Saxon Switzerland: an alpine wonder not far from Berlin

Saxon Switzerland, the Saxon Alps, or more properly Sächsische Schweiz, is a bit confusing at first glance.

Saxon Switzerland is not in Switzerland, it’s not near Switzerland, and there are no Alps.

Luckily for Berliners, it’s much closer to home, just a little east of Dresden and a couple of hours from the Hauptstadt by train or car.

And in contrast to Berlin’s pan flat, urban visage, Saxon Switzerland is a wonderland of rolling hills, rocky outcrops and picture-book villages covering a large area up to the Czech border.

If you are a lover of the outdoors, or if like us you live in Berlin and you just want to see a single fucking hill once in a while, Saxon Switzerland is ideal. Looking for other pretty placesin Germany? We loved Hannoversch Munden from a trip a little while back

As with many smaller places in Germany, information for the international traveller is pretty sparse, so here’s a basic guide to the area and some things we enjoyed on our trip.

The Elbweg and Bastei Brücke

Saxon Switzerland covers a broad swathe both east and south of around Pirna right up to the Czech border. There is an official national park in the east, and then a patchwork of nature reserves.

The most accessible and busiest part of Saxon Switzerland follows the Elb river. The train from Dresden runs right through the Elb Valley and stops at many or the small towns on the way. The train ride itself is very picturesque.

Any of the towns make for a good stop. Pirna is the largest and closest to Dresden, and it has a charming medieval square.

We spent most time in Königstein with it’s tabletop fortress towering above the village on a flat hilltop. Even in late July, Königstein was not particularly busy.

From the town, you can hike to the hulking fortress on the hill in under an hour, and there are some nice coffee shops and a particularly good tapas bar right in the main square.

If you’re feeling very active, a cycle path tracks the river all the way, and we saw many cycle tourists enjoying the summer weather. You can also raft and canoe on the river.

Perhaps most famous of all is the Bastei Bridge above the town of Rathen. Built in the 1800s, the bridge is an impressive vaulted stone structure crossing a high gorge.

From Kurort Rathen you take a ferry (3 Euro return) a few metres across the river and can then hike up the well-signed path to the bridge itself.

The bridge is quite touristy and crowded, but the views at the stopping points on the way up are nothing short of breathtaking.

If you follow the blue path, you’ll also descend through the enigmatically named Swedish Holes through narrow rock ravines.

It’s also well worth stopping at the fish smokehouse on the Amselsee just before you get back into Rathen. The fresh smoked trout (seemingly plucked right out of the lake in front) is delicious and reasonably priced.

The hike up to Bastei is not too challenging, but if you want to make it really easy, there’s a car park up there too.

We packed food but there is also a restaurant at the top and plenty of places in town to get food and drinks.

Bastei gets busy – even at 9am when we arrived, the ferry queue was building up. Best to go early!

Away from the river: Pfaffenstein, Gohrisch and beyond

You’ll need a car, but for real tranquility head away from the river and lose yourself in the pine forests and hills of Saxon Switzerland.

We stayed in the village of Cunnersdorf near Gohrisch and it was an ideal base, just 15mins drive from Königstein but tucked away among hiking trails and stony peaks. The villages are truly Alpine and you can certainly see the Swiss resemblance!

Hikes leading to towering rock formations are ten a penny round here, but we enjoyed getting up out of Cunnersdorf to Signalstein and Katzenfels. You can get to the imposing outcrop of Pfaffenstein too from this area. The trails were pretty well marked and also well suited for trail running and of course mountain biking. The really steep rocks have metal ladders and bridges which were vertigo-inducing but fun. Here’s the ladder up to the Katzenfels.

You can also get a good sense for just quite how untouched this area is – endless forest and hills with the merest hint of civilization here and there.

It’s also very quiet – I went for an evening run in the forest and saw only hares, birds and trees in an hour and a half. Peace, quiet and natural beauty are definitely the order of the day here.

Staying in Saxon Switzerland

Saxon Switzerland accommodation leans heavily to Ferienwohnungen – holiday rentals. Using a site like FeWo Direkt is probably the best bet for finding a place and each village a good portion of houses seem to be holiday rentals.

We struck lucky with accommodation and found Steffi’s Hof where we stayed in a lovely apartment in a beautiful, peaceful converted three-sided yard.

Accommodation prices vary a lot and seemed to book up early, but our 2 bedroom apartment for 4 adults and a toddler was around €100 per night which was very reasonable.

The owners were very friendly, helpful and always available. They also offered wonderful food as one of them is a chef, so we treated ourselves to a lovely meal on our last evening. We’d really recommend this place – they only have a couple of rental apartments but if they’re available, you’ll have a nice stay!

Expect to have to cater yourselves to some extent. There are of course restaurants but opening hours are a little patchy. We brought food with us and there are supermarkets in the bigger towns – the Edeka in Königstein was particularly good.

If you’re feeling really outdoorsy, there are many campsites dotted around too.

Getting to Saxon Switzerland

From Berlin, Saxon Switzerland is easily reachable by train or car.

It’s easiest to get a train to Dresden – around 2 hours from Berlin Hbf – and then take the S-Bahn. Königstein for example is around 40 minutes from Dresden.

With 4 adults and a toddler in tow, we chose to rent a car from Berlin and it took about 3 hours to drive down to Cunnersdorf. The roads get a bit narrow but very scenic as you get further into Saxon Switzerland, but it’s perfectly manageable.

We visited in summer with hot days and cool nights, but really it seems like Saxon Switzerland is beautiful year round in blazing sunshine or under a few inches of snow.

People had told us Saxon Switzerland was nice, but we really had no idea how nice until we visited. It may not be the most internationally known location in Germany, but it must be among the most beautiful.

So if you want a breath of fresh air, picturesque villages and untouched natural beauty, Saxon Switzerland should be high on your list!