Cycle tour from Hamburg to Dresden

We recommend planning an early arrival to the Hanseatic city of Hamburg: The city combines water with wide green spaces and lively districts of a cosmopolitan city with quiet corners of village character. Take a harbour tour and get up close to the huge container ships and historic museum ships such as the Rickmer Rickmers. Did you know that the Beatles gave their first concert in Hamburg in 1960? Follow in their footsteps or stroll through the Speicherstadt with its beautiful Kontor houses. You have a particularly good view of the hustle and bustle of the Hanseatic city from the tower Michel.

Goodbye big city, hello nature! You start the cycle tour from Hamburg to Dresden and cycle along the Elbe embankment to Lauenburg. Take a break here and take a look at the charming old town. Historic steamships moored in the harbour, colorful half-timbered houses and old cobblestones in the old town and the beautiful view from the upper town make the shipping town of Lauenburg an attractive destination. Back on the saddle, you cycle through the wonderfully tranquil biosphere region Elbtalaue-Wendland to Hitzacker. The charming little town lies on the German Timber-Frame Road and delights visitors with its ornately decorated houses. The northernmost vineyard in Germany is located nearby.

The stage of the cycle tour from Hamburg to Dresden takes you through the Prignitz, an idyllic region with rolling hills, heathland and meadows, streams and lakes. You pass Wittenberge, the Town of Towers, which has often been the backdrop for film productions. We recommend you take your next break in the stork village of Rühstädt. Up to 40 pairs of storks nest here, even on the Rühstädt water tower, the village's landmark. Cycle along the dyke to Havelberg. The old town is located on an island in the Havel and is beautiful to look at with its restored half-timbered houses. The cathedral with its associated monastery buildings towers high above the city island.

You leave the former bishop's seat and cycle south along medieval trade routes. The Altmark region was once represented by eight members in the historic Hanseatic League. Pretty towns line your route. Stendal is one of them. The town hall with its Renaissance gables and the oldest secular carved wall in Germany as well as St. Nicholas Cathedral add to its special charm. Tangermünde has retained its medieval townscape to this day. The castle complex high above the Elbe is particularly worth seeing. Charming Magdeburg, known also as Ottostadt (named after emperor Otto the Great) and capital of Saxony-Anhalt, is your overnight stop.

You cycle briskly through the biosphere reserve Mittlere Elbe. On the cycle tour from Hamburg to Dresden, you cycle again through the wonderful Elbe meadows and forests, passing pretty towns such as Breitenhagen, Barby and Schönebeck. Dessau, the overnight stop, became famous worldwide for the Bauhaus, which was built according to plans by Walter Gropius in 1925. It is considered one of the most important and interesting architectural monuments of the 20th century. Artists such as Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky and Mies van der Rohe worked there. Take a walk through the extensive landscaped park Georgengarten with the beautiful Georgium Palace or the Wörlitz Park, where the pretty Gotisches Haus stands.

You follow the meanders of the wide river, can change banks again and again and enjoy numerous lakes and lush nature. Wörlitz is a charming little town. One of the earliest landscape parks in Europe, Gartenreich Dessau-Wörlitz, which has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2000, is located here. In Lutherstadt Wittenberg, the Cranach houses on the market square are a feast for the eyes and the town is also peppered with other UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Your overnight stay in Torgau was the preferred residence of the Saxon electors in the 16th century. Visit the magnificent Renaissance castle Hartenfels.

You cycle along the Elbe meadows and fields and past small wine villages to Meißen. The old town of the Porzellan city and Albrechtsburg Castle with its cathedral are well worth seeing. Dresden is one of the most beautiful cities in Germany with a long and eventful past. Sights such as the Frauenkirche, the cathedral, the Zwinger and the Residenzschloss are not to be missed. Music history was written in the Semperoper: Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss brought several of their operas to the stage here for the first time. Enjoy the fantastic view of the Elbe, which has accompanied you since Hamburg, from the Brühl Terrace.

Congratulations, you've made it: your cycle tour from Hamburg to Dresden is coming to an end and you've covered more than 600 km. However, we can well imagine that you would like to stay longer in Dresden, so we would be happy to extend your stay.