Dresden: Christmas markets & old town tour from Prague

4.96

(24 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

I didn’t expect the air in Dresden to smell like toasted almonds and mulled wine before noon, but that’s exactly what hit me when we stepped out of the van after the drive from Prague. Our guide, Jana, handed us bottled water (which I promptly forgot about once I saw the first Stollen stand). She led us right into the old town — cobblestones still slick from last night’s rain, locals bundled up and laughing over pastries. The Frauenkirche dome caught the morning light in a way that made me stop mid-sentence. Jana noticed and just smiled, “It does that.”

We wandered past the Zwinger’s stone lions and through courtyards where you could almost hear opera notes echoing off the Semperbau walls. There was this moment at the Striezelmarkt — I tried to order a slice of Stollen in German and absolutely butchered it; the vendor just grinned and handed me an extra piece anyway. The taste was all butter and candied citrus, nothing like what you get back home. Kids were spinning around under a giant wooden pyramid (I think it was taller than my house), and somewhere nearby someone started singing carols — not for tourists, just because it was December.

By midday my hands were sticky with sugar glaze and I’d lost track of how many stalls we’d visited. Jana pointed out details I would’ve missed: little carved angels on balconies, a bit of soot left from old fires on Dresden Castle’s stones. We ducked into Albertinum for a breather — warm inside, paintings everywhere, people whispering in German or Czech or sometimes both at once. It felt like everyone was moving slower than usual, maybe because of the cold or maybe because nobody wanted to leave yet.

The drive back to Prague was quiet; everyone sort of drifted off staring out at winter fields. I kept thinking about that first bite of Stollen and how Jana laughed when I tried to pronounce “Striezelmarkt.” There’s something about walking through centuries-old streets with your hands full of pastry that sticks with you longer than you’d expect.