The impressive Old Town in the Saxon capital, Dresden, is one of Germany’s most beautiful city centres and offers enough attractions to fill days of sightseeing.  Beyond the Old Town, though, is Dresden Neustadt, the so called new town where there are yet more places to visit.  One of the most unusual is the Art Passage, a series of courtyards between residential apartment buildings that have been interconnected into a quirky world of avant-garde cafés, galleries, and craft workshops.  Far from being a tourist trap, the Art Passage is ultra low-key in the style of young bohemians and their admirers who relish a more authentic alternative to blatantly commercial tourism.  In fact, Dresden’s urbane residents are all pretty laidback, making visitors feel welcome to their jewel box of a city.  Not to be missed in the Art Passage are the Singing Drainpipes, a clever art/musical installation that doubles as a drain playfully carrying water from the roofline gutter down to the ground via a series of artistic twists and turns.  This is one time going out in the rain is worthwhile.

Neustadt’s famous Markthalle is the place for gourmets and gourmands to explore the district’s culinary appeal.  Here, they will find an array of vendor stalls complementing a supermarket selling all sorts of German specialties.  Nearby is one of Neustadt’s most formidable dining experiences.  The glamorous Caroussel Nouvelle restaurant is found on the ground floor of Bülow Palais, a Relais & Châteaux property where elegance and grace welcome diners to enjoy selections from a superb menu of food and wine.  Polished staff enhance the dining experience with their professionalism and good humour.  Just down the fashionable Königstrasse from Bülow Palais is another palace, the Japanese Palace.  Built during a period when Asian influences on Western architecture were very much in vogue, the Japanese Palace today houses Dresden’s Museum of Ethnography and Museum of Natural History.  About a hundred metres to the east of the palace is the Golden Rider statue, a monument to King Augustus astride a horse.  The entire statue is covered in gold and looks especially brilliant in its nighttime illumination.

Dresden’s extremely efficient urban transport network is easy to use, especially with a Dresden Regio Card that allows unlimited rides for the duration of its validity.  The Regio Card can be purchased on the Dresden Tourism website, itself a useful source of information helpful in making the most of one’s time in a city that visitors will find hard to leave, even on a golden horse.

by Robert La Bua – Global Travel Connoisseur – (c) 2025

Read Time: 4 minutes.

About the Writer.

Robert La Bua is a luxury travel columnist, writer, and television guest renowned for his discerning eye and polished perspective on the finer things in life. For over 14 years, he has contributed to Destinations of the World News, the United Arab Emirates’ leading luxury travel magazine, where his byline is synonymous with elegance, insight, and excellence.

As the writer of the Global Travel Connoisseur column, Robert reports on exceptional destinations, premium flights, five-star hotels, and extraordinary experiences tailored for the most affluent of travellers. With an unerring taste for quality and a truly global point of view, his work continues to inspire those who believe travel should always be an occasion.

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