How to Spend 24 Hours in Dresden, Germany

We undertook an Easter roadtrip through northwestern Germany, starting in Munich where my partner lives and doing a big circular loop.

The Easter long weekend is always a perfect time to head out on a trip, what with shoulder season in full swing, the spring weather looking better and prices still reasonable. In previous years, I've spent my Easters in Northern Ireland, Ibiza (Spain), New Zealand, Calgary (Canada) and hiking in Vancouver (Canada), among other trips.

I have a German mother so I have visited many parts of Germany many, many times as a child. I currently live in Salzburg in Austria and so this Easter was the perfect excuse to re-explore northern Germany and many of the places of my childhood - plus a few other stops along the way.

Our first stop was actually in neighbouring Czechia, where we spent a night exploring the colourful spa town of Karlovy Vary.

→ Check out my guide on how to spend a weekend in Karlovy Vary!

From there, it was time to kick off the German leg of our trip and we crossed the border again and headed towards Dresden, a delightful university town a few hours south of Berlin. It unfortunately rained most of the time we were there but we still managed to make the most of our 24 hours in the city and are already looking forward to coming back and exploring it again in better weather!

How to Get to Dresden

By flight: Dresden is serviced by two international airpots with flights arriving from across Europe: the Dresden airport and the Leipzig/Halle airport. The Dresden airport is just outside the city and takes just 12 minutes with the S-Bahn into town. From the Leipzig/Halle airport you can get a direct train into Dresden in two and a half hours with Deutsche Bahn.

By car: We drove to Dresden from our first roadtrip stop in Karlovy Vary just across the border in Czechia. Dresden is exactly between Karlovy Vary and Berlin, being a two-and-a-half-hour drive from both. Dresden is five hours from Munich by car.

→ Check out my guide to spending a weekend in Karlovy Vary!

By bus: FlixBus services Dresden with direct connections from 200 cities.

By train: You can get directly from Berlin to Dresden on the train in just an hour and a half, faster than by car! The Dresden Hauptbahnhof sits at the southwestern side of the Altstadt making it a super accessible way to visit Dresden.

How to Get Around Dresden

Although Dresden is a fairly large city, we found the main highlights across the old town to be very walkable. You might want to join a walking tour of Dresden to get a good insight from a local of the history and learn a bit more about the city.

River cruises are also very popular in Dresden and provide a unique way to see the city.

For further distances, there are trams and buses available, all of which can be accessed using regular tickets or day passes.

→ Find out about the different public transport in Dresden and how to buy tickets on the DVB website.

Where to Stay in Dresden

We had just one night in Dresden and are already looking forward to coming back and spending more time in the city when the weather is nicer!

After doing some research on Booking.com, we didn't particularly like the look of any of the hotels (or, if we did, they were quite pricey) and so we opted to stay just a bit outside of the city at the peaceful Hotel Garni Sonnenhof. This is a family-run farm-style guesthouse in a quiet village providing a yummy breakfast, lovely service and a clean place to rest our heads before our roadtrip continued. It's just 20 minutes outside Dresden by car.

→ Book your stay at the Hotel Garni Sonnenhof in Reichenberg.

For our next visit to Dresden, we would like to stay at the beautiful Hotel Villa Sorgenfrei.

→ Book your stay at the Hotel Villa Sorgenfrei in Radebeul.

Where to Eat in Dresden

Things to See in Dresden

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This post includes affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you click a link and buy something I have recommended. It won't cost you any extra money, but helps keep this blog going! This post includes content sponsored by V Cake Café. All opinions and ideas, as always, are completely my own.

Jana Meerman

Hi! I’m Jana, a Dutch-German-British-Canadian with a dream of seeing every country in the world. I am a storyteller, photographer and adventurer passionate about documenting and sharing my travels.

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24 Hours in Dresden, Germany

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