Dresden city tour on your own / Dresden

In Dresden a city tour with 22 stops is heavily promoted. The buses leave the bus stops in the summer every 15 to 30 minutes (in the winter every 30 to 60 minutes) and can be used as often as you want. The ticket is EUR 20 for one day, an additional day for another EUR 2. There is reduced tour available for a lower fare (fewer stops, more favourable price).

But it is possible to do it cheaper: by yourself and equipped with a normal day ticket for public transport ( for individuals: EUR 12,50; for small groups of up to 5 persons: EUR 24,00). But then you won't get information about a speaker and you have to read in a guidebook by yourself. Nevertheless, this tour was a lot of fun for me, the reason why I recommend it!

Starting point: Dresden "Hauptbahnhof" (Central Railway Station)

Note: the bus stop is not directly in front of the station, it is beside. And called "unter den Brücken" - but I am not sure anymore about the exact name.

First you take the tram towards "Hellerau" to "Theaterplatz" (line 8). Here is the historic city center. The stop "Theaterplatz" is a good point to start visiting the old town with "Zwinger", "Brühlscher Terrasse", "Semperoper" (opera), "Schloss" (castle), "Albertinum", "Frauenkirche" (church), etc.

After visiting all these locations (with or without interior visits) then either walk across the bridge (Augustusbrücke) or return to the "Theaterplatz" and go into one of the following trams:
Direction "Weinböhla / Radebeul West" (line 4)
Direction "Hellerau" (line 8) or
Direction "Elbe Park / Kaditz" (line 9)
For one stop and exit at "Neustädter Markt".

On the left side of the street right next to the "Augustusbrücke" (Augustus Bridge) there is the "Blockhaus". On the right the "Narrenhäusel" (now a beer garden).

Continue the road to "Neustädter Markt" or cross it (traffic lights or pedestrian tunnel).
So you reach the "Goldenen Reiter" (Golden Rider), the "gold" equestrian statue of the former Saxon King August the Strong.

Then go through the pedestrian zone "Main Street" (Hauptstraße - slab) to the "Neustädter Markthalle" (market hall). In the basement there are snack bars.
Go through the "Metzer Straße" or "Ritterstraße", cross the "Hauptstraße" to reach the only preserved baroque streets of Dresden, the "Königstraße". Magnificent buildings on both sides and several high class shops and restaurants. Just look at the back yards!

Then turn right onto "Königstraße". A bit later you reach the "Albertplatz" (Albert Square). Here are the fountains "Stürmische Wogen" (Stormy Waves) and "Stille Wasser" (Still Waters).

Cross the square and go towards the "Königsbrücker Straße". Here is another fountain, the fountain "Artesischee Brunnen" fountain. The special feature is the water temperature which always 17° C during the whole year (I did not tested it by myself).

Continue to "Albertplatz", take the tram in the direction "Bühlau" (line 11) to "Pulsnitzer Straße" (if you want to make the next section described bellow);otherwise just continue to ""Schloss Albrechtsberg".
It depends on your choice.

Either:
Change to the oteher site of the street and continue in direction of the tram, then you will reach the famous "Pfunds Molkerei". It is called as the most beautiful milk shop in the world. I don't know who makes such superlatives ... Did anyone has seen all dairies in the world to appreciate this ? Years ago, it was quiet nice. But today I don't need it anymore. There are hundreds of tourist groups stopping there. No need for such a crowd and shoving.
Then switch back to the other site of the street and continue walking to the next tram stop.

Or:
At exit at "Schloss Albrechtsberg" (castle).
Note: only some people leave here. Press the stop button of the tram, otherwise you will miss this point, like happened to me.
Those who has mastered it: visit "Schloss Albrechtsberg" und "Lingnerschloss" (I can't give you details for now).

At the stop "Plattleite" you walk along the "Bergbahnstraße" (it is now the noble district, "Weißer Hirsch - White Deer").
After some time you reach the mountain station of the funicular. Use it to go down to "Körnerplatz". Note: you will need an extra ticket for it, but you get a discount with your day ticket.

From "Körnerplatz" it is possible to take the cable car to "Oberloschwitz". From there you have a good view over Dresden and the surrounding area.
(If you have seen enough, then go back to the valley station.)

Continue to Dresden's famous bridge that carries the name "Blaues Wunder" (Blue Wonder). Have a look and turn back to Look around and go back to "Körnerplatz".

Take the bus from "Körnerplatz" in direction of "Pillnitz", "Graupa" or "Bonnewitz" - and exit at stop "Pillnitz" to visit the castle and park there.

After that go to the river Elbe and take the ""Schlossfähre" (castle ferry) over the river to "Kleinzschachwitz".

Walk along the street "Berthold-Haupt-Straße" until you reach the final stop of tram line 1. Use the tram in direction "Leutewitz" and exit at "Comeniusplatz". Cross the "Stübelallee" street and walk along the "Querallee". Then you reach the "Großen Garten" (Great Garden) with "Carolasee": boat rental, coffee shop and "Carolaschlösschen".

Behind the "Carolasee" at the left you reach the "Tiergartenstraße" and the tram stop "Querallee". Take tram line 9 in direction of "Elbe Park / Kaditz" and exit at "Hauptbahnhof Nord" (Central railway station - north).

Important Notes:
Tram lines 8 and 9 only run until 20:00h.
The funicular and cable car ride don't run at night and not during the semi-annual revisions (in spring and autumn). They are replaced then by a taxi line which you can call.
And at evening you should generally calculate a bit more waiting time.

And now... enjoy your exploring trip in Dresden!

Note:
The details of the tram lines in the text refer to the numbering at the time of our visit. Tram lines are sometimes renamed. For this reason, no guarantee for the correctness of the line numbers.

UPDATE 2015:
- With new tariff zoning -
Day tickets for the Dresden Transport (adults/individual): if you want to do the above tour incl Radebeul, you need a 2-zone ticket. This will cost 8.50 EUR. f you do not want to include Radebeul, a simple ticket is sufficient. This costs just 6 EUR.