Bike tour Dresden-North

Length : 3h, 13km, altitude 170m
Link to the map here

The tour takes you to the north of Dresden, through an area that has been used for military purposes for over 200 years, through a former industrial area (today the site of various concert halls and clubs) to Hellerau, an interesting model housing estate from the 1920s.

First Stop: Garnisonschurch St Martin: This imposing church has a special feature - it has two naves. It primarily served members of the military and therefore had to represent both the Protestant and Roman Catholic denominations. It was built at the time of historicism (the exact style is Neo-Romanesque) around 1900.

Second stop: Military Museum of the German armed forces: The building was rebuilt by the well-known architect Daniel Liebeskind (he planned the Jewish Museum in Berlin as well). It is the well-known army museum in Germany. The exhibition deals with all aspects of the military and war from the past to nowadays. Highlights include a V2 and a one-man kamikaze torpedo. Find more information here.

Third Stop: Straße E – T his used to be a large industrial site with various factories. Ammunition and gun parts were produced here, as well as, many supply facilities for the military, such as the Provianthof (provisions stocks). The name of the nearby station "Heeresbäckerei" (Army Bakery) still bears witness to this.
Today, this area is used for parties and events, especially at night. Today there are many clubs, concert halls and a huge music shop (Zoundhouse) as well as street art.

Fourth Stop: Der Heller From the middle of the 19th century until the end of the GDR in 1990, large parts of the Heller were used as an army training area. If you drive carefully through the area, you will discover the remains of tank shelters or trenches in many places. The first Dresden airfield for scheduled flights was located here from around 1925. Zeppelins took off and landed here from 1912. Now the army is gone and nature is reclaiming the area. Part of the Hellerberge is still used as an open-cast sand mine (no access).

Fifth Stop: Hellerau: Germany's first garden city was founded in 1909 by a furniture manufacturer (see next item " Hellerau Workshops ") for his factory workers. With the ideas of the Lebensreform movement, Karl Schmidt-Hellerau planned a district in the countryside with its own buildings for culture and education. The main idea of the movement was "back to nature". Fun Fact: the shops for healthy food known today as "Reformhaus" originated from this movement. Nowadays, this settlement looks the same as it did in the past, with many pretty little houses with gardens.

Sixth Stop: Workshop Hellerau: T his well-known and high-quality furniture factory was and is one of the most important German manufacturers of beautifully designed furniture that deliberately stood out from the mass-produced goods of other furniture manufacturers. What is now standard in low-priced furniture was first developed here: from 1903, "machine furniture" was developed. This was mass-produced furniture that could be dismantled. This meant that they could be packed together to save space and transported to the customer. The assembly was simple. The furniture consisted of standardised elements and could be combined with each other.

Seventh stop: Festspielhaus Hellerau: Founded as an "educational institution for music and rhythm", the Festspielhaus has gained a very good international reputation as the "European Centre of the Arts Hellerau" since 2004, especially in the field of contemporary dance. Various events take place, including exhibitions, readings and, especially, performances of contemporary dance, music and theatre pieces by "The Forsythe Company" and " Derevo ", for instance.

Eighth Stop: Viewpoint over the open-cast sand mine : Please pay attention, the access is forbidden.

Nineth Stop: The "Trümmerberg" consists of the rubble of the ruins of Dresden after World War II. The city had to be cleared of rubble for reconstruction. At that time, a small rubble train ran from the city centre to here. It is a beautiful viewpoint of the city, especially at sunrise and sunset a few people always come here.
If you would like to see another (very beautiful) view of Dresden and the surrounding area, visit "Halde 2".

In between stop: On the way, you will pass the new prison built in 2000. Up to 805 prisoners can be accommodated here. The prison is surrounded by a six-metre-high (nine-metre-high at the entrance) and 1,200-metre-long wall. In 2006, the prison made national headlines because an inmate escaped onto the roof and stayed there for days.

Tenth Stop: The Sankt Pauli Cemetery is one of the largest cemeteries in the city. Here you will find, among other things, a grave of honour for victims of the Prussian-Austrian War. The " Monument à la Memoire des Soldats Français " for over 400 fallen French soldiers of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 and the complex " In memory of the victims of war and tyranny ". The latter contains the names of all the victims of war and violence on a quadripartite cube in the centre, of 200 dead from the bombing of Dresden in 1945, names of prisoners of war and victims of political executions after 1945.
Please remember to get off your bicycle at the cemetery.

Eleventh Stop: AZ Conni: AZ Conni: Stands for "Alternatives Zentrum Conni" and is a versatile left-alternative cultural meeting place. There is a bookshop, a few free walls for graffiti art, a Küfa (kitchen for all - i.e. meals for little money), a small skate park and in the evenings events take place in the main building. Fun fact : During the day on weekdays, part of the building is used as a kindergarten.

In the playground in the park next door, there is a converted phone box for a free book exchange.

We also have a map for an alternative shorter tour here