Historic Dresden Small-Group Walking Tour

Discover Dresden’s rich history on a small-group walking tour. Explore iconic squares, learn fascinating stories, and enjoy personalized attention from expert guides.

Duration: 2 hours
Cancellation: 1 day learn more
Highlights
  • Theaterplatz - The Theaterplatz of Dresden is where the city comes together to make its voice heard. Dominated by the imposing Semper Opera, the square is enclosed by the Royal Palace, the Cathedral and Old Masters Gallery and considered by many to be one of the most beautiful squares of Europe.
  • The Dresden Zwinger - Designed as a single sculptural entity, the Zwinger was to serve as the opulent entrance to a grand new royal palace that was never built. It is a reminder of the exotic and fantastic festivities once held here 300 years ago.
  • Royal Palace (Residenzschloss) - Built, burnt down, rebuilt. Repaired and extended, burnt, rebuilt. The Royal Palace is an eclectic guardian of the history of the family that ruled Saxony and is home to their astounding collection of treasures. We walk through one of its courtyards, but you can go in by yourself later and explore the museums.
  • Procession of Princes - 100 metres long, 24,000 thousand tiles, the longest outdoor porcelain artwork in the world. There are secrets and stories hidden within it. See if you can spot them!
  • Neumarkt - At Neumarkt is the Frauenkirche, the symbol of Dresden. The church is the personification of Dresden’s rising from the ashes. You will learn to understand and appreciate the moving story behind its reconstruction.
  • Katholische Hofkirche - The Royal Cathedral of Dresden is a magnificent structure. Built in secret by a Catholic ruler in Protestant Saxony, the former court church has some unusual features and is one of the burial sites of the Royal family. We will see it from the outside and learn its interesting story.
What's Included
  • Professional guide
  • 2-hour walking tour
What's Not Included
  • Tips and gratuities
Additional Information

Absolutely the best way to get acquainted with Dresden. This walk weaves its way though the iconic squares of Dresden’s historic centre while narrating history in a fun and informative manner. The small size of our groups allows us to pay individual attention to your areas of interest and your questions. If you would rather just listen in, then that’s fine as well. You will learn about the many layers of Dresden’s history through medieval, renaissance and baroque times, it’s fate during WW2, the story of the rebuilding during the East German GDR times. Human stories, architecture, iconography are all covered. We are licenced guides passionate about increasing our knowledge and committed to delivering it all in an entertaining and engaging fashion.

Location
Schloßplatz
Tour begins at Schlossplatz, the square near the Augustus Bridge. In the middle of this square is the statue of King Friedrich August on a throne. Make sure to look for a statue of a seated king. Not standing, and not on a horse! Or copy and paste this into Google Maps and search. 3P3Q+8CR Dresden
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.9
(103 Ratings)
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Laurie_m
Sep 15, 2024
Wonderful tour! - The tour guide was friendly and knowledgeable. It was a cold and rainy day and he kept us going with an interesting narration of historic Dresden. A beautiful city! We highly recommend this small group tour.
Review provided by Viator
Nitin_c
Sep 13, 2024
Great overview - Nice overview of Dresden's history but a passionate guide who loves his city and it's proud of it's heritage
Review provided by Viator
Alan
Sep 13, 2024
Very Good Overview - Great local guide! I saw the most important sites of Dresden. Informative and just the right amount of time, 2 hours.
Review provided by Viator
Rdan91
Sep 8, 2024
Fantastic historical tour - The walking tour of Dresden's old Town was fantastic. Laura, our guide was an amazing host. She was incredibly knowledgeable about the history of Dresden, Saxony, and Germany as a whole. She also provided interesting personal insights into Dresden during the Cold War period which gave a unique perspective on what life in Dresden was like post WW2. She came well prepared with supplementary photos to show before, during, and after reconstruction. Overall a fantastic tour and we learned a lot about Dresden and Saxony.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Teun
Sep 8, 2024
Overwhelming city needs explanation. - Wolfgang the Guide was a good and engaging storyteller. A small group; everyone stays focused. 2 hours and a short walk along the high points give a very nice picture of what you see in an overwhelming backdrop of impressive buildings. After the trip you know where you are and what you would like to see even better.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Garysmithmeister
Sep 8, 2024
Great value great guide! - It was a small group so we could all hear and interact with the guide (Wolfgang) easily. He was very knowledgeable about the city of Dresden and the history that led to its current status. It also helped us in making decisions regarding what to visit over the next few days. Excellent event I would recommend to anyone visiting Dresden.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Tour667236
Sep 5, 2024
very professionally done - The tour was very professionally done, highly recommended worth the time and money. Do not forget tips. There was a lot of useful interesting and concise information that put things into historical perspective.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Patrik_s
Sep 4, 2024
Very interesting walking tour - Very interesting walking tour, which led us in a comprehensive and complete understanding of Dresden’s history. The guide, Karin, was excellent, passionate, gentile and very dedicated to her job. She spoke very clearly.
Review provided by Viator
Robynw1946
Aug 19, 2024
Don't try to see Central Dresden on a festival weekend! - This tour would have been so much better if it had been on any other day than the festival weekend on the second last weekend in August. There was so much noise from the rock bands that we couldn't hear what the guide had to say. It would have been so much better if she'd had a microphone and we'd had receivers. It would have been good if we could have been advised, when our travel agent booked the tour for us, that this festival would be on. There were so many people eating, drinking, riding, walking their dogs and pushing their children, that it was difficult to manouvre through the crowd. The guide did her best, but it spoiled the tour that we could not hear all that she had to say. Having said that, she did manage to show us the best of the buildings in the central city and tell us many stories about them and the people who commissioned them or lived in them. Our route took us from the river bank to the various squares flanked by beautiful old buildings from hundreds of years ago. She showed us where the Old Masters Gallery is and talked about the Sistine Madonna painting, bought by Augustus III at enormous expense. She showed us the Zwinger, sadly under renovation so very much a building site, but surrounded by buildings with shining gold ornamentation. We saw the Dresden Palace courtyards where beautiful restoration has been completed and more is underway. She showed us the amazing mural made of Meissen tiles that stretches almost a whole laneway and reminded me of the Bayeux tapestry in France. We saw the chief Protestant church of the city with its decorated balconies making it look like an opera house. It's a tour worth doing, but spoiled for us by the festival going on in the city at the time
Review provided by Tripadvisor
John_a
Sep 14, 2024
They would NOT allow me to ride because I am over age limit and would. Ot refund because I booked through you. - Did not get to do the ride because of age. Said for .e to get refund from you. So I will contact t you for refund.
Review provided by Viator
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up to 15 guests
1 Adult
September 2024
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