Bautzen, beautiful old city in the east approx. 45 minutes with car via Autobahn and 1 hour by train
Saxon Ore Mountains, hiking and craftwork toymaking, especially Christmas toys
Glashutte is the center of eastern German watch manufacturing, with various watch factories and a nice watch museum (http://www.uhrenmuseum-gl...). It is about 1 hour from Dresden by train, and part of the journey is beautiful, following a river through the mountains.
Königstein Fortress (http://www.festung-koenig...) One of the largest and best preserved late medeival fortresses in Europe. The fortress is situated about 30 km from Dresden and can be reached by almost all means of transportation. A trip on the river Elbe in one of the historic paddle-steamers of "Sächsische Dampfschifffahrt" is also highly recommended.
Leipzig is little more than one hour away by train
Meissen - medieval cathedral and castle and home to the first European porcelain factory.
Moritzburg - Beautiful castle that was once used when the kings went hunting
Pillnitz - the old garden and summer castle of the former Saxon kings. Follow the road along the Elbe eastwards or take a city bus to get there. Beautiful atmosphere. You might have pay in order to get in around â¬2, but this issue is not yet fully resolved, as there are many people against it.
Prague is about two hours away
Radebeul - City west of Dresden with the world famous Karl May Museum and the four floor GDR museum.
Radeberg - a small town a short S-Bahn ride away from Dresden. Home of the Radeberger Brewery. They offer tours throughought the day for â¬9, including tasting at the end. (http://www.radeberger.de/) Phone ++49 3528 454 880.
Saxon Switzerland Sächsische Schweiz upstream along the river Elbe is a national park for hiking and rock-climbing (http://www.saechsische-schweiz.de/ is available in English while (http://www.nationalpark-s...) is the official site)
