The cool side of Dresden

After visiting the historic center of Dresden and all the breathtaking architecture of the Altstädt region, we cross the river Elbe to discover the most modern side of the city, Neustädt.

We leave from the Semperoper square and take the Augustusbrücke, the bridge that leads to the statue of the golden knight, Goldener Reiter. He is Augustus the Strong, Saxon prince and Polish king (the same one who ordered the construction of the Hofkirche church, opposite the Semperoper).

It is not surprising that the knight has his back to the most important buildings in the city: Augustus is looking towards Poland.

We follow the Hauptstrasse avenue, which starts in front of the golden statue, to the Albertplatz roundabout, from where we take Bautzner Strasse to visit the beautiful and super traditional cheese and dairy shop Molkerei Pfunds.

But it’s only with nightfall, when the dairy is closing its doors, that Neustädt starts to show his hipster side.

We run towards the Kunsthof-Passage, an alley that crosses Görlitzer Street and leads to a kind of inner courtyard of a condominium. We arrived in time to see the little shops still open, but we should have gotten there a little earlier to enjoy it better.

The buildings around the courtyards are a super unusual attraction, with art installations and paintings on the facades.

Anyone who sees the classic beauty and Baroque style that predominates in the Altstädt cannot imagine that Dresden could have such a surprise!

The installations are works by German artists, sculptors and designers. Each patio at the Kunsthof has a theme – one with forest animals, another with mythical creatures and even more abstract ones that have been named the “courtyard of light”, the “courtyard of elements” and the “courtyard of metamorphosis”.

The almost 20 little shops sell flowers, clothes by independent designers, craft beers from Saxony or imported, decoration objects…

It even has a stationery shop with notebooks, cards and other beautiful products. Among the options to eat, the Vietnamese Hai Au and the bistro Lila Soße.

From there, in one block you can reach Alaunstrasse, a street full of bars that gets very busy at night.

Without mincing words, at that point in the trip we are already tired of eating typical German dishes and so we end up having dinner at a Mexican restaurant called Espitas.

But we also took the opportunity to have a few beers at Katy’s Garage, with some outdoor tables and a nightclub next door. Very fun place!

The new side of Dresden doesn’t have the same concentration of tourist attractions as the old town, of course. But even walking a little further between one point and another, it is still possible to do this whole tour on foot.

From the Goldener Reiter to the dairy it’s about 25 minutes and from there to the Kunsthof-Passage another 15 minutes. At the end of the night, as we were in a hostel close to the city hall, we used this landmark and took a tram (like a light rail) to return.