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Photo: DanielFeil, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
The Transparent Factory previously assembled the electric version of VW's Golf car. Visitors can test drive VW electric cars for 30 minutes (except Sundays). Tours three times a day in English M-Sa, once on Sundays. Until 2016, final assembly for various luxury VW cars took place here.
The Transparent Factory was a car factory and exhibition space in Dresden, Germany owned by German carmaker Volkswagen and designed by architect Gunter Henn of the Henn GmbH firm. It originally opened in 2002, producing the Volkswagen Phaeton until 2016. As of 2017, it produced the electric version of the Golf. The ID.3 was the last car produced there, from January 2021 until the factory's closure in December 2025.
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A comprehensive museum dedicated to "science, culture and society", a truly vast scope including all aspects of the human body, sickness, health, stages of life and sexuality. Don't be put off by the old-fashioned name. The children's section and special/temporary exhibitions are also well worth checking out. Has signage in English as well as German, but the permanent exhibitions are mostly labelled in German only. The museum also engages in a lot of well-merited self-criticism for its history of eugenicism and racism before World War II and its efforts on behalf of the Nazis' mass murder campaign against disabled people, and that history is interesting, too. Allow 2-3 hours for a visit.
One of the best soccer teams of what was East Germany, they have been struggling on and off the field. They were relegated in 2020 and now play soccer in the Second Liga, but are still fervently loved by their fans who have a sort of rowdy reputation in other parts of Germany. Their home stadium (capacity 32,000) is 1 km southeast of city centre.
Dresdner Nachtskaten
Various Roller Blade routes through the city on selected Fridays from April to September, roughly 20 km. Great fun and participation is free - you can rent rollerblades for €5.
One of Germany's oldest zoos.
"Big Garden"
Recommended for relaxing and sports (rollerblades are very common). It's Dresden's "green lung" and can be reached easily by tram. You can also go on a ride on a seasonal miniature train through the park.
New Synagogue
The New Synagogue is on the site of what was the Semper Synagogue. The old one was designed by Gottfried Semper, who also designed the Semper Opera in Dresden. Erected in 1840 and destroyed by the Nazis in the pogroms of November 1938. Unlike the buildings in the Altstadt destroyed during the war, the synagogue was deliberately not rebuilt in the original style, Instead, a new, starkly modern synagogue was built in 2001, when Dresden's Jewish community (now around 700 members) had grown enough to justify a synagogue. The building is made of concrete made to look like the sandstone which is typical of the area. The worship hall has sharp angles and the complex includes a smaller building and stone courtyard. The design in striking in an austere way both on the outside and the inside. There are regular guided tours (in German), times listed here.