Dresden

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Dresden
<map lat='51.049' lng='13.74' zoom='11' view='3' />
Information
Country:
Flag of Germany
Germany
State:
Coat of arms of Saxony.png
Saxony
Population: 508,351 (31/12/2007)
Licence plate: DD
Major roads: A4, A13, A14, A17
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Dresden is a city in the Eastern part of Germany. Dresden Elbe Valley, a former World Heritage Site, is located on its outskirts.

General remarks

Due to the specific positioning of motorway petrol stations around Dresden, passing this city from the North to the South (and vice versa) could be (but not necessarily) rather difficult.

Hitchhiking out

North towards Berlin, Cottbus (A13)

Take a tram line 13 (Strassenbahn in German) to the Friedensstraße stop. Continue further until the junction (you'll see a McDonald's restaurant on your right), turn right (this will be a Hansastrasse, Hansa street) and walk straight ahead (underneath the railway bridge and further). After 1 km you will find a Shell petrol station. There you have 2 possibilities: to ask drivers directly while they are refilling at the petrol station, or to stand before (or right besides) this petrol station and try thumbing up the ride - there is enough space for the cars to stop on a long drive-in lane. The Hansastrasse is an access to the A4 in both directions, although it is said that most cars go North from there; however, with a right sign you might be able to catch a car to the East/South, too (Chemnitz, Leipzig...). Very often there are other hitchhikers on this petrol station - if it is so, and if you don't like the place, you may walk 200m further to yet another petrol station where you can try both asking drivers directly or thumbing on the road. As of 2008, the petrol was slightly cheaper on that petrol station, which automatically attracts more drivers there. However, by choosing the second petrol station you might miss both some company cars (the drivers of these very often have special payment cards when using “Shell” petrol stations) and more snobbish (?) type of people that “Shell” customers tend to be.

Very often there are hitchhikers right behind the railway station Dresden-Neustadt. Be aware that this is a common meeting point for the users of www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de which is a car-pooling service, so if you stop a car there you might be asked to contribute to the cost of fuel, although generally it is very unlikely like anywhere else in Germany.

Another good hitchhiking spot is very close to the motorway ramp. From Bahnhof Neustadt take the bus 81 towards Wilschdorf and get off at Hellerberge. If you stand besides the bus station with a sign Berlin, you probably won't wait for long.

East towards Görlitz, Wroclaw (A4)

  • On-ramp Hellerberge in Dresden: From Dresden-Neustadt DB station; take bus number 81 (WILSCHDORF) to the stop 'Hellerberge'. This should not take longer than fifteen minutes. Here you are right at 'Dresden Hellerau' interchange of B170 and A4 / A13 direction Bautzen as well as Görlitz.
  • Service station Dresdner Tor near Dresden: from Dresden take bus 424 or 333 from main station to station Wilsdruff Markt (about 45min ride), go north to junction Nossener/Meißner/Dresdner Straße and turn east into Dresdner Straße. Follow this road for 500m eastwards. You will see a hotel on the right. After this take the left option of the Y-junction, cross the street Umgehungsstraße (S36) and follow the road K9034 (direction Hühndorf, north-east) for 1km. Right before you hit the freeway turn right and walk along the road parallel to the freeway. After another 500m you reach the service station

West towards Chemnitz, Leipzig (A4), (A14)

Go to the tram stop Cossebauder Straße and walk up the big street (Meißner Landstraße). You can either ask people at the petrol station, stand next to the road with a sign or walk about 1,5km to the A4 ramp (see below).

Another good spot is directly at the motorway A4 ramp. There is quite a good place for the cars to stop; in addition, drivers can notice you in advance when waiting at the traffic lights. To get to this spot, take a bus 94 towards either Cossebaude or Niederwartha and get off at the Zschonergrundstraße stop; you can also get there by local trains RB/RE going to Elsterwerda-Biela or Hoyerswerda (get off at Dresden-Kemnitz). Both for the train and/or the bus you can use one-fare-zone ticket, so it is relatively cheap.

From Dresden-Neustadt DB station; take bus number 81 (WILSCHDORF) to the stop 'Am Olter'. This should not take longer than fifteen minutes. Here you are right at 'Dresden Hellerau' interchange of B170 and A4 / A13 direction Leipzig as well as Chemnitz. You can try to directly hitchhike there or to use 'Rastanlage Dresdner Tor' (10 minutes/12 kilometers from here) as a relais.

South towards Prague (A17)

Note: as of 22.01.12 the google satelite photos for this region are badly out of date. Street view is good.

Option 1.

There are a few places near bus stop Südhöhe (Bus lines 72, 76 & 360) at the overpass intersection of Bergstraße, Südhöhe, Kohlenstaße.
A. the onramp to Bergstraße (Highway 170) going south towards A17 and Prag. You can get a driver while they are stopped at the light waiting to take a right onto the highway. See other options for next steps as you are unlikely to get a long distance ride from here.
B. There is a petrol station ("Aral") but it is located on the opposite side of the road. It's the last petrol station before the motorway though.

Option 2.

Try to stop cars on various bus stops or near traffic lights on Bergstraße between city center and Südhöhe. However, it is difficult for the drivers to stop on this road and taking a bus to Südhöhe is recommended. Haltestelle Mommsenstraße is probably the best as you can easily stand close to the bridge and ask people at the traffic light. It is not advisable to walk along highway 170 past Südhöhe.

Option 3.

B170, A17 / E55 autobahn interchange (map). There is a traffic light at entry ramp to A17 east towards Prag with a blue sign, a wide shoulder, and just after the corner to the entry ramp is a small slab of asphalt were drivers can stop. Try to get a ride to the next rest stop, about 5 minutes away driving.
To get here:
A. Get a ride to the A17 west onramp from one of the other options and walk across the bridge. The will be dropping you off on the side of the highway so be careful.
B. From Dresden DB main station take bus number 66 (MOCKRITZ) to the stop 'Altkaitz' and walk over 'Possendorfer Straße' and the fields in southward direction uphill to the interchange. This should not take longer than twenty minutes but might be much faster than waiting somewhere else.
C.Take bus 360 towards A17 (direction Dippoldiswalde). Press the stop button directly after you pass the onramp to A17 towards Prag. The bus will stop 200m later so walk back to the onramp.

2012, 20th January: This seems like the best way to get here but I was not able to figure it out after I got on the 360 at Südhöhe and it started going the wrong direction. Someone clarify please. -lex
2011, 13th August: at that place 5 minute wait!

MF and his grilfriend got a ride to the centre of Prague after half an hour. (MF)

2012, 20th January: about half an hour and I got a ride to the next park place. -lex
August 2012: Leg two on the way to India. Waited about an hour at the on-ramp here. Decent little space for drivers to pull into. Didn't get a ride all the way to Prague, but at a service station just over the border we literally waited about a minute. Good spot. --Looking for Stu 01:24, 18 August 2012 (CEST)

Option 4.

Try to get to the first parking lot right after getting on the A17. Nearly everyone leaving Dresden in this direction is going to Pirna and will pass this park place. There is not very much traffic at this stop, but surely everybody is going across the border to the first gas station in Czech Republic.
To get here:
A. Get a ride from one of the previous options
B. Walk there. It is ca. 600m east from the Highway 170 onramp and it is not necessary to walk on the Autobahn.

2012, 20th January: about half an hour and I got a ride directly to Prague -lex

(There might be better spots in Dresden Prohlis - does anyone have any information on this?)

South by train, hitchhiking in Czech Republic (Děčín, Ústí nad Labem)

If you got some time and money, and prefer seeing some landscape of the Elbe/Labe valley as well as of the Saxonian and Bohemian "Switzerland" mountains, you can take the train S1 from Dresden (from main station, Dresden-Neustadt and others; direction Schöna) to the Czech border. The ticket is 5,60 Euro (as of 2013) - get it at the ticket machines and validate it before entering the train!

You can either leave the train at Schmilka-Hirschmühle (the ferry there is included in the ticket price) or at Schöna (and pay the ferry extra). After crossing the river by ferry, walk over the border and through Hřensko. There is a bus stop at the end of the town and a large space behind it. If there are too many cars parked, hitch at the bus stop directly.

There is not much traffic, so prepare to wait a while. Everybody goes to Děčín from here. If you're lucky, you will find a direct hike to Ústí nad Labem.

As well the train ride as the road from Hřensko have really nice nature which is best experienced in good weather.

Passing through Dresden (North->South or South->North)

If you are coming from the North (e.g. Berlin, A13 or A4 from the East) and you want to continue to the South (e.g. Prague) you might have some troubles regarding the location of where you can be dropped off for further successful hitchhiking in case when your driver is not going further your way.

The problem is that the motorway splits just before the motorway petrol station called Dresdner Tor (Aral), so if you are dropped at the petrol station, you will get only those drivers who go the other way (to the West).

Then, you have several ways to get further (in any of these ways you will have similar problems and solutions):

  • you might want to get dropped off way before Dresden, approximately 20-50 kilometers before getting into the city; (exact information needed!)
  • get a ride going west onto A4 at Dresden, so that you can be dropped off at Dresdner-Tor Nord. Then walk west for about 800 meters to a local road, walk through the tunnel and walk back east at the other side of the motorway for 800 meters to get back on Dresdner-Tor Sud.
  • you find a nice driver willing to do a loop for you meaning that he must drive off the motorway after that "Aral" petrol station, make a U-turn, take the motorway in the opposite direction and drop you off at the petrol station, and only then he can either enter Dresden or make another U-turn if he is heading West;

Public transport

The public transport in Dresden consists of buses, trams and regional S-Bahn trains. All of them can be used with the same ticket given it is valid for your zone.

  • You can validate your ticket in both trams and buses. The machines "beeps" when you do so. Tickets can not be validated in the S-Bahn, you have to do that on the platform or your ticket might be considered invalid.
  • Ticket machines on tram stops give you unstamped (unvalidated) tickets which you validate inside the tram at any time later. Bus drivers sell stamped (validated) tickets.
  • Inside most of dresden DVB AG trams there is a ticket machine that gives you an already stamped (validated) ticket. You cannot rely on the phrase: "I am already hanging around the machine to buy a ticket the very next moment" when inspectors are showing up around you within seconds. The given argument will definitely not be helpful! You do not hold a valid DVB AG transportation document in yours hands!
  • People carrying an adult monthly, yearly or job ticket can take somebody along on Saturday, Sunday and public holidays for free. This is possible from the day before (e.g. Friday for weekends) 18:00 until the day after (e.g. Monday for weekends) 06:00. Just ask around at the stops. Unfortunately students cannot take you.

Blackriding (Freeloading, Freeriding)

[The information below does not apply to the S-Bahn city train. See Deutsche Bahn instead]

  • If you fail to show your ticket to an inspector you will most likely get a fine of 40 EUR which needs to be paid by bank transfer within about 10 days. Rumors are that even if you are a foreigner but living within the European Union an announcement to pay will be send even to your country.
  • Ticket inspectors in Dresden (DVB AG) are dressed in civil clothes.
  • Ticket inspectors are difficult but possible to spot: They do not look like students which mostly carry a laptop case and/or wear a white or light blue shirt with a collar. They do not look like businessmen which would wear suit and tie. The are mostly not older than 50 to 55 years. They are mostly not younger than 20 years. They do not carry any (large) case, (heavy or completely filled) backpack or plastic (shopping) bag with them. They do not use mp3 player or walkmen with any sort of earphones. They mostly appear in smaller groups of two or three men in an average dress (sloppy T-shirt or pullover, jeans, a fisherman vest, cheaper non-brand shoes). They are mostly standing (or sitting) together but are not talking (or arguing) to/at each other in public.
  • Ticket inspectors mostly carry a very small waist backpack or normal (but almost empty) backpack underneath a vest/shirt where their DVB AG computer devices or official papers are in.
  • Ticket inspections are not conducted (as in some other European cities) on bus or tram platforms or on open bus or tram doors but only when vehicles are moving between two stops.
  • After 20:00 you need to get into the bus through the first door where the driver sits. Drivers are supposed to check tickets but usually do not give them a closer look. You might be lucky when you quickly show an older (and now invalid) DVB AG ticket.
  • Most DVB AG ticket inspections are conducted from around 09:00 to around 13:00.
  • All in all: Do not blackride in Dresden. It doesn't work. Don't do it.

Sleeping

In summer you can sleep at the river. The police are never looking for sleeping people or anything. A good place is this. Sometimes people camp with tents at the river here.

Souvenirs

You can buy expensive stuff at the touristical shops but every Saturday there is a second hand market until 2pm here where people sell ancient things - e.g. from the time of the socialism - very cheap. Moreover you can bring or get clothes for free at the free shop here. Check the opening hours.

Eat and drink

Nearly every day there is warm food for a low price in a different alternative house. Check the calendar for the words "Essen" or "Vokü".

External Links

This article is based on text from the German language Anarchopedia which is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.

trash:Dresden