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Things to Do in Saxony, Germany: Leipzig, Dresden, Görlitz, Castles, Porcelain, and History
The Zwinger in Dresden
Saxony was one of those places in Germany that I knew more by name than by experience. I had been to Germany before, but not to this southeastern corner of the country, the part of Germany that sits north of Prague, west of Poland, and in what used to be East Germany. After a press trip sponsored by Tourism Saxony, I came home thinking that this is a region more travelers should have on their Germany itinerary.
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The Name Saxony
Saxony is not the land of the old Saxons who crossed the sea with the Angles and helped shape England. That Saxony is farther north, in Lower Saxony. The Saxony I visited gets its name from the House of Wettin, a noble family that ruled here for roughly 800 years and eventually took on the prestigious title of Elector of Saxony. That history matters because it helps explain why this region has grand palaces, rich museums, important churches, and towns filled with architecture that speak to trade, industry, religion, music, and royal ambition.
Old Town Hall Leipzig
Start in Leipzig
Leipzig makes a great first stop in Saxony. It is lively, walkable, historic, and musical. In the Middle Ages, Leipzig became important because two great trade routes crossed here: the Via Regia, running east to west, and the Via Imperii, running north to south. Trade brought wealth, and wealth brought trade fairs, buildings, publishing, music, and industry.
One of Leipzig’s distinctive features is its network of passageways. These were practical spaces built into commercial buildings, allowing merchants to bring carts into the interior courtyards without clogging the streets. Some of these passages still survive, and they give Leipzig’s old town a character that is different from other German cities.
In the Mädler Arcade Gallery near the old town hall, I saw a space that reminded me strongly of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan. It turns out that was not just my imagination. It was built by the same architect. In the gallery, you will find statues of the devil and Faust, which is appropriate because Goethe studied in Leipzig and we think learned the legend of Faust at the subterranean restaurant Auerbachs Keller.
Leipzig’s old town is compact, so it is easy to explore on foot. I stayed near the old town hall at the splendid Steigenberger Icon Grand Hotel, just a short walk from the train station. That made it easy to wander through the center, visit churches, follow the passages, and stop for meals without needing a car.
Follow the Music of Leipzig
Leipzig is one of Europe’s great music cities. Johann Sebastian Bach lived and worked here for 27 years, and he is buried in St. Thomas Church. If you have any interest in classical music, that church alone is reason to visit. Even if Bach is not usually on your playlist, standing in a place so connected with his life and work gives the music more context. You can visit the coffeehouse at Zum Coffe Baum (now home to a museum of coffee) that inspired his Coffee Cantata.
Coffee Museum
The Bach Museum is also worth your time. It does not just present Bach as a marble bust from history. It places him in a family of musicians and shows how his work continued to influence later music, including The Beach Boys and Lady Gaga. I enjoyed the museum’s interactive elements, including sections designed to help younger visitors connect sounds, instruments, and musical ideas.
Leipzig is also connected with Felix Mendelssohn and Richard Wagner. Mendelssohn helped revive interest in Bach’s music, and his former home is now a museum. The Mendelssohn House includes rooms related to his life and work, as well as exhibits on his sister Fanny, who was also a composer. One interactive exhibit lets you “conduct” an orchestra, although I found the motions had to be more restrained than my natural conducting style. But you could change the tempo and include or exclude various instruments.
St. Nicholas Church adds another layer to Leipzig’s musical story. It was one of the centers of the peaceful revolution in 1989, when demonstrations helped lead toward the fall of the Berlin Wall. Protesters went out with candles and songs rather than weapons, which made it harder for the state to justify violence. That history gives Leipzig’s churches a meaning beyond architecture and music.
Take a Canal Tour in Leipzig
Leipzig surprised me with its waterways. The city has more than 300 kilometers of connected canals, rivers, streams, and waterways. In warmer months, I was told these are filled with canoes, boats, and other small craft. We took a sightseeing boat tour, which was a pleasant way to see a quieter side of the city. There was one bridge so low that we had to fold ourselves down toward the table in the boat to avoid hitting our heads.
The canal route passed elegant homes built with money from Leipzig’s publishing industry. Leipzig was once the center of German publishing, and that wealth left a mark on the city.
We visited in April, which meant some rain and cooler weather. The canals would be even more appealing in May, June, or summer. Leipzig is also opening a new marina in June 2026.
Visit the Porsche Factory in Leipzig
One of the most fun surprises of the trip was the Porsche factory in Leipzig. Porsche builds SUVs here, including the Cayenne and Macan, and visitors can tour the factory floor. If you have never toured an automobile factory and have even a small amount of engineering curiosity, I recommend it. Photography is not allowed.
The assembly line is highly automated, but not in a way that removes the human element. It feels like watching a carefully choreographed performance of machines, workers, cars, parts, and timing. One unusual feature is that the factory can build different models and different drivetrains on the same line. A gas-powered vehicle might be followed by a hybrid or electric version. That complexity gives Porsche flexibility when demand changes.
The visitor experience also includes a track. New Porsches are tested there, but visitors can also arrange driving experiences. The track includes features inspired by famous racetracks around the world. I noticed curves modeled after Laguna Seca near Monterey, which made me smile because I grew up in that part of California. You can drive the track as a passenger or even take a series of lessons to become a race car driver.
There is also an off-road course that I drove. We experienced steep hills, angled surfaces, mud, sand, and obstacles that showed what these vehicles can do. The site is also home to wildlife, including oxen, deer, and rabbits, which is not something I expected to say about a Porsche factory.
Explore Colditz Castle
Colditz Castle may be one of the best-known castles in Saxony among English-speaking visitors, not because of its royal splendor, but because of its role in escape attempts. It began as a hunting lodge for the Saxon ruling family, later became an asylum, and then, during World War II, served as a POW camp for high-ranking captured Allied officers, including Churchill’s nephew.
The museum does an excellent job telling the stories of prisoners who tried to escape. Some made disguises. One prisoner dressed as the local electrician. Another made a German uniform and successfully escaped all the way back to England. The most famous project was the glider built secretly in the attic. The prisoners never used it because liberation came first, but the audacity of the attempt is part of what makes Colditz so memorable.
One of the best parts of the visit is the augmented reality experience. Instead of filling rooms with furniture, the museum gives visitors an iPad. When you hold it up, you can see what a room looked like in different eras: a castle, a hospital, or a POW camp. For kids or adults who appreciate a good treasure hunt, there are also 8 objects to find that help you “escape” the castle.
Colditz is a good stop between Leipzig and eastern Saxony. Give it enough time. This is not just a quick photo stop from outside the walls.
Walk Through Görlitz
Görlitz sits on the Polish border, and today it is a split city. One side is in Germany, and the other side is in Poland. Before World War II, the border was farther east; after the war, it shifted, displacing millions of people.
The city is famous for having more than 4,000 protected buildings. Unlike many German cities, Görlitz was not destroyed in World War II. During the East German period, there was often not enough money to demolish and replace the old buildings, so much of the city survived. That makes it one of Germany’s great architectural walking cities.
It has also become a film location, sometimes nicknamed “Görliwood.” Films such as The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Reader, and Inglourious Basterds used Görlitz as a backdrop. Once you walk through the streets, that makes sense. The city can stand in for different periods and places because much of its historic architecture remains intact.
We visited a museum about the culture of Silesia with its complex Polish, German, and Czech heritage. We also visited the synagogue, one of the few in Germany to survive Kristallnacht in 1938. There is currently no congregation, but the space remains an important part of the city’s Jewish and architectural history.
If you are interested in architecture, consider visiting on the second Sunday in September, when many listed houses open for Monuments Day. That would be an especially good time to see interiors that are not usually accessible.
Visit Herrnhut and Learn About the Moravians
Herrnhut is a small town with a story that reaches far beyond Saxony. It is connected with the Moravian Church, a Protestant community with roots in the teachings of Jan Hus, who was burned at the stake more than a century before Martin Luther’s Reformation. Refugees from Bohemia came here under the protection of Lutheran Count Zinzendorf.
Herrnhut is part of a multi-country UNESCO World Heritage listing connected with Moravian Church settlements. Other sites include Christiansfeld, Denmark, Gracehill, United Kingdom, and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. That American connection makes the town especially interesting if you know Moravian history from the United States. My daughter went to school in Bethlehem, so I found this particularly relevant.
The church has been restored. Traditionally, “brothers” and “sisters” sat on opposite sides of the church, and when they died, they were buried in separate sections of the cemetery on the hill rather than in family plots because the community saw itself as one family. When we visited the cemetery, I was struck by how simple the graves are, with flat stones rather than elaborate monuments.
Herrnhut is also known for Moravian stars. These 25-point stars began as geometric teaching tools for the boarding school for boys whose parents were serving in mission fields. Today, they are used especially as Christmas decorations, and you can visit the factory where they are still made in paper and plastic versions, with lights inside.
See How Meissen Porcelain Is Made
The House of Wettin first established itself in this region, and Meissen was long more important than the name Saxony itself. But for many visitors today, the draw is porcelain.
The story involves Augustus the Strong, a ruler in need of money, and an alchemist named Johann Friedrich Böttger, who was supposed to make gold. He did not turn lead into gold, but he helped unlock the secret of making porcelain in Europe. That porcelain became known as “white gold,” and it helped fund the ambitions of Saxony’s rulers.
The Meissen Porcelain Factory tour shows how labor-intensive the process remains. Liquid clay is poured into molds, pieces are assembled by hand, surfaces are painted by hand, and even the crossed-swords mark on the bottom is hand-painted. The factory still has molds for pieces made centuries ago, stored in its archives. In theory, if someone wanted a copy of an old Meissen piece, they could search the archives, find the molds, and the factory could reproduce it.
Some Meissen porcelain is very traditional and ornate. Other pieces are more modern. None of it is cheap, but the tour helps explain why. This is not mass-produced souvenir pottery. It is skilled handwork carried through a long tradition.
A practical note: if you want to see more artisans actively working, go earlier in the day. We arrived later, and fewer people were still at work. Also, the behind-the-scenes tour involves stairs and walking, so it is not appropriate for anyone with mobility limitations.
If you have more time in Meissen, add Albrechtsburg Castle, the cathedral, and the historic old town.
End in Dresden
Dresden is the city many travelers already associate with Saxony, and for good reason. It sits on the Elbe River and was once the royal seat of Saxony’s rulers. The wealth generated by trade, porcelain, and political ambition helped create palaces, churches, museums, and collections that still define the city.
Dresden was devastated by fire bombing during World War II, and then spent decades under East German rule. Much of what you see today is reconstructed, restored, or rebuilt. That does not make it less moving.
The Frauenkirche, or Church of Our Lady, is one of Dresden’s great symbols. It was destroyed in the war and later rebuilt. The cross on top was made by a British metalsmith whose father had been one of the pilots involved in the bombing of Dresden. That detail gives the church a powerful story of reconciliation.
The square around the Frauenkirche, the Neumarkt, is also a good place to start exploring the old town. From there, you can walk to the palace, the Zwinger, the opera house, and the riverfront. Take a walking tour to get the most out of the experience.
Visit the Dresden Royal Palace and Green Vault
The Dresden Royal Palace was the highlight of Dresden for me, and I did not have nearly enough time there. If you like museums, decorative arts, armor, royal clothing, or treasures, plan more time than you think you need.
The palace is closely tied to Augustus the Strong, who used wealth from porcelain and trade to elevate his status, including his accession as King of Poland and Lithuania in 1697. That ambition required a court worthy of a king, and Dresden became the stage.
Inside the palace, you can see clothing preserved from Saxon rulers, suits of armor, weapons, portraits, clocks, jewels, coral, pearls, gold objects, and other treasures. The Green Vault is especially famous. There is an old Green Vault and a new Green Vault, and together they contain one of Europe’s great treasury collections.
One striking feature of the palace courtyard is the wall decoration. At first glance, it looks painted, but much of it is actually etched into the wall, a technique I was told is called sgraffito. The palace was badly damaged during the war, so craftspeople had to relearn techniques like this during restoration.
You could spend a full day between a Dresden walking tour and the palace museums. We ran through it too quickly. I would not make that mistake again.
Step Into the Zwinger
The Zwinger looks like a palace, but the name refers to the space between the inner and outer defensive walls. Today, it is one of Dresden’s most impressive architectural ensembles, with courtyards, pavilions, and museums.
We did not have time to visit the museums inside, but they include the Old Masters Picture Gallery, the Porcelain Collection, and the Royal Cabinet of Mathematical and Physical Instruments. The Porcelain Collection is especially appropriate in Saxony, since Meissen porcelain helped shape the region’s wealth and identity.
Even if you do not have time at the museum, walk through the Zwinger courtyard. It gives you a sense of Dresden’s royal scale and theatrical style.
Add Saxon Switzerland or the Elbe Wine Country
I did not get to Saxon Switzerland on this trip, and that is one of my regrets. This area south of Dresden is known for dramatic sandstone formations, hiking, and views. If you have seen photos of the Bastei Bridge, that is the kind of landscape that draws travelers there.
The area around Dresden also has wine country along the Elbe. We stopped at an observatory on a hill and had a view over vineyards and the river. This would be another good addition if you have a car or more time.
A Saxony itinerary could easily combine cities and countryside: Leipzig for music and trade, Görlitz for architecture, Meissen for porcelain, Dresden for museums, and Saxon Switzerland for hiking.
Dresden Palace – Procession of Princes
When to Visit Saxony
I visited in April, and there were definite advantages and disadvantages. Spring brings asparagus season in Germany, and restaurants serve white and green asparagus in different forms. But April can also be rainy and cool. Some activities, like Leipzig’s canal tour, would be better in late spring or summer.
May, June, September, and early October would be good choices for many travelers. Summer brings warmer weather and more outdoor activity, but also more visitors. September has the added benefit of Monuments Day in Görlitz, when many protected buildings open to the public.
If you are interested in Christmas traditions, Herrnhut and its Moravian stars could make Saxony appealing in the Advent season, although winter weather will change the feel of the trip.
Auerbachs Keller – Leipzig
Practical Tips for Visiting Saxony
You can travel through Saxony by train, especially between Leipzig, Dresden, and other larger towns. A car offers greater flexibility for visiting Colditz Castle, Herrnhut, Bautzen, the wine country, and Saxon Switzerland.
Give Leipzig at least two nights if you want to appreciate both its musical history and its more modern or industrial side. Give Dresden at least two nights if you like museums. The Royal Palace and Green Vault alone can absorb hours.
Do not treat Görlitz as just a quick stop. It is a walking city, and its architecture rewards slow exploration. If you like photography, film history, or old towns, you may want to stay overnight there.
For Meissen, go earlier in the day if touring the porcelain factory matters to you. For Colditz, leave enough time to use the augmented reality guide and follow the escape stories.
Frauenkirche interior – Dresden
Final Thoughts
Saxony surprised me with its range. I expected Dresden to be interesting, and it was. I expected Leipzig to have music history, and it did. But I did not expect the Porsche factory to be so much fun, Colditz Castle to be so well presented, Görlitz to be so architecturally rich, Herrnhut to connect so strongly with religious history in Pennsylvania, or Meissen porcelain to be such a detailed story of science, ambition, and craftsmanship.
This is not the Germany of fairy-tale Bavaria or Berlin nightlife. Saxony has its own story: trade routes, composers, royal ambition, porcelain, war, division, reconstruction, faith, industry, and quiet towns that hold more history than their size suggests.
For travelers who like to understand how a place became what it is, Saxony is rewarding. It is a region where you can follow music through churches and museums, trace royal power through palaces and porcelain, walk streets that survived when others did not, and see how a former East German region continues to tell old stories in new ways.
