Guide me: Dresden

Whats this?brit

If you’re new here, I suggest you to read the “Guide: Germany” part first.

This part it specific to the city of Dresden, and therefore not included in the main Guide.
Lets start it off with a Quote, shall we?

“If its true, that I don’t only know whats bad and ugly, but also to know what is beautiful, it’s because I grew up in Dresden.”
Erich Kästner (famous author, born in Dresden)

This document is structured by importance, so the more important things come first, and it ends with all the secret fun activites in and around Dresden!

Many people encounter similar questions a lot of time. Please help to extend this guide with your questions and information!

(I) General Affairs

 Doctors in Dresden (English)

This list needs to be extended based on your experience. Please contact me with your positive or negative experiences! Most of these

Womens Doctor (Gynecologist)
Dr. med. Braune-Kurrek

Bayrische Str. 18
01069 Dresden
0351/4724572

http://www.frauenaerzte.de/katharinabraunekurrek

Skin doctor (speaks english and polish)
Dr.med. Stefan Pyzara Przemyslaw (man)
Liebigstr. 24, 01187 Dresden
0351/4676753
He is a native polish speaker and speaks also good english.

university clinic’s orthodontist department and gynecologist
Ronald Bensch (man)
Wittenberger Str. 90
0351 3139044

Dentist
Schreiber Rudolf Dr. Zahnarztpraxis
Rudolf-Renner-Straße 46, 01159 Dresden

0351/4271730

Bereitschaftsdienst (standby duties)
Especially on the weekend or at night, most normal doctors offices are closed. In this case, you can go to the standby-services as well. These information give you special doctors which are open on weekends or until late.
They also provide you with a phone number, to check out, which doctors offices are open on the weekend.

Ärztlicher Bereitschaftsdienst Dresden 

Hospital (University Clinics)
Also offer a special service for International Patients. It includes emergency as well as ambulant treatment.
You can reach the hosp with tram 6&12 station “Augsburger Straße / Universitätsklinikum” or bus 74 station “Universitätsklinikum”.

On the website you can find as well documents in many languages (polish, ukrainian, french, chinese, arabic, spanish, russian, english).
University Hospital -International Service

 

Emergency Contacts
A detailed list of contacts, doctors and addresses in case of most emergencies can be found here.
Emergency Guide Dresden (german) 

Believes

In general the young generation can be considered generally atheistic. So you will not see many people go to church every sunday. In case you are interested in joining a mess i recommend:

Katholische Hofkirche
Sunday 4:30pm Polish Holy Mess
Sunday 6pm German Holy Mess

Parish St. Paul’s in Dresden
Last Sunday each month 10:30 am

DVB – Trams & Busses

Dresden has a very sophisticated public transportation system. Here are some of the hidden highlights you probably haven’t heard about!

NIGHT CONNECTIONS & POSTPLATZTREFF

At nighttime there is a special waiting system. Most famous is the “Postplatztreffen”. Most of the lines are redirected to driver other the station Postplatz. There all the busses & trams wait, to ensure connection, between 10:45 p.m. and 5 a.m.

In addition, there will be trams&busses waiting for connection at certain stations. (Tharandter Strasse, Schillerstrasse, Bahnhof Neustadt, Lenneplatz, Pirnaischer Platz, Gottfried Keller Strasse, Hauptbahnhof Nord, Straßburger Platz, Altpieschen, Mickten).
You can find even more detailed information here: Nachtverbindungen (PDF)

APPS FOR PHONE (ANDROID)

There are two apps you can use for finding connections. Just download them from the Market.
Öffi
DDTram

Buying & Selling

Websites:
caz-lesen.de – Students magazine. You can read the offers online and can place your offers to appear in the next edition of CAZ.
go2dd.com – Chinese Forum, very well for buying& selling between Chinese

There also is a bunch of second hand stores in Neustadt.

Flea market / Jumble Sale
Every Saturday all day long there is a market along the Elbe river, next to the bridge “Albertbrücke”. You can get there with tram 6, 13 when you exit at “Sachsenallee” and then you take the stairs down to Elbe river.

(The best things you can get in the morning)

It’s also a interesting Saturday activity to walk along the market, when you have not much to do.

Special!If you have a Dresden pass, you can also get free funiture at any garbage disposal station (Wertstoffhoff).

 

Schools

There are additional courses offered for instance to learn German at the Volkshochschule (public education school), usually for less money than TUDIAS.
www.vhs-dresden.de

TUDIAS offers high quality courses and certification. The classes are very progressive and you will be very busy during the course. These courses can qualify you for TestDAF and DSH.

TUDIAS Dresden – German courses for foreigners

Rent a Car /  Moving

I have made good experiences with “Jahnelt” car rental. They have several parking lots and have good transporters. For a reasonable price starting at about 70 Euro for a day.
Jahnelt Autovermietung

There also is a special students discount for Students of Dresden. (Show your students id) in this fair-priced car rental.
http://www.studententransporter.de

 

Garbage Disposal in Dresden

In Addition to the Garbage section in the main guide, here are the cities garbage facilities.

Where the next garbage boxes are can also be checked online, on Dresden.de.

If you have big things to throw out, bring them to the Recycling Centres (“Wertstoffhoff”).
Where you can find them is listed on this Website: http://www.dresden.de/

 

 

(II) Students Life Affairs

Appartments- dormitory

Please note that here some special rules applying for dormitories.To avoid a big moveout in March, the Studentwerk Dresden introduced a rule, that if you stay in your appartment shorter than 1 year, they are going to charge you a fee. Please keep this in mind. After this period of time, you can cancel your appartment any time.

Special!Especially in dormitories it is not allowed that there are living more people living in one room that there are registed. Only the person holding a contract with Studentenwerk Dresden is allowed to live in that room! If you want to live with another person, that person also needs a contract.

Special!Also, it is stricly forbidden to “sub-rent” directly to another person. If another person than you wants to live in your room, you have to inform Studentenwerk Dresden about this.  They provide you with the contracts necessary to sub-rent your room here. If you do so, you will not be on risk.

Please note, that Germany is a country, in which contracts have a very important position.
For some of you it might be uncommon, and you are used to live in rooms with more people.
But here, you have signed a contract, only allowing the usage by you.
This is fairness for all the members within dormitories. When someone else lives there “without permission”, everybody else has to pay for the additional cost.

If you don’t announce your sub-rent or more people than only you live in the rented room, your contract will be immediately cancelled!

The staff at Studentenwerk is very helpful, don’t be shy to ask your dormitories supervisor if you encounter any questions or problems!

Also, when you live in a dormitory, don’t forget that you have to hand in your certification of immatriculation each term.

Please not that there are official information available in English on the Studentenwerk-Website.

SUB-RENTING DORMITORY ROOMS

When you sub-rent your dormitory room, you have to inform Studentenwerk about this. They have a special form, which both persons have to sign.

You can find rooms to sub-rent or rent your room on this official website from Studentenwerk Dresden.
Online Renting List (englisch)
Online Renting List (deutsch)

 Legal Advice

If you ever encounter legal problems, there is a special service for students from Studentenwerk. Currently there are 2 days per week. Check the opening times!
http://www.studentenwerk-dresden.de/soziales/rechtsberatung.html

If you need a lawyer, because you need an expert opinion or have an unsolvable dispute, you can get a Voucher (Berechtigungsschein) from the local court (Amtsgericht Dresden).
With this, you can get 1 initial consultation and 1 initial letter written by the lawyer. It does not cover follow up cost, like going to court.

As from my experience, a lawyer or going to court is not always advisable for small disputes, e.g. lower then 1’000 euro.

Integration

Sadly sometimes some people have a hard time to integrate. I suggest you to take part in all the official Erasmus activities, join the Erasmus Students Network (even when you are not from Europe). The most groups can be found on facebook:

Erasmus & International Students in Dresden 2012 / 2013

http://www.facebook.com/groups/329681710442797/

Kulturbüro Dresden

http://www.facebook.com/Kulturbuero

Erasmus Students Network Dresden
www.esn-dresden.de

http://www.facebook.com/erasmus.dresden

LSK & USZ (universities language and sports courses)

When you are enrolled at TU Dresden / DIU you should definetly take part in the offered courses. There is the LSK (language education) institute. They offer a very wide variety of foreign languages (except German), in all difficulty levels.
On the first days of the Semester you can enroll there for courses with your HisQis-login (s***** – login).

The Universities Sport facilities (USZ) offer a wide variety of sports, from canoing, climbing to volleyball. The fee is usually around 15 Euro each semester for students and a little bit more expensive for non-students.

LSK Information & Timetables (language centre)
http://sprachausbildung.tu-dresden.de/

LSK Registration
https://lskonline.tu-dresden.de/lskonline/de/102.0.1

USZ (Sports centre)
http://www.usz.tu-dresden.de/sportarten/aktueller_zeitraum/

 

Transportation

SEMESTERTICKET

The Semesterticket has become very extended over the years. It consists out of 2 different tickets with different conditions.

PART I: VVO-Ticket

This is the traditional ticket which is valid in the Dresden area and the S-bahn around Dresden. This has very wide range.With it you can go as far as

  • Riesa (direction Leipzig)
  • Dippoldiswalde
  • Schöna (Czech Border, behind Bad Schandau)
  • the complete validy map can be found here: VVO map

Included in the VVO-Ticket, you have this benefits:

  • Use all the local trains&busses and trams in the VVO-area.
  • You can  use most ferries (including Schmilka, Bad Schandau, Wehlen, Königsstein, … – complete list )
  • Take a bike on tram&bus (between Monday and Friday 7 p.m. and 4 a.m. and all day on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays)
  • Take a bike on train (between Monday and Friday 7 p.m. and 4 a.m. )

(Detailed Information about the VVO Ticket can be found here : VVO Semesterticket (engl)  )

PART II: Deutsche Bahn – SemesterTicket

Since 2010 the traditional ticket has been extended. Additionally you can use trains in the whole Saxony area (for instance to Görlitz, Chemnitz, Leipzig).
This only included local trains (S, RB, RE, IRE). It does NOT include the benefits from the VVO-Semesterticket. As soon as you are outside of the VVO-area, you can NOT

  • Take a bike for free
  • Take local trams/busses

(Source: StudentenRat Dresden )

(Hint: The DIU semester ticket is against what you have heard NOT valid for whole saxony. It is only valid for the VVO-area which you can check here. )

CAR POOLING IN DRESDEN

In Dresden the most common meeting spots are the back-parkingspot of Bahnhof Neustadt and the Bus-parking at the ENZO Building at Hauptbahnhof.

SAXONY TICKET “SACHSENTICKET”

Most common is the „Sachsen-Ticket“ (Saxony-Ticket), which is also valid in Sachsen-Anhalt and Thüringen, or the „Brandenburg-ticket“ They cost about 28Euro and are usually valid between 9am-3a.m and on weekend between 12a.m. Until 3a.m. The next day.
They are only valid for regional trains (RB RE IRE)

There is also „Wochenend-ticket“ (Weekend-ticket) which is valid in whole Germany during the weekend. It is only valid for Saturday OR Sunday. It costs 39 Euro.
(also check the more detailed information at the Germany Guide)

Hint: If you have a Semesterticket, its usually enough to buy the Brandenburg-ticket to go to Berlin.

Mensa

Mensa Dresden – Current Menus

 

 (III) Local & Special Events

Demonstrations

Dresden is said to notorious for its high ammount of right wing activists. We fondly call them Nazi’s, which is short for Nationalsozialisten (National socialists). Whereas in everyday life you will very likely not encounter racism at all, since Dresden is a very open-minded and safe city, there are certain demonstrations you should be aware of. Common dates for this are 12.February (remembering of the bombing of Dresden) or around this date. Whereas I hardly recommend you not to take part in (and avoid!) the counter-demonstration, I can recommend you to take part in the peaceful and safe activities like human chain „Remember and Act“ where many thousands people create a peaceful human chain for peace and remembering the death during the bombing of Dresden.

Bunte Republik Neustadt

A must-be during your stay in Dresden should be the BRN, „Bunte Republik Neustadt“. It usually takes place during Mid-June, and the whole district Neustadt turns into a big festival. There is lots of good music, little shops, artists and you can take a look at every bar, cafe inside Neustadt. Please note that the police checks for glass-bottles at the entrance. To avoid the high prices you can take plastic bottles or deposit some drinks in a appartment inside Neustadt. Link http://www.brn-dresden.de/

Christmas, Eastern

Christmas and Eastern are our traditional family holidays. On 24.th after 2 p.m. All the stores close, and are closed for 2 days. Don’t expect a lot of German people to have time during this time

Tatort (Weekly)

“Tatort” is a famous german crime scene serial. It airs every Sunday at 8 p.m., and for many people it has already become to watch it together. Many places show it on a public TV and you can just go there to watch it with others. Tatort is a part of contemporary German culture, so don’t miss it 🙂

Just some places where you can watch Tatort:

  • KIF – Kino in der Fabrik (Tharandter Strasse 33)
  • Kathys Garage (Alaunstrasse 48)
  • Scheune (Alaunstrasse 36)

Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften

The “Long Night of Science” is an annual event, where a lot of faculties and research companies open their gates to the interested visitors. It gives an insight into state-of-the-art medicine, biology, technology at the time between 6.p.m. to 1.p.m.
There are (free) shuttle busses between all the stations.

Next time: 05.07.2013
Link: dresden-wissenschaft.de

 

Nachtskaten (Night Skating)

If you like Inline-Skating, you will love this! Between end of april to end of september, on every friday at 9 p.m. , there is a track closed down only for inline skaters. The route is usually about 20-30km long and always interesting. Meeting point is the half-pipe near to Lingnerallee ( next to M&M Computer Store). Its for free!

Link: Nachtskaten

Filmnächte Am Elbufer (Movie Nights)

During the nice warm summer afternoons, you can enjoy and watch movies, just next to Elbe river and next to Carolabrücke. Also there are some concerts at the same location during summer.

You usually have to get the tickets in advance. You can book online under

Filmnächte am Elbufer
Date: Usually June-August

Dixieland Festival

Dresden is host to Europes biggest Dixieland music festival. Never heard of Dixie music? Its a kind of Oldtime-Jazz. It usually takes place around May. (Dixieland.de)

Other Festivals

There are a lot of other Festivals. Most noticable are

  • Hechtfest – This district-festival is always worth a visit. Its smaller than BRN, and has a really great atmosphere. Some people say that Hechtviertel ist the new Neustadt. Whatever that means 🙂
  • Elbhangfest – A festival with a lot of music and literature.
  • Marathon. Of course there is also a Marathon.

 

(IV) Leisure Time Activities

Hygienemuseum

The Hygiene-museum is situated at tram station “Deutsches Hygiene-museum” (line 1,2,4 or 12). They have a very famous permanent exhibition related to health and the human body. In addition they have contemporary exhibitions which cover different topics. (sports, beauty,migration, ..)

You can find the current exhibition on the official website:

Deutsches Hygienemuseum (englisch)


Special!The entry is 50% discount on fridays after 3 p.m.

Technische Sammlungen

This museum is all about science! They have a great collection also of old computers, mathematical and physical phenomena, and a lot of “try it yourself” exhibits.

You can reach it by tram 4 and 10, or bus 61 at station “Pohlandplatz”.

Special!The entry is free on fridays after 3 p.m.

 

Semperoper

This building is not only famous for the beer advertisement :) They have a great variety of classical opera pieces (Zauberflöte, Schwanensee and Nutcracker are definetly to be recommended) as well as ballet.
A visit here should be obligatory for any person who lives in Dresden, the inside is just beautiful. Dont forget to wear elegant clothes.

Semperoper – Calendar
Special!Take4-Ticket gives you the possibility to see 4 plays for alltogether 20 Euro. It is also possible to get left-over tickets on the same evening of the event.

Museums

For people who are interested in all the museums which Dresden has to offer, there is a special ticket for students for one year, for all the museums. It costs 20 Euro.
You can get this “Jahreskarte” at the most cities museum (Zwinger, Alte Meister, Neue Meister,) cash desks.

Special!Free entry in museums on your Birthday ! Everyone can enter museums in Dresden for free in 2012 on the date of their birthday! Even including exhibitions in Leipzig, as well as the famous “Grüne Gewölbe”. You can check all the museums on the website.

Students Club & Bars

There are numerous students bars and clubs. You can find a lot of Germans there for conversation! Each bar has special opening times and events. They tend to be much cheaper then most bars! A list can be found here:
Students Clubs in Dresden (Studentenwerk Dresden)

I can warmly suggest you to go to Cafe Lingua (every Monday, in changing places) and to the Countdown Country Parties (every Tuesday at 8 p.m.)

Summertime! Swimming ponds

It’s hot, too hot, but you don’t want to swim in Elbe river? In Dresden, you have to travel a little bit outside to find nice lakes for swimming. Here just a quick overview.

  • Cossebaude – You can reach it with bus 94. (This bus starts at Postplatz) The entry is about 3€. (May-September)
  • Pratschwitz – This is a nice and big sea, but its far outside the city. You can reach it by bus.  The entry is free.
  • Weissig Naturbad
  • Leuben – This lake is officially closed for swimming. Nonetheless some people still go there to swim. It is next to to tram station “Abzweig nach Reick” tram 1 & 2.
A complete map can be found here: Google Maps Lakes

Students Events

STUDENTENTAGE

This is a event organized by Studentenwerk Dresden. It is a cultural and fun festival. What exactly is going on can be found on the website. Every year returning events are Nachtwanderung and Uni-AIR (a free Open Air festival).

Link: Studentenwerk Dresden – Unitage
Date: May

NACHTWANDERUNG

This event takes places as part of “Studententage”. All the student’s club open for one night, with live music and special events. To get from one place to the other, there are special free shuttle busses between the clubs. Its a crazy night, especially the bus rides!
Link: Nachtwanderung Dresden 

WEIHNACHTSMANNSACKHÜPFSTAFFELMARATHON

A very long word for a very funny event. “Santa clause sack race” is an pre-christmas event. Dress up and win!
Location: Bärenzwinger (Altstadt)
Date: Beginning of December
Entry: free
Link: Bärenzwinger Student Club

FEUERZANGENBOWLE

… is the name of both a famous movie (from 1944! ) and the name for a hot beverage, which is usually consumed around christmas. There are nice events just before christmas, where you watch the movie and make/drink Punch Bowl.
It takes places in December, in many locations.

BIERATHLON

This is a drinking event, where you have to finish 10 Beers, while walking from one students bar to the next.
Date: June
Location: Gutzkowclub (click for more information)

 

… and many more things

Here you can find a list of special advise for going out. This list is very informal!

  • Sächsische Dampfschiffahrt – The excursion steam boats on Elbe are always worth a ride. A lot of them travel to Sächsische Schweiz, so you can have a nice daytrip! With your students ID you get 50% discount.
  •  Prinzenkeller am Schloss Albrechtsberg. You can reach this restaurant with tram 11, its situated between the stations Elbschlösser and Wilhelminenstrasse. It is just besides Dresdens beautiful castles and Elbe river, and a very nice area to go for a walk. When you have visitors like your parents, its a good place to take them.
    The restaurant offers a lunch menus for 3.50€ or 4.20€.

Smaller things & Specialties

Hot Deal … the Dresden – Pass

For people with no income, there is a possibilty to get a certain discount card, it is called “Dresden Pass”. So students and unemployed post-graduates can also apply.
The advantages include:

  • 50% Discount at Volkshochschule
  • Discount for Swimming, Sauna, Ice-skating
  • Discount for Zoo-visit and most museums
  • Discount for the monthly DVB ticket

For the application you need the following things:

  • Filled out application
  • Copy of your flat contract
  • Copy of any income (Bafög, Parental Support, Scolarships)
  • Copy of your bank account balance

Dresden.de – Dresden Pass 

 Christmas All-You-Can-Eat in Mensa

In “Alte Mensa” (Mommsenstrasse) during the last days before Christmas they offer a cheap all you can eat buffet for about 4.50-5 Euro.  Detailled Information are available in December.

Sunday-Bruch in Mensa Siedepunkt

There is a Bruch in Mensa Siedepunkt between 11 to 15 o clock. It is the only Mensa which is open on sundays. For about 5 Euro you can have a open buffet.

Going to be a long term resident in Dresden? Check out this german website with many good information from different sources of the life in Dresden. It shows you possibilities of many discounts and possibilities, which I was not able to cover here.

http://www.gutscheinpony.de/magazin/dresden/foerdermoeglichkeiten-fuer-studenten

 

© 2015 Alexander Schultze (webmaster( a t )planetsofa.de)

Latest Change: 25.August 2015

With thanks to:
Studentenwerk Dresden (Frau Effner, Fachbereichsleiterin Vermietung)

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