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One of the most glamorous properties in Kempinski’s considerable portfolio of truly luxurious five-star hotels and resorts, Hotel Taschenbergpalais Kempinski is, as its name indicates, a former palace that now hosts sophisticated travellers at Dresden’s best address. Located directly across the street from Residenzschloss, another palace now one of the city’s most impressive museums, Taschenbergpalais is also steps away from Zwinger, Dresden’s biggest attraction. One of Europe’s most exquisite jewels of Baroque architecture, the Zwinger palace complex today encompasses several museums within the perimeter walls where more than 500 cherubic statues line the elevated promenade.

: One of several of Hotel Taschnebergpalais Kempinski’s beautiful suites

: Comfort and style are the bywords at Hotel Taschenbergpalais Kempinski

Among its various displays is one of the most valuable porcelain collections in the world, containing astonishing pieces from the nearby Meissen factory as well as works that evoke late-19th-century European interest in East Asian artistic themes. Zwinger’s museum of scientific instruments offers insight into achievements and advancements made centuries ago with what are today considered primitive tools in a time of computer-generated everything and instantaneous calculations.

: Amalie, where pastry magic happens

: Taschenbergpalais guests dine well day and night.

Evening entertainment is also steps away after a day of sightseeing. Dresden’s famous Semperoper, yet another glorious building just to the side of Zwinger, makes the stroll back to Taschenbergpalais after the performance an easy commute. Dinner in Taschenbergpalais’ Das Palais restaurant is a highlight of a stay here. The menu is tempting, as are the wines on the extensive list, and the dining room itself is sublime. Just across the chic living room area of the lobby is Amalie, where the afternoon tea and exquisite desserts of this in-house pâtisserie can be tempting as meals unto themselves.

Dresden’s Procession Of Princes

Although, as one would imagine, every room and suite at Taschenbergpalais is sublime, the hotel’s extraordinary King Suite and Queen Suite are a matching set of gorgeous suites that can be combined to form one enormous private suite of palatial proportions. While it is often the case that a European hotel in a palace would have traditional style and furnishings, Taschenbergpalais Kempinski has chosen contemporary verve over classic decor, to excellent effect. Anyone who has visited a real palace in Europe will have seen how one room leads directly to another, and another, without a corridor; the combined King and Queen suites are similar, a cascade of stunning rooms whose last is barely visible from the first.

Although Dresden is a major tourist draw for Germans and other European travellers, it remains somewhat off the radar for travellers from different parts of the world. Perhaps they don’t realise the wealth of attractions in this charming city. The Albertinum is Dresden’s temple of high art, showcasing masterworks of European sculpture and paintings in a stylish museum setting. The magnificent Procession Of Princes along Augustus Street is the largest porcelain artwork in the world; its 23,000 Meissen tiles extend more than 100 metres.

A Dresden Regio Card, available through Dresden’s tourism office, allows use of the city’s efficient public transport network. Putting the card to good use, a short tram ride from the city centre is all it takes to visit Dresden’s Hygiene Museum, whose name belies the informative exhibitions about the functions of the human body. The museum will appeal to the more scientifically minded or simply curious visitor interested in learning more about the human body. Sometimes graphic but always interesting, the Hygiene Museum is unlike any other museum in the world, just as Dresden is unlike any other city in the world.