Dessau Travel Guide
A detailed destination guide for your next Germany vacation
Dessau Overview
Dessau is a town in Germany on the junction of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the Bundesland (Federal State) of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it is part of the merged town Dessau-Roßlau.
Dessau is situated on a floodplain where the Mulde flows into the Elbe. This causes yearly floods. The worst flood took place in the year 2002, when the Waldersee district was nearly completely flooded. The south of Dessau touches a well-wooded area called Mosigkauer Heide. The highest elevation is a 110m high former rubbish dump called Scherbelberg in the southwest of Dessau. Dessau is surrounded by numerous parks and palaces that ranks Dessau as one of the greenest towns in Germany.
Where to stay in Dessau?
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Things to See in Dessau
Dessau-Wörlitzer Gartenreich with Landscape Garden Groß Kühnau, Oranienbaum, Sieglitzer Berg, Leiner Berg, Wörlitzer Park and numerous Monuments like the Drehberg (recorded in the UNESCO World Heritage)
Middle Elbe Biosphere Reserve (protected by UNESCO)
Zoo at Mausoleumspark
Wallwitzburg
Rondell
Remains of the City Castle (Johannbau)
Georgium Palace and Park
St. Mary's Church
St. John's Church
Georgenkirche
St. Peter and Paul Church
Townhall, built in 1901
The Palaces of Waldersee and Dietrich, today they are used as libraries
Umweltbundesamt (formerly Wörlitzer Bahnhof)
[ source: wikipedia ]
Maps and Driving Directions to Dessau
Dessau owns a tramway system with three lines and several buses with numerous lines. The public transport is organized by a company named “DVG”, every year they transport around 6 million people.
Dessau has a main train station with connections to Magdeburg, Berlin, Leipzig, Halle, Bitterfeld and Lutherstadt Wittenberg. Dessau was connected to the railroad in 1840. The Dessau-Bitterfeld line, opened in the year 1911, was the first fully electrified railroad. Dessau was part of the InterCity long distance network until the year 2002. Regional trains also stop at the stations Dessau-Süd, Dessau-Alten, Dessau-Mosigkau and Rodleben. The Dessau-Wörlitzer-Eisenbahn (railroad) connects Dessau to Wörlitz, a town situated 15 km to the east, and the Wörlitzer Park. Starting point of this railroad is the main train station. This train also stops at the stations Dessau-Waldersee and Dessau-Adria.
Dessau - St. Peter and Paul Church
[ source: Wikipedia]
Popular Points of Interest in and near Dessau
Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz UNESCO World Heritage Site
[ source: Wikipedia ]
The Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm, also known as the English Grounds of Wörlitz, is one of the first and largest English parks in Germany and continental Europe. It was created in the late 18th century under the regency of Duke Leopold III of Anhalt-Dessau (1740-1817), returning from a Grand Tour to Italy, the Netherlands, England, France and Switzerland he had untertaken together with his friend architect Friedrich Wilhelm von Erdmannsdorff. Both strongly influenced by the ideals of The Enlightenment, they aimed to overcome the formal garden concept of the Baroque era in favour of a naturalistic landscape as they had seen at Stourhead Gardens and Ermenonville. Today the cultural landscape of Dessau-Wörlitz encompasses an area of 54.8 square miles. The UNESCO committee notes: Its diverse components - outstanding buildings, landscaped parks and gardens in the English style, and subtly modified expanses of agricultural land - serve aesthetic, educational, and economic purposes in an exemplary manner.
Related Sites
We collected some useful links related to Dessau. If you know a few more sites not listed here, or also know some insider tips or point of interests for this destination? Please share and submit your Germany travel tip. If approved it will be shown on this page!
- Homepage of Dessau: Dessau (official home page)
- Wikipedia: Dessau
More about the History of Dessau
Dessau was first mentioned in 1213. It became an important centre in 1570, when the principality of Anhalt was founded. Dessau became the capital of this state within the Holy Roman Empire. Anhalt was dissolved in 1603, but Dessau remained a prosperous town, and became the capital of the mini-state of Anhalt-Dessau. When Anhalt was reunified in 1863 as the duchy of Anhalt-Dessau, Dessau became the capital again and remained so until 1918.
Dessau is famous for its college of architecture Bauhaus. It moved here in 1925 after it had been forced to close in Weimar (Weimar vacation rentals | Weimar travel guide). Many famous artists were lecturers in Dessau in the following years, among them Walter Gropius, Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky. The Nazis forced the closure of the Bauhaus in 1931, and it was not reopened until 1986.
[ source: wikipedia ]
What makes this Live Like a German Dessau Travel Guide special...
This Dessau travel guide provides you with an overview of Dessau, Dessau pictures, and a local travel guide that suggests many special trips, unique activities, and vacation ideas, that you can't find in a typical Germany travel guide.
Some of this information is compiled from popular and well-known sources (e.g., such as Wikipedia, Wikitravel, and great pictures from Flickr). However, what makes this Germany travel guide special is that most of the travel suggestions and insider tips are provided by local residents, property owners, and our readers, who share and submit their travel tips with us. All submissions are then editorially reviewed to ensure high quality. All this information is logically organized within this destination guide to make it easy for you to find things quickly.
In addition, the Dessau destination guide features restaurant recommendations, restaurant reviews, where to go for grocery shopping, sports activities, getting around, cultural events and highlights, entertainment, and health related information - so you are informed for your travel to Germany, and you can learn about all the cool things you can do during your Germany vacation!
