Why Dresden Should Be on Your Bucket List: A Local’s Perspective

Situated in the east of Germany, Dresden sits on the River Elbe and is known by many as the Florence of Germany.

This city isn’t talked of much, yet it’s one of Germany’s most-visited cities. But is Dresden worth visiting?

Let’s take a look.

Table of Contents

Reasons why you should visit Dresden

There are so many reasons for visiting Dresden and many say that it’s a real hidden gem – it’s even been nicknamed “Jewel Box.”

You should visit Dresden in Germany — Reasons for visiting Dresden

Here are some of the great things about this city.

The architecture

As the capital of Saxony, this was a former location of the royals. If you’re an architecture enthusiast, there’s so much to see here.

The Old Town is awash with ornate buildings from the Baroque era. One such example is the Semper Opera House which was built in the late 19^th century and is situated in Altmarkt Square.

Arguably the most famous landmark is Dresden’s Church of Our Lady, the FrauenKirche.

This was destroyed completely during the Second World War and then rebuilt from its remains – the darkest stones are originals.

The reconstruction cost around €100,000 but most of this came from donations.

History museums and art galleries

The National Gallery is housed in the stunningly beautiful Zwinger Palace.

This has a huge collection of paintings from Europe that date back to the 15^th century.

There are also collections of silverware and porcelain. The Museum of Decorative Arts – The Kunstgewerbemuseum – is also located in the Zwinger Palace.

Dresden has many other museums to explore too – and lots are free.

There is the Cathedral – the Frauenkirche, the Albertinum, the Käthe Kollwitz Museum, the Neue Meister Gallery, the Staftmuseum, the Leipziger Platz, and the Albertinum Art Museum to name a few.

Some museums close on Mondays so it’s worth checking out their websites before turning up. Some will also close at 8 pm, though the public ones tend to close at 5 pm.

Dresden at Christmas time

Dresden is a wonderful city around Christmas time. It is beautifully decorated and lit and its Christmas Market is fantastic.

The evolution of Dresden

Another reason to visit Dresden is to admire how much the city has changed within the last one hundred years.

During the Second World War, Dresden saw 85% of the historic center bombed. When you look at photos of this time, it’s hard to imagine that such a wonderful city ever looked so devastating.

Nowadays – It’s a vibrant hub of education and culture. It’s a wonderful example of what people can achieve with determination.

Its surroundings

If you like combining city trips with countryside, Dresden lends itself very nicely to this.

Within an hour or two from the center, you have over 15 castles to explore.

As well as this, there is the Elbe Sandstone Mountains and the Dresden Basin. This is one of Germany’s national parks.

It’s largely undiscovered

Dresden does get a considerable number of tourists but the majority of them are from Germany itself.

Besides local tourists, you’re likely to see a few Russians and Italians. Otherwise, it’s a largely undiscovered city, which makes it even more appealing.

Disadvantages of Dresden

It would be unfair to suggest everything about Dresden is perfect.

Visitors generally want to know what to expect, including any negatives.

Disadvantages visiting Dresden — Dresden

So, here are some of Dresden’s disadvantages.

It had its UNESCO World Heritage status revoked

It’s rare for UNESCO to revoke a place’s World Heritage status.

In fact, it has only happened twice. Dresden Elbe Valley was first designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004 because of its architectural values and scenery.

This included the slopes, riverbanks, and urban area.

In 2006 – It became listed as a World Heritage Site in Danger. This ‘in Danger’ list is meant to increase awareness internationally about threats to sites with the hope of encouraging counteractive measures to restore the sites.

Dresden was delisted in 2009 due to the Waldschlösschen Bridge construction.

This bridge across the river Elbe was built to ease congestion in the city center.

Its construction was deemed highly controversial and the city was warned about being delisted by UNESCO should it go ahead.

However, the construction did go ahead, and it meant that the Dresden Elbe Valley became the second UNESCO World Heritage Site to be de-listed. The first site was the Oryx Sanctuary in Oman.

The 20km-long Waldschlösschen Bridge opened to the public officially in 2013.

It gets cold in winter

If you’re not someone who copes well with cold weather, you might want to avoid coming to Dresden in the winter months.

The highest temperature in Dresden in December can be around 2 °C (35 °F) but it is frequently sub-zero.

January is even colder.

In summer, however, you can get pleasant temperatures, but these are also the wettest months of the year.

Lots of people smoke tobacco

Around 28% of people in Germany smoke tobacco, which is slightly higher than the United States (25.1%) and much higher than other English-speaking countries like Australia (11.6%), New Zealand (14.8%), Canada (17.5%), and the United Kingdom (14.1%).

It’s expensive

Depending on where you live, Dresden can seem expensive.

You can expect to pay around €50 for a meal at a restaurant and a beer will cost you around €3.50.

Dresden in winter supercold — Traveling to Dresden in winter

The pros and cons of Dresden

To help you to decide if Dresden is worth visiting, here is our list of pros and cons.

What we like

It’s very safe
The air quality is good
It is not too crowded
The roads are safe
Loads of people speak English
It’s family-friendly
It’s very LGBTQ+-friendly

What we don’t like

It gets very cold in winter
Lots of people smoke
It can be expensive

Final thoughts

Despite losing its UNESCO World Heritage status, Dresden is still a beautiful city with lots to offer tourists.

It’s a great city to visit any time of year (as long as you don’t mind the cool weather). What’s more, it’s only 90 miles from Prague and so can be visited from here in one day.

It’s also only 70 miles from the Polish border too, which makes it an interesting location for travel. So, is Dresden worth visiting? We think so!