Dresden Steam Festival & More

DAY 1

Travelling by Eurostar from London St Pancras to Brussels, then onwards to Gotha and our base for one night, the Hotel am Tierpark, where we check in and enjoy our first evening meal together.

DAY 2

After breakfast this morning, we will make our way to the Arnstadt for a fascinating guided tour of the Loco Shed before continuing onwards to Dresden. Here we will use our included transport day ticket to explore the beautiful city of Dresden including a ride on the unusual, suspended monorail, one of the oldest suspension railways and a marvellous example of engineering and construction, plus the superb single-track funicular railway. This evening, we check-in for our six-night stay at the InterCity Hotel where we enjoy our evening meal together.

DAY 3

Today, we travel by rail to Zittau for a day of exploring the beautiful mountain range on a narrow-gauge, steam-powered railway. We enjoy a guided tour of the Bertsdorf locomotive shed, take lunch at the Hotel Oybiner Hof, and journey through charming landscapes to Jonsdorf and Oybin offering many scenic and historic attractions including the unique spectacle of a simultaneous departure of two steam trains at Bertsdorf.

DAY 4

This morning, a short local train ride takes us to Freital-Hainsberg where we join the steam hauled service over the Weisseritztalbahn for a nostalgic ride on the oldest narrow-gauge railway in public operation along a narrow gorge, through woodland, and past lakes to Kipsdorf. Afterwards, we enjoy a visit to the Dresden Transport Museum for an exciting journey back in time with walk-in carriages and locomotives to explore allowing us to soak in the atmosphere of past times.

DAY 5

Today, we experience an exhilarating main-line steam-hauled journey from Dresden main station (details and route will be announced nearer the time). An entrance ticket to Dresden Steam Festival is also included where we enjoy fascinating displays, informative presentations, model trains, historic and modern locomotives, and much more plus many railway societies will have stands here to explore.

DAY 6

We experience another breathtaking main-line steam journey today before travelling by rail along the banks of the Elbe to Bad Schandau. From here, we take a ferry across the river to ride the bucolic Kirnitzschtalbahn tramway running along country lanes and through the valley of the Kirnitzch River to the beautiful Lichtenhainer Wasserfall before returning to Dresden in time for our evening meal together.

Day 7

After breakfast this morning, we travel to Cranzahl for an exhilarating return ride behind steam on the Fichtelbergbahn, a steeply graded route climbing into the mountains and crossing the mighty 110m long, 23 m high Hüttenbach viaduct to the highest town in Germany, Oberwiesenthal, situated at 3,000ft. Here, we enjoy a guided tour of the locomotive shed before returning to Dresden for our final evening.

DAY 8

We bid farewell to Dresden and to Germany, returning by rail to Brussels, where we will join the Eurostar service to London St Pancras.

*We reserve the right to travel by heritage diesel train should the steam locomotive not be available / timetabled at the time of our visit.

B=Breakfast, L=Lunch, D=Dinner