Dresden

Old Masters and the Green Vault, then a Neustadt evening

A weekend in Dresden covers the baroque old town on day one and the Neustadt on day two. Start with the Zwinger's Old Masters gallery, the Green Vault in the Residenzschloss and the Frauenkirche dome, then see the Albertinum, cross the Augustus Bridge and spend the afternoon and evening in the Äußere Neustadt.

Day one, morning. Begin at the Zwinger as it opens. Walk round the courtyard and its pavilions, then spend two hours in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister for the Sistine Madonna, Giorgione's Sleeping Venus and the Vermeers. The porcelain collection in the same complex is worth a short look.

Afternoon. Cross the Theaterplatz past the Semperoper to the Residenzschloss for the Historic Green Vault at your booked slot, then the New Green Vault upstairs. Walk out along the Fürstenzug, a 102-metre parade of Saxon rulers on porcelain tiles, to the Neumarkt.

Evening. Climb the Frauenkirche dome before closing, or catch an evening concert inside. Then stroll along Brühl's Terrace above the river.

Day two, morning. See the Albertinum for Caspar David Friedrich and the German Romantics. Cross the Augustus Bridge to the Golden Rider statue and walk up Königstraße.

Afternoon. Explore the Äußere Neustadt: the Kunsthofpassage, Pfunds Molkerei on Bautzner Straße, and the cafés of Alaunstraße. Ride tram 11 or walk on to the Elbe meadows and follow the river to the Waldschlösschen.

Evening. Eat and drink in the Neustadt, where bars around Louisenstraße and Görlitzer Straße stay busy late, or book the Semperoper if tickets are left.

The Frauenkirche was rebuilt from 1994 and reconsecrated in October 2005, and many blackened original stones stand out against the pale new sandstone.

Eierschecke, Christstollen and Elbe valley wine

Dresden's food is Saxon. The cake to order is Eierschecke, a three-layer bake of yeast dough, quark and egg custard; the Christmas loaf is the Dresdner Christstollen, which only local bakers may sell under that name; and the main dish is Sächsischer Sauerbraten. Local white wine comes from the Elbe valley around Radebeul and Meissen.

Dresden's cooking is Saxon, which means coffee and cake taken seriously and hearty plates the rest of the day. The cake to try is Eierschecke, three layers of yeast base, quark and a wobbly egg custard on top, sold by every bakery and café. Quarkkäulchen are small fried pancakes of quark and potato, eaten with apple purée and cinnamon sugar.

At the main meal, look for Sächsischer Sauerbraten, beef marinated for days and served in a sweet-sour sauce, often thickened with gingerbread, with red cabbage and potato dumplings. Wiegebraten, a Dresden meatloaf of minced pork, beef and white bread, comes with potatoes and gravy.

The famous export is the Dresdner Christstollen, a dense fruit loaf rich in butter, raisins and almonds and dusted with sugar. Only bakers in and around the city may use the name, and locals argue every year about whose is best. It is baked from autumn and sold at the Striezelmarkt.

The Elbe valley between Pirna and Meissen is one of Germany's smallest and most northerly wine regions. Radebeul and Meissen growers produce dry Müller-Thurgau, Riesling and the local Goldriesling, and their wines are poured in old-town wine bars. Beer drinkers have Radeberger, brewed in the nearby town of the same name.

For eating out, the restaurants around the Frauenkirche cater to visitors; the Neustadt is where locals go, with Vietnamese, Georgian and vegan places alongside traditional inns.

Meissen porcelain, the Bastei and Pillnitz along the Elbe

The easiest day trips from Dresden follow the Elbe on the S1. Meissen, about 40 minutes downstream, has the porcelain manufactory and Albrechtsburg castle; upstream, Kurort Rathen is the stop for the Bastei rock bridge in Saxon Switzerland. Pillnitz palace is reachable by paddle steamer, and Moritzburg by bus or steam railway.

The Elbe valley gives Dresden some of the easiest day trips in Germany, and the S1 line runs along it in both directions on a normal regional ticket.

Meissen, about 40 minutes downstream, is where Europe's first hard-paste porcelain was made in the early 18th century. Visit the Albrechtsburg castle and the Gothic cathedral on the hill, then tour the porcelain manufactory and its museum. The wine taverns in the old town make a good lunch stop.

Saxon Switzerland lies upstream. Ride the S1 to Kurort Rathen, take the little ferry across the river and climb for about half an hour to the Bastei, a sandstone bridge strung between rock pinnacles high above the Elbe. Continue to Königstein for the vast hilltop fortress, or to Bad Schandau for hiking trails. Go early on summer weekends; the Bastei is very busy by late morning.

Pillnitz is the summer palace of the Saxon court, a set of pavilions in Chinese style with an English and a Chinese garden and a camellia more than 200 years old under a movable glasshouse. The nicest way to arrive is on one of the paddle steamers from the Terrassenufer, a trip of a couple of hours past the Loschwitz villas.

Moritzburg, a baroque hunting lodge on an island in a lake north of the city, is reachable by bus or a narrow-gauge steam railway from Radebeul.

Summer brings highs around 24C, but May and September, when the light is softer and the trails quieter, are the best months for these trips.