Dresden Hostels Jugendherberge Youth Hostel in Dresden Neustadt billig

Not a long time ago the only possibility to get to Dresden was, by the means of public transport,  to go by train.  In many other countries in Europe you can go around much cheaper by buses.  The reason that there are hardly bus connections between big cities in Germany is a law, that, if there is already a train connection, its not allowed to have another public transportation.  This rule was made to protect the train from competition.

So what happens is, because there is no competition, train prices are so high that ride sharing became very popular and is a common way of cheap travelling in Germany.  But the rules are about to change, at least thats what the new federal government promised.
For some reasons in the last years more and more bus connections came up.  One reason is that some of the bus companies are owned by Deutsche Bahn, the German railway company, so they wouldn’t sue against themselves.

So today you can travel to Dresden by bus from almost all directions, but its sometimes not very frequent or they go at uncomfortable times.  Here is a list of bus connections to and from Dresden:

Dresden-Berlin

6 x daily, 18 € one way, 1 € per piece of luggage

timetable for Berlin <> Dresden <> Berlin as PDF

You have to make a reservation!  Online here or call 030/86096211 if you go from Berlin, 0351/4921357 if you go from Dresden.  Your hostel staff will help you.

Dresden-Leipzig

4 x daily, 10.80 -14.30 €,

timetable for Leipzig – Dresden – Leipzig

You can buy the ticket from the bus driver.  You can also buy them online here or call 01805 999 182  [14 ct./min.]

Dresden – Prague

2 x daily, 16 €,  luggage up to 20kg is free

timetable for Dresden – Prague

You have to make a reservation!  Send an email to vertrieb@rvd.de or call 0351 / 492135.  Your hostel staff will help you.

Dresden – Chemnitz – Hof – Bayreuth – Nuremberg – Munich

2 x daily, Dresden – Nuremberg 38 €, Dresden – Munich 57 €

timetable for Dresden <> München as PDF

You have to make a reservation!  Online here or call 030/86096211 if you go to Munich, 09281/2252 if you go to Dresden.  Your hostel staff will help you.

So, as you can see it is not unpossible to go around by bus, but its very difficult and restricted.  For the ones who really need to save the money its maybe worth the consideration.

First of all:  If you only have a few hours for Dresden, you will only get a quick impression of the town, you will only visit a couple of the most famous sights, you will miss the nightlife and you will not be able to meet some people from Dresden or to get any deeper insights about what actually makes the town.  If you travel this way you will mess up the buldings and cities you have seen after a while and you will take less home as you would with some more time to spend at the places.

But, what should you visit if you only have 3 hours in Dresden?  Forget about the Neustadt or other real neighborhoods (where people actually life), you will only have time for the historical part of the town.  Start at the Zwinger with the Crown Gate, its one of the landmarks of Dresden.  On its northern part towards the river Elbe is the famous picture galerie the „Old Masters“.  You will probably have to skip it, because a short visit there would cost you the three hours you have.   Next to it you will see the square Theaterplatz with the Semper Opera to your left.  You could visit the building on a guided tour, but again – no time unfortunately.
Just opposite you will see the castle of Dresden.  It houses many very amazing exibitions, like the Green Vault or the just reopened Turkish Chamber.  Next to it is the Taschenberg Palais, today used as a luxury hotel.  You don’t have to move a lot, still on the theatre square you will find the catholic church Hofkirche which is worth a quick look inside.  In front of the chuch is the square Schlossplatz and next to it you will find the Fürstenzug and the Brühlische Terasse, also know as the „balcony of Europe“.  Watch the steamboats on the river Elbe departing and have a quick view on the big state buildings on the other side of the river.  Don’t sit down and relax in the sun and enjoy the view and the atmosphere, remember, you have no time!
Later on the Brühlische Terasse you will pass by Albertinum where soon will be another picture galarie, the  „New Masters“.  You should definetely visit another landmark of Dresden, the well known Church Of Our Lady on the Neumarkt and also wander around this newly reshaped square.  Have a look on the Johanneum, which houses today the transport-museum and don’t miss the view into the Stallhof.  A few meters away you will find the Old Market Square, which is actually the old centre of Dresden.  Pass the Kulturpalast and stop by the Kreuzkirche, another church but completely different compared to the kitschy Frauenkirche.

Thats it.  No time for the baroque quarter around Königstrasse, no Golden Horseman, no Augustus bridge, no Elbe castles, no „Blue wonder“ bridge, no museums from inside, no National Park „Swiss Saxony“, no other sights in the surroundings.  Hey but still, you can tell your friends you „have been“ in Dresden!

Es gibt in Dresden Stadtteile oder Gebiete mit sehr anschaulichen Namen.  So gibts etwa im Westen das Gebiet „Wilder Mann“, im Norden „Weißer Hirsch“ und gleich neben der Äüßeren Neustadt liegt das „Hechtviertel“.  Warum heißen diese Gegenden so?

Wilder Mann: Es gibt eine Sage wonach ein Einsiedler (eben der wilde Mann) dem damaligen König Johann Georg bei einem Raubüberfall das Leben rettete.  Als Dank bekam er ein kleines Stück Land in dieser Gegend.  Anfang des 18. Jahrhunderts wurde hier ein Wirtshaus eröffnet, was sich wohl aufgrund dieser Sage den Namen „Wilder Mann“ gab.  Der „Wilde Mann“ wurde über die Jahre zu einem beliebten Ausflugsziel und mit der Zeit ist der Name der Gaststätte auf die nähere Umgebung übergegangen.

Weißer Hirsch: Auch hier geht die Namensgebung auf eine Gastwirtschaft zurück.  Das Gebiet war bis ins 16. Jahrhundert noch unbesiedelt und bestand einfach aus Wald.  Aber die Elbhänge die daran angrenzen wurden schon für den Weinanbau (bis heute) genutzt.  Am Rande eines Weinberggrundstückes eröffnete 1688 eine Schänke, die „Weißer Hirsch“ genannt wurde.  Um diese Wirtschaft entwickelte sich eine kleinere Häusersiedlung, vor allem für die Arbeiter auf dem Gut, später entwickelte sich der ganze Stadtteil der heute diesen Namen trägt.

Hechtviertel: Der Dresdner Polizeidirektor Hans Ludwig von Oppell erwarb Mitte des 19 Jahrhunderts dieses Gebiet, was damals ein Sandplatz war der als Truppenübungsplatz diente.  Das Gebiet hieß „Auf dem Hecht“, weil ein Weg von hier zu „Hechts Weinberg“ führte.  Der Gutsbesitzer dieses Weinberges war Förster und hieß August Hecht.  Er betrieb auch ein Gasthaus, genannt „Zum Blauen Hecht“.  Aus diesem Weg entwickelte sich die heutige Hechtstraße, die dem ganzen Viertel den Namen gab.
Aber auch der Herr Oppel ist nicht ganz unvergessen, die heutige Rudolf-Leonhard-Straße hieß früher Oppelstraße und bis heute gibt es eine kleine Kneipe auf dieser Straße die „Oppel 40“ heißt (Hausnummer 40).  Der Stadtteil wurde auch lange als Oppellvorstadt bezeichnet.

Im übrigen sollte man sich auch vom Namen „Dresden-Neustadt“ nicht irre führen lassen.  Dies ist nicht etwa ein großes Neubaugebiet voller Plattenbauten, sondern das größte zusammenhängende Gründerzeitviertel Europas.  Das Gebiet heißt Neustadt weil es eben zu seiner Entstehungszeit im 19. Jahrhundert im Gegensatz zur Altstadt in Dresden auf der anderen Elbseite entstand.  Doch während die Dresdner Altstadt im Feuersturm 1945 völlig ausbrannte und heute wieder neu-alt errichtet ist, bleib die Neustadt einigermaßen verschont, weswegen eigentlich die Neustadt, wenn man so will, inzwischen älter ist als viele Gebäude in der Altstadt.

I believe the days when backpackers were just travelling around with no plan where to stay the next night and just showing up in a hostel in the evening and asking for the cheapest bed available are kind of over.  Which I believe is a pity, because on my travels this meant a lot of freedom for me.  But it also happened that I ended up in London spending a very cold night in front of Victoria station sharing a cardboard with some homeless people (which was an interesting experience by the way).

So today it seems people are scared not to find a bed in the evening or are more ambitious about getting a more comfortable room or a private one because they are travelling with their boy- or girlfriend.  So you need to book ahead.

I see many travellers booking their whole journey, which means they have a very strict timetable and it will be difficult to change something like leaving a night earlier or staying a night more, because this would mess up the whole trip.

Those online booking engines like hostelworld.com, hostelbookers.com or hostelsclub.com became very popular because of their convenience and the possibility to compare the places to stay very easily (like prices, ratings etc.)  But you should be aware that the so called „deposit“, which is usually 10% is no real deposit, its actually a fee the hostels pay to the booking platform, because the hostels never see anything of the deposit.  This money is charged by the booking website.  So if you see a bed for 10 €, and you pay 10% deposit which is 1 € you will have to pay 9 € to the hostel.  So the hostels gets 9 €, the booking website keeps the 1 €.  What actually happens is that many hostels charge higher prices on this booking platforms in order not to loose the 10%.

Its often cheaper and smarter to make a direct booking with the hostel of your choice.  Many hostels offer free booking from their own website.  So just do a web search for the town you want to go and „hostel“ to get usually some good results.  Some people are even smarter.  They use the big booking websites to find hostels and read the ratings, then they search for this specific hostel name and make a direct booking.  Direct booking also have the advantage that you can also ask questions to the staff, get more detailed info about the place you want to stay at, you will many times not need a credit card and you don’t pay a „nonrefundable deposit“.

Also, it can give you more freedom, because you can try to book only a few days before you go.  If some places seem to be booked out in advance, it usually happens that somebody cancels and chances are high that beds open up a few days before you want to go there.

Nicht direkt in Dresden aber in der näheren Umgebung befindet sich in Radebeul das Karl-May-Museum bzw. das sogenannte Indianermuseum.

Karl May, der in Sachsen im Ort Ernstthal (heute Hohenstein-Ernstthal) 1844 geboren wurde zog 1888 nach Radebeul wo er bis zu seinem Tod 1912 lebte.  An seinem letzten Wohnort befindet sich heute das ihm gewidmete Museum.

Dieses ist in zwei Teile geteilt.  In seinem ehemaligen Wohnhaus, heute „Villa Shatterhand“ genannt befindet sich eine Ausstellung über das Leben und die Werke Karl Mays.  Da er durch seine Indianerbücher so bekannt wurde befindet sich in einem Blockhaus dahinter, in der „Villa Bärenfett“ eine Ausstellung über die Indianer Nordamerikas.  Dabei werden über 850 Ausstellungsstücke gezeigt, so etwa Kleidungsstücke, Waffen und Alltagsgegenstände.  Diese Ausstellung ist besonders mit Kindern sehr interessant.  So kann man u.a auch so bekannte Waffen wie die Silberbüchse oder den Henrystutzen bewundern.

Das Museum ist von März bis Oktober Dienstag bis Sonntag von 9-18 Uhr geöffnet, während der Wintermonate von 10-16 Uhr.  Montag ist es geschlossen.  Der Eintritt kostet für Erwachsene 7 €, für Kinder 3 €.

Der Besuch des Museums läßt sich gut mit einem Ausflug durch die Radebeuler Weinberge oder einer Fahrt mit der Schmalspurbahn von Radebeul-Ost nach Moritzburg und dort dem Besuch des Schlosses verbinden.

Die Stadt Radebeul feiert ihren berühmten Einwohner jedes Jahr mit den Karl-May-Festtagen.  Dies ist eines der größten Feste in der Stadt und findet immer im Mai statt.  Dabei finden allerlei Veranstaltungen rund um das Thema Indianer statt, u.a. gibt es einen Überfall auf die Schmalspurbahn, es werden Tipis aufgebaut und Indianertänze aufgeführt, es gibt ein Westerncamp, es wird Countrymusik gespielt usw.  2010 findet das Fest vom 14.-16. Mai statt.

From April 20 – 25 the 22nd International Short Film Festival will take place in the Schauburg cinema, the Thalia cinema and the Kleines Haus theatre.  38 films are battling it out in the International Competition and 31 in the National Competition for the much coveted Golden Horsemen.  The most entries have come from Germany, followed by France, Great Britain, Spain and the USA. For the first time ever, films have also been submitted from Peru, Vietnam and Swaziland.  Because of most of the films are not translated this festival is also open to non German speakers.

Filmfest Dresden was founded in the spring of 1989 and since then has developed from being a forum for banned or rarely screened feature films into a well positioned international festival for short films.  Fictional and animated shorts up to a maximum of 30 minutes compete here in various categories.  Filmfest Dresden is Europe’s best endowed short film festival with prizes and awards worth €59,000. In addition to the competition sections, the festival week provides an extensive range of special programmes with documentaries and experimental films, a children’s programme, retrospectives and numerous country-based programmes as well as a supporting programme with panel discussions, master classes and workshops. Filmfest Dresden does not regard itself as merely an event for media professionals. Rather it is and foremost a festival that welcomes the general public in Dresden and the neighbouring regions.

More info and the festival program can be found here.

One of the landmarks at the square Albertplatz close to the Neustadt train station is this 11 stories high scyscraper:

It was build in 1929 and at this time it was one of the first scysrapers at all in Dresden.  At this time there was a very controversal debate about the building.  It was a sign of a new modern time right within an Wilhelminian style living area.  So conservative people were indignant. With its hight of 37m it caused a lot of protest from the Dresden people.

For building they used a new concrete and they were able to finish one story per week, which was a masterstroke.
1945 the scyscraper resist the bombing of Dresden.  The building was so robust it even survived an airplane crashing into it!

After the war it became home of the Municipal Transport Services of Dresden (DVB). Thats why its called until today the „DVB-Hochhaus“, the DVB scysraper.
Since 1996 it is empty and people were searching for a reasonable use.  There were many rumours about a students hostel or a hotel, but never anything happened.

The latest plans are to build a big shopping center (why is it always a shopping center – no other ideas?), a big basement garage, offices and apartments in the upper floors.  Most of the people involved appreciated the proposals, so we will see, maybe in the near future this prominent building will be in use again.  Lets cross fingers.

Some nice pictures can be found on this (German) blog of the developer.