Virtual fam trip to Saxony
Virtual Fam Trip (6 days)
Welcome to Saxony! Feel cordially invited to join Saxony’s first virtual fam trip. Laid out as a six-day trip, it introduces many highlights of this astonishing German state. Destinations included are: Dresden, Meissen, Saxon Switzerland National Park, Freiberg, Görlitz, Bautzen, the Ore Mountains (UNESCO World Heritage), Zwickau and Leipzig. For a „live experience“, watch the YouTube videos for each day.
Download the detailed itinerary full of useful links and background information.
Itinerary
Day 1: Dresden
Arrival at Dresden Airport and pick up. Steamboat ride on the Elbe River, starting from Dresden-Pillnitz, incl. visit of the gardens of Pillnitz Castle. Steamboat ride back to the historic center of Dresden with its iconic skyline. Check-in at the Penck Hotel, followed by introduction to Saxony’s history. Welcome dinner at the restaurant „Pulverturm“, located in the foundations of a former gunpowder tower in Dresden’s Old Town.
More in the YouTube video (left).
DAY 2: DRESDEN AND SAXON SWITZERLAND
Guided tour of Dresden’s historic city center. Afterwards, visit of the world-famous museums in the Royal Palace. Lunch in a historic tram car at the restaurant „Dresden 1900“. Afterwards, transfer to Saxon Switzerland National Park, a dramatic landscape with table mountains, rock formations and dense forests, where you will visit „Königstein Fortress“, Europe’s highest fortress. Dinner at the panorama restaurant near the iconic „Bastei“ rock formation.
More in the YouTube video (left).
DAY 3: MEISSEN, MORITZBURG CASTLE, WACKERBARTH STATE WINERY
Meissen is Saxony’s oldest town. Visit Germany’s oldest palace, the Albrechtsburg, and the attached Gothic cathedral. Lunch at the Meissen State Porcelain Manufactory, served on Meissen Porcelain. Tour of the demonstration workshops and the museum, introducing Europe’s oldest porcelain manufactory to you. Nearby Moritzburg Castle has a most scenic location. Finally, visit of the Saxon State Winery at Wackerbarth Castle incl. tasting and dinner.
More in the YouTube video (left).
DAY 4: ORE MOUNTAINS: FREIBERG, SEIFFEN, ANNABERG
Freiberg is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site „Ore Mountains Mining Region“. Visit the world’s most beautiful collection of minerals and the cathedral, an architectural highlight. Visit to the picturesque village of Seiffen, Germany’s Christmas Capital and home of the nutcracker. In Annaberg-Buchholz you will experience Germany’s oldest technical monument, the amazing St. Anne’s Church and the unique Miners‘ Church. Traditional Ore Mountains Christmas dinner „Zum Neinerlaa“.
More in the YouTube video (left).
Day 5: ZWICKAU AND LEIPZIG
Zwickau is the birthplace of Audi, founded in 1909 by brilliant engineer August Horch. The original factory has been turned into an amazing car museum. Guided tour of Leipzig, Saxony’s largest city. It was the center of world trade, has a music history that is only rivaled by Vienna’s and played the decisive role in the Peaceful Revolution which brought the Communist regime of East Germany down in 1989. Dinner at one of the world’s most famous restaurants, the „Auerbachs Keller“.
More in the YouTube video (left).
3 DAY 6: GÖRLITZ AND BAUTZEN
Görlitz lies directly on the Polish border and is widely regarded as Germany’s most beautiful town. With 4,000 listed buildings, Görlitz has become a famous movie location where for example „Grand Budapest Hotel“ was shot. Medieval Bautzen is the „capital“ of a Slavic minority, the Sorbs, and also the „mustard capital“ of Germany. Goodbye dinner at the restaurant „Alte Meister“ in Dresden.
More in the YouTube video (left).
SIGHTGEIST
THE SAXONY MAGAZINE | 2021 EDITION
SIGHTGEIST – THE SAXONY MAGAZINE presents stories on existing, upcoming or new attractions - not in print anymore but in video format. The 2021 edition introduces the “new” Vermeer in Dresden’s Old Masters Picture Gallery, looks behind the scenes of the Moritzburg Festival, checks out the new exhibition at a former briquette factory and takes a glimpse into two exiting multi-media attractions in Dresden.
It also admires the restored splendor of the historic synagogue of Görlitz, delves into the trendy Leipzig district of Plagwitz, joins the cellarer at the Wackerbarth Castle Saxon State Winery, and witnesses the re-creation of Renaissance paintings at Dresden’s Royal Palace.