Dresden Transportation

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NextBike is a private bicycle sharing system that is quite similar to DB Call-a-Bike except that it is partially paid for by advertising directly on the bike -- and it is cheaper. Rental of a NextBike costs one Euro per hour or five Euros for up to 24 hours -- five Euros as opposed to nine for Call-a-Bike. (Prices as of 2008.)

Online registration for NextBike is easy provided you are willing to give them your credit card number and cell phone number. Registration costs one Euro, which is applied to your first bike rental.

I had already been registered with NextBike for a while, but Dresden was the first place I had a chance to try it out. I checked out a bike at the main station, rode it through the Großer Garten to the Adult Education Center, left it locked up there all afternoon and then rode it back when I was finished with my workshop. On my next credit card bill they deducted five Euros, one for registration and four for the day's cycling.

Aside from being cheaper, I found NextBike to be somewhat less hassle than Call-a-Bike -- though you do need a cell phone for both.

NextBike is currently available in Dresden, Erlangen, Frankfurt am Main and Nürnberg, and they say it will be expanding soon to include nine more German cities and even some in Austria and New Zealand.

Second photo: My NextBike in the Großer Garten (Large Park).

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There are not a lot of available spaces to find parking, and especially ones that are cheap. In the Altmarket, there are garages, but they do cost about 8-12 Euro daily. WE found a surface lot for 6 Euro for the day, or for 3 hours it is the same in Altmarket to the west of it and south of Zwinger two blocks. By our apartment on Bischofsweg there was only parallel street parking and that was the cheapest for 3 Euro a day, which is also the price for 6 hours.
Parking places at Weiner Platz cost 6 Euro for 3 hours, and need to pay at a booth to get ticket to get out. Airport parking is about 5 Euro a day if I recall correctly?

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Around the Theatre Platz area are many horse drawn carriages if you would like a ride. They range from elaborate coach type carriages to a horse drawn cart. Prices range from 10-20 Euro, and most rides are 12/ to 3/4 hour. They go slowly by the sites in the Platz and some side streets along the Hofkirche and back streets.

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We did not take a cruise due to time constraints, but kind of wish we had been able to do so. A cruise down, or up river would have been nice. They take you to some places only about 5 miles away, while others can a a 4-5 hour cruise to sites about 20 miles away on the river.
Prices range varying on the trip taken. An example is Dresden to Meissen (30 miles away) is 11 Euro, and to Pillnitz (15 miles south) is 9,40 Euro. Local short rides going by closer in sites may be about 10 Euro.

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The airport is north of the city main center about 6 miles, by going up Rt 97, or Konigsbrucker Strasse. It is easy to find the airport and parking and rental cars there are pretty simple to get into the garage. Since there are not many flight coming here daily, the ability to get around and through the airport is easy.

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There are a lot of these that drive around the city and tourists use them for guided tours, or on/off stops. Some tours also includes taking you out of the city to Meissen, or Pillnitz as examples of places to stop. Prices of the tour range from 20-50 Euro depending on the time of 2-4 hour tours, or where to go on the tour.

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Since vehicles are expensive and parking a mess, if not impossible in areas, a lot of people of all ages use the bikes to get around to work, shop, and play, and even site see. There are also some motorbikes but not many small Mopeds or big motorcycles.

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A great deal of people use the tram system as it traverses all around the city and outskirts. The system is appearing to be efficient and on time. The only hitch is that is traffic backup, the trams also have to wait a lot because the tracks run right over the streets in the traffic lanes.
The system started in early 19oo's and has had to resort to the narrow streets because buildings were built right up close to them when there was only horse traffic. There are 28 tram routes and 12 bus routes.