One Week In Prague, Dresden & Berlin
Updated: Feb 1
Have you ever thought about combining three very different but so interesting cities like Prague, Dresden and Berlin in one trip? That what the solution we found for ourselves while planning a last-minute Christmas break escape from cloudy rainy Luxembourg, and it turned out to be one of the best trips we did in 2023.
I hope this post will help you to learn more about these destinations and to get useful information and inspiration to spend some of your 2024 vacation days in one of these three cities, or visit all three of them and even enhance and enrich your journey with more interesting places nearby.
So, let's get started!
Brief Summary & Budget
Overall we spent 8 nights in these 3 cities, and considering the timing of our trip (25 December - 2 January, the peak time for winter vacations), the price per night was higher than expected.
In Prague we spent 3 nights, and stayed in Attic Hotel in Prague 4: the price was ok (we paid EUR 200 for all 3 nights), the location was good as well (it takes around 7-10 minutes to get to the Old Town by underground), however, the sound-insulation was not perfect.
In Dresden, we stayed for 2 nights in Hotel Aviv, which is just 10-15 minutes by bus to the Old Town. The price-quality ratio was amazing, the room was nice and the bed was very comfy. The price for 2 nights was EUR 150, plus EUR 60 for breakfasts.
Berlin was the most expensive option, partly because we were staying there for New Year's Eve. We chose a nice hotel located in the 19th-century building in Mitte, near Tiergarten (Hotel Hansablick), everything was great there, but the price was rather high - around 420 EUR for 3 nights, and extra EUR 90 for breakfasts and parking.
Therefore, we spent approximately EUR 900 for the accommodation for a bit more than one week. As for the transportation expenses, they are limited by the expenses for the petrol, as we travelled by our car.
The journey from Luxembourg to Prague lasted around 7 hours, and the way back from Berlin was around 9 hours. Alternative options would be flying from Luxembourg to Berlin and taking trains/buses to explore Dresden and Prague, but I guess in this case we would have chosen to stay in one place only.
How To Spend Three Days In Prague
Prague is an amazing city, especially during the Christmas time, when it transforms into a fairytale, with all these decorations and Christmas Markets. When we arrived in the evening, we went straight away to the Old Town Square, where the main Christmas Market of Prague is located. A quick walk along the river Vitava, a nice dinner in one of the numerous traditional restaurants - what else do you need to end your day in a new place?
The next day we also started from the Old Town Square - it looks very different in daylight. The remarkable attractions there are the Old Town Hall with the Old Astronomical Clock and the Gothic Church of Saint Nicolas. We explore the Old Town a bit further and after that reach the Charles Bridge, built in the middle of the 14th century by King Charles IV and is considered to be the main landmark of Prague.
Then we climbed up to Prague Castle and spent a few hours in this area, enjoying beautiful historical buildings and the stunning St Vitus Cathedral. Back to the Old Town: walk along the River Vitava, enjoying the views of the Charles Bridge from a reasonable distance, and beer-break in Pult (a nice place with a good selection of great craft beers).
In the evening we took a funicular to Petrin Hill to check out the Petrin Tower, then descended through the amazing park, admired a beautiful Strahov Monastery and great views of the Old Town from the hill, and then had a delicious goulash soup for dinner in the city centre.
On our last day in Prague we decided to start in Vysehrad: a historic fort just over 3 km southeast of Prague Castle, on the east bank of the Vltava River, featuring the Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul and the Vyšehrad Cemetery.
Another long walk in the historical centre, enjoying Christmas Markets and the beautiful buildings around. Then - check out what is new in the Pult bar.
In addition, we visited another place for a beer called Dva Kohouti, which our beer-brewing friend from Cyprus highly recommended (the place is great indeed!)
I wish we had more time to spend in Prague, and I want to come back, probably in summertime. The next destination for this trip (on our way to Berlin, our final and last 2023 point) was Dresden.
Dresden - The Gems Hidden Between Two Giants
We arrived in Dresden in the afternoon, and after a delicious lunch, we went to explore the historical centre of the capital of Saxony. We were pleasantly surprised by the stunning architecture of the Old Town.
Dresden Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady), Zwinger Palace, Opera House, Dresden Castle - there are plenty of beautiful landmarks to discover. We stopped near one of the local Christmas Markets for a cup of mulled wine, and observed around: the quality of the markets is rather high, compared to what we have in Luxembourg and even in Strasbourg.
Afternoon coffee in a local Lucky Cat Coffee, and we were ready to continue exploring the city, which is even more beautiful after the sunset.
The next day we decided to stay in Dresden and explore it in more detail. We headed towards Zwinger Palace, a magnificent Baroque complex built in the early 18th century for the royal family, and now it's one of the main landmarks of Dresden.
The palace is comprised of several pavilions and galleries arranged around a vast courtyard. The Zwinger is particularly renowned for its beautiful gardens, fountains, and sculptures - we didn't manage to appreciate the gardens as we visited this place in winter and when the renovation works were taking place, but the architecture and the sculptures are stunning.
Zwinger houses several museums and galleries, such as Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Old Masters Picture Gallery), where you can observe the works of Raphael, Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Porzellansammlung (Porcelain Collection), exhibiting the collection of Meissen porcelain, showcasing the history of European porcelain production.
In the afternoon we went to check out the famous Dresden Castle, also known as Residenzschloss or the Royal Palace, that used to serve as the residence for the Electors and Kings of Saxony. We spent there a couple of hours to explore the amazing collection of treasures (in the so-called Green Vault and New Green Vault chambers), the Armoury and the Turkish Chamber with the stunning collection of Ottoman artefacts.
There are plenty of other things to do in Dresden, and we would like to come back there next time for another couple of days!
Berlin - The Forever Young & Dynamic Capital
In the morning we left Dresden and moved towards Berlin - our main and final destination for this trip. Berlin has always been a special place to me - almost like Paris. It was the core place where events in my favourite books were taking place, and the history of Germany astonished and attracted me a lot. I have visited Berlin 2 times - in 2014 and 2018 - but both times in summer, and I have always wondered what this city looks like in winter.
However, on our way to Berlin, we decided to stop for a couple of hours in Potsdam and explore the palace, where the famous Potsdam Conference took place. That was so funny - I was 100 per cent sure that I picked up the proper palace, however, I mixed everything up and we ended up visiting another historical palace - Sanssouci - that is known as the favourite residence of Friedrich the Great, and the place where he spent his last days.
So, we have to come back to Potsdam again, to visit the Cecilienhof Palace - where the Potsdam Conference took place. Potsdam itself is a nice cosy town, and worth a visit!
In the late afternoon, we arrived in Berlin, and once we checked in at our hotel (Hotel Hansablick in the Tiergarten area) we headed to еhe centre of the city. We walked from the Brandenburg Gate to Alexanderplatz and checked out all the Christmas Markets that we saw on our way.
The next day we continued exploring the city: we walked to the Reichstag but didn't go inside to see the panoramic views of the city from its glass dome (if you want to do so - you need to book a slot for at least 1 week in advance), just walked along the river. We both already visited the famous East Side Gallery during our previous visits to Berlin but decided to check it out once again.
After the long walk, we came back to the hotel and prepared for the long evening out: it was New Year's Eve, and as we were planning to celebrate the NY 2024 outside, we had to take warmer clothes with us. For dinner, we went to the Das Lemke Brewery at Alexanderplatz but arrived there earlier than we got hungry. Therefore, instead of traditional heavy German dishes, we took one flammkuchen (a speciality of Alsace and Moses regions in France and Germany) to share.
After the dinner, we went to explore pre-NY Alexanderplatz and were surprised by the amount and intensity of the fireworks. It was really impressive! We walked to the Brandenburg Gate, where the main official celebrations transmitted on German TV were taking place, but decided to turn back to the Christmas Market near the Berlin cathedral (Berliner Dom).
That was a good decision: we warmed up a bit there and once at around 11:40 PM the market was closed, we moved 20 metres closer to the river Spree and found a great spot to observe the fireworks from both Berliner Dom and Alexanderplatz.
We opened a bottle of Alsatian crémant (sparking wine) that we bought a few hours ago in one of the local kiosks) and welcomed another year - the year 2024 - in one of our favourite cities.
The next day - the first day of the year 2024 - we spent in a relaxed way, walking around Berlin, following the remaining of the Berlin Wall, searching for 0 EUR banknotes in various souvenir shops, observing the unusually quiet streets, checking out different districts of the city and planning to come back there again - most probably, in summer.
I hope you liked this post and have added either Prague, Dresden or Berlin (or all three places) to your travel bucket list! Each of these cities is a great place for those who love getting immersed in the culture and history of other countries, there are so many things to do.
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