for many years. I should have started here about six months ago. My husband and I purchased a German Twin railpass (1st class). I debated quite some time about that but the older we get the less I want to worry about buying various tickets along the way, and the extra $100 pp for first class is well worth it to us. We are departing for Frankfurt on July 7th and onward to Zeitz by train. Yes, it will be a long day/night from Baltimore but we are ready for the adventure. We have traveled extensively throughout Europe over the last 18 years, but it has been a while since we have used rail service. The trip to Gorlitz will be a day trip, and yes it is probably a lot of travel time for one day. We are attending a wedding in Zeitz and our hotel there is paid for the 10 day stay, so we really hadn't planned a stayover in another town. Perhaps a day in Dresden and maybe a day in Berlin (provided we get a very early start) is ambitious enough. Any other thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I also would appreciate knowing if there is a way I can post my first name instead of the email address. Thank you.

It's a 20min walk to the medieval old town, but the walk is quite nice. First you pass the 19th century shopping street with a shopping arcade, then a beautiful 19th century square with the Imperial post office followed by the only preserved 19th century department store of Germany (sadly closed right now) and several remains of the medieval fortifications.
BUT: Görlitz is really very far away for a day trip. Have you already seen the major sights closer to Zeitz, like Weimar, Naumburg or Erfurt?

Hi,

If you can rearrange your trip and stay in Dresden, then it's possible timewise to do the day trip to Görlitz. From Dresden by train Görlitz is much closer.

Thank you all very much. We will now consider staying in Dresden, possibly Hotel Kipping, which I understand is close to train station and city centre. We might also consider staying in Gorlitz. Any ideas on where to stay there?

George, thank you for trying to guide me along. I can't believe how rusty I am, not having been to Europe in 7 years. I honestly don't know where I came up with the Hotel Kipping idea, I thought for sure it was very close to the train station. I searched this website for some help, but I was unable to find the hotel Rick talks about, 5 minutes from the Dresden train station. I would be grateful for any suggestions. As for my interest in Gorlitz, I have some reasons, but they really aren't very good ones. I guess one is that we want to get our money's worth from our pass and would like to get as close to the border as possible as we have no plans to return to this area again. We recently saw a travel movie about the Neue Altstadbrucke Bridge and it just looked interesting to me. I'm sure there are plenty of other places more worthwhile and I will continue to do my homework. I just wish I had joined this forum before today. And what is this movie others are referring to?

Hi,

Görlitz was site for the filming of "Grand Budapest Hotel." That's just one reason for visiting that town. I almost did that as a day trip from Berlin last month but it's too great of a distance r/t. Staying in Dresden makes the day trip much easier.

OK, let's start with Zeitz:
Zeitz is a bit in the middle of nowhere. The best towns in the area are Naumburg with the famous Gothic cathedral and Altenburg with a huge castle. Leipzig is very interesting, with a compact old town, Bachs church, the church where the revolution of 1989 started, Auerbachs Keller (Germanys most famous restaurant), Coffe Baum (one of Europes oldest coffee houses), many shopping passages and a great zoo. If you want to know more about German culture visit Weimar, home of Goethe, Schiller, Herder, Cranach, Nietzsche, Liszt, the Bauhaus etc.. Weimar offers a somewhat sleepy, but beautiful old town, severalparks and castles and is a World Heritage Site. Close to Weimar is Erfurt, which offers one of the biggest and best preserved old towns of Germany.
Close to Zeitz are also several castles like Kriebstein (the best one), Gnandstein, Rochlitz, Neuenburg, Rudelsburg+Saaleck or Colditz, but in most cases it's difficult to get there by public transport.
And in Zwickau you can visit the August Horch Museum, a car museum. Before WW2 this was the centre of the Saxon car industry, i.e. Auto Union and Horch, the main rival of Mercedes. After the war the Trabi was built there.

Now to Dresden:
I can't help you with hotels, but I guess the best one are either around Neumarkt (the reconstructed (and touristy) old town), Neustadt (a bubbly 19th century quarter), or around the Blue Wonder bridge (a posh and beautiful living quarter (which is 10min away from the centre and the train station)).
Dresden is GREAT for day trips. Just outside Dresden is Radebeul, a old wine village with beautiful vineyards and castles with valuable interiors from the 17th century. From Radebeul you can take a steam train to Moritzburg castle. Another wine village is Pillnitz with another nice castle. This castle can be reached by a fleet of nostalgic paddle steamers from Dresden, just like Meissen, Pirna, Königstein fortress and Saxon Switzerland. By train you can do day trips not only to Görlitz but also to Bautzen, a baroque town surrounded by medieval fortification halfway between Dresden and Görlitz, and Freiberg, once the richest town of Saxony and still shaped by mining. From there youc an take the bus to Seiffen deep in the Ore mountains. The Ore mountains are Germanys Christmas country, and the small village with nothing but Christmas shops is the capital.

The area around the Hauptbahnhof in Dresden is mostly a shopping center and a lot of refurbished Plattenbauten from the communist days. This is probably not why you wanted to visit Dresden. Go for a hotel around the Neumarkt. I stayed at Hotel Steinberger der Saxe, and expected for this upmarket German chain, I found it an excellent hotel with a great location.

Don't short-change Leipzig either. It's a really attractive city, and worth at least a day. Of Saxony's two most important cities, I actually prefer Leipzig to Dresden.

Thanks to all of you so much, great information. Only reason I'm including Zeitz is because that is why we are coming to Germany, for a wedding in Zeitz.

Local trams and buses are not covered by railpasses. Rick's 2013 book had a chapter on Goerlitz which said that you could buy tram tickets with coins from the machines on the platforms and onboard the trams.

Some train connections to/from Goerlitz (but not the direct trains departing Dresden) will include a leg on the Ostdeutsche Eisenbahn GmbH (green & yellow trains) which I believe also is not covered by railpasses.

I, too, wondered if the trains of the Ostdeutsche Eisenbahn GmbH were included in the Deutsche Bahn rail pass. I seem to remember in the past reading that it was not, but I can't find that now. Some privately run rail lines, like the Bayerische Oberlandbahn (BOB) in southern Bavaria, do not accept rail passes. But, if she has another place to use that day of her railpass, a Sachsen-Ticket will include the Ostdeutsche Eisenbahn and local transport in Görlitz.