Must-See Dresden Germany🇩🇪 | Art, History & Saxon Food | Dresden Germany Travel Guide
Discover Dresden Germany in this beautiful baroque city travel guide. In this Dresden travel vlog, we explore the baroque Old Town, go inside the Frauenkirche Dresden, stroll along the Elbe river, and cross over to the vibrant Neustadt neighborhoods filled with cafés, street art and local life. This Dresden Germany travel guide also includes a delicious Saxon food tour, with traditional dishes, beer and sweet treats you can try on your own trip. If you are planning a Dresden city break or looking for the best things to do in Dresden, this video is a relaxing yet detailed Dresden city tour to help you plan your itinerary.
In this Dresden vlog, we focus on the city’s beauty: baroque palaces, church towers, river views and cozy streets, while also touching on Dresden’s history and impressive reconstruction after World War II.
In this Dresden Germany vlog you’ll see:
– Baroque Dresden Old Town: squares, palaces and Elbe river views
– Inside the Frauenkirche and the rebuilt baroque skyline
– The Zwinger and the Old Masters Gallery highlights
– Neustadt neighborhoods: street art, cafés and everyday life
– Traditional Saxon food, desserts and local beer tips
If you enjoy Germany travel guides, European city walks, food tours and slow travel from an expat perspective, you’re in the right place.
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30 Comments
Dresden is an unbelievably beautiful and culturally rich city — a place that has survived devastation and neglect, only to return more stunning than ever. We hope you enjoy this tour of the city. What was your favorite part? Have you visited Dresden before, or is it still on your travel list? Let us know in the comments, and thanks so much for watching! ❤️
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The Gemaeldegalerie used to be in the Albertinum on the European Balcony, one of the few buildings that stood after the war in that area. The Zwinger had some minor collections. Zwinger which means court, or yard was meant to be just that, as forecourt to a palace which would cover the Operas-quare but was never built, the good old August ran out of money. Zwinger can also mean dog compound. Hundezwinger!
Where is Darion?
Kurt Vonnegut describes the horrors of the bombings in Slaughterhouse 5. He was an American POW in just S5, which still, stands at the Messe area outside the harbor. (Fair/convention area). Another author who described the times BEFORE the bombings was the jew Victor Klemperer who managed to survive underground in Dresden during the war.
A museum not well known in DD is the Military history of the German Defense Forces. It's up in the old barracks north of Albertstadt. There was one of the most important officer schools of the German army. Vey suiting is the new name of the street outside: Stauffenbergallee. Then there is the Hygienmuseum at the Stadium and also the Zoo at Grosser Garten. The VW plant (Glaeserne Manufaktur.) there where you could see auto manufacturing from both outside and inside is going through some changes.
Yet another excellent video from Lee and Becky.
Böttger was probably kept in captivity because of the secrecy surrounding the invention.
Hey guys, really enjoyed exploring Dresden with you. You‘d make a great guide, Lee. Your memory‘s got to be really good, I could never remember all the details and stories…😂. I‘ve never been to Dresden but I guess I should change that. So far in the Southeast I‘ve only ever been to Erfurt (and loved it). Also love your enthusiasm when it comes to exploring the local cuisine – very contagious. And hey, it‘s dinner time anyway. Have a wonderful weekend!
Another awesome video guys! Great history information! The explanation of the tiled wall surviving the fire bombing made a lot of sense. It definitely would have taken an enormous effort to rebuild the city center from the old pictures I’ve seen. The “Pleasure Palace” looked beautiful. I’ll suggest weighing our guests at our next party 😆. Love your explanation of the food you eat since I feel I’m learning German words. Thank you for a very beautiful and educational video!
One of our favorite cities in Germany. One other fun thing to do in Dresden is taking a river cruise.
You absolutely must go back to Dresden; you haven't seen so much. For example, the Elbe Palaces, the Great Garden with its miniature Park railway, the funicular, the suspension railway, the villa districts, the atmosphere along the Elbe, the "Blue Wonder" bridge, a boat trip (on the world's largest and oldest paddle steamer fleet), Pillnitz Palace, and so on…
Or even the immediate surroundings of Dresden, just a few minutes away… Moritzburg Castle, Königstein Fortress, the old steam-powered narrow-gauge railways in Freital and Radebeul, Saxon Switzerland along the Elbe River, the Bastei Bridge in the rocks, or the already mentioned town of Meissen with its over 1000-year history. The Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge) with their beautiful landscape and famous wooden Christmas figures are also worth seeing…
The Frauenkirche was rebuilt using private donations. The cross at the top was a private donation from Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain.
Great video, very informative ; thank, you.
Good evening Betty and Lee, my husband and I visited Dresden about 30 years ago and it was quite nice then…. but now it is really stunning and beautiful. I just told him about your great video and maybe we will visit Dresden again now. Thank you for all the videos you shared with us this year and hope you are well and healthy and also in the good mood in
the coming year 2026 to show us many more excellent videos❤ my best wishes for 2026 🎉 Birgit
My wife Lois and I were in Dresden 2022. One of my favorite cities in Germany. Especially loved the Zwinger, Kunsthofpassage, and one place not in your video – Museum for Saxon Folk art. Hope to go back.
Nice. Was this recent?
so we might need to clearify some thing since there seems to be confusion here. About Lords, Kings and Emperors. August 2nd called August the Strong. He started out as the Lord Elector of Meissen wich ruled over Saxony, wich at the time was the only territory called since the ancient saxony we call lower saxony today was called hannover at the time. During his reign he became King of Poland making his Title King of Saxony and King of Poland, no longer Lord or duke clearly defining himself from the other duckes of saxony of his distant relatives. During his life hi trived for but realised he himself could not achive the title of Holy roman (German ) emperor, wich is why he had his Son merry the emperors daughter and was Planning to have him elected (the role of Emperor was an elected one) into that office.
I was born in Dresden (1964). I am delighted when our guests enjoy their stay! Welcome to Dresden! If you are nice to us, we will be nice to you! 🤗😘😎
Tank you for the really nice Video. Dresden is a beatiful barock city. When you have more time, go by historic streamboots to the saxonie swiss. Its emassing!!! Romantic view all over. Meißen and the castle of Moritzburg not far away . Enjoy your time. Your wellcome
Feel free to come to Dresden as often as you can. It's great that you are even familiar with the little city history like milk chocolate. Greetings from Dresden 🖤💛
I really enjoyed hearing you talk so much about the history of the city. I used to give city tours myself, and everything you said was correct. It's impossible to see everything in one day, so I hope you'll have the opportunity to come back again sometime. Thanks for the great video!
watching with interest from Dresden. 😀
btw: the hdr photos don't do the beauty of the buildings justice at all. top be frank – they are ugly to me.
the Zwinger has nothing to do with any Cinderella movie, but the hunting castle of Moritzburg, close to Dresden was used as the german set for the movie ´3 Haselnüsse for Aschenbrötel' (3 hazelnuts for cinderella, a very famous czech-german co production that is aired around christmas annually).
and i can tell you – if I go out for comfort food – I love to get sächsischen Sauerbraten. great choice, Betty!
the top of the 'mosque' is being used as a restaurant and there are readings of oriental fairy tales and such.
Dresden looks amazing. It’s definitely on the list of places I would like to go especially with all that mentioning of chocolate. 😂
Yes climbing on top of the Frauenkirche is expansive, but even just the views you get of the inside of the church while walking up the loooooong Ramp, are worth it. It feels more like a little mountain hike inside of a Building. And of course the view of the City from the top is nice too.
In der deutschen Version von "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" sagt King Arthur: "Ich habe den Sachsen das Angeln beigebracht, seitdem nennt man sie Angelsachsen". Es dürfte also der Sage nach die Sachsen gar nicht mehr geben. 😀😎
Eierschecke is my favourite cake. It's one layer of Quark and one layer of Vanillepudding. Yummy!
11:15 Therefore Dresden often is referred to as "Elbflorenz" ("Florence on the river Elbe" so to speak). They all loved Italy back then, that's for sure. Good old Goethe also undertook a long travel to Italy, and was never the same afterwards, they say. 😀
It is "tsuug", a "z" is always a "ts"-sounjd in German, no matter where it is placed in a word.
One of the reasons to use as much of of the remaining masonry of the "Frauenkirche" has to do with the legal difference between a reproduction and a restauration. A replica would have to follow modern building (safety) regulations, a restauration takes place under more liberal standards.
Augustus was not Emperor but "only" Prince-Elector of Saxony. From 1356 on it had been laid down in a charter ("Bulle") of the Holy Roman Empire who the seven high-ranking local rulers were who elected the German King who would then be made Emperor by the Pope. The choice was no coincidence. When this fundamental law was written and sealed the German King and Emperor was Charles the Fourth, King of Bohemia. His family ("House of Luxembourg" ) was widely linked to the seven territories that he choose. Three of those rulers were the Archbishops of Cologne, Trier and Mainz; the four secular rulers were the King of Bohemia (surprise!!) the Count of the Palatinate, the Duke of Saxony and the Duke of Brandenburg. Over the centuries the number of those Prince-Electors grew . The Archduke of Bavaria was made one of them as he had supported the Habsburg rulers in the Thirty-Year's-War. Count Frederick of the Palatinate that played a most unsuccessful role at the start of the conflict lost that rank and title to the Bavarians. He died in exile. His successors managed to get the rank back during the peace negotiations in the late 1640s, in order not to upset the Bavarians. Frederick's wife had been a sister to King Charles the First of England and Scotland. A daughter of them was married to the Duke of Brunswik-Lunenburg and their son would become George the First of Great Britain in 1714. As early as 1692 the House of Brunswik-Lunenburg (House of Hanover for short after their major residence) had become Prince Electors as well. Religion played a great role as only a Catholic could become Emperor. The three archbishops were of course Catholics, but the Palatinate had become Calvinist, Brandenburg and Saxony were Lutheran and only Bohemia was Catholic as it was under the crown of the Habsburgs in Austria. Well, with the Bavarians as Prince-Electors the score was 4 to 4. When Hanover joined the club it was 5 to 4 for the Protestants, but when Augustus wanted to become King of Poland he had to convert to Catholicism. He did but Saxony stayed Protestant.