Dresden · Things to do

Five themed courtyards in Neustadt, including a blue house whose drainpipes play music when it rains. Free to walk through.

An 1892 dairy shop lined with hand-painted tiles, Guinness-listed as the most beautiful in the world. Free, Mon-Sat 10:00-18:00.

Libeskind drove a glass wedge through an old arsenal on Olbrichtplatz. The displays interrogate violence rather than glorify it.

A historic paddle-steamer fleet still runs from the Terrassenufer to Pillnitz and up into Saxon Switzerland.

Cross the river for Alaunstraße's murals, record shops and beer gardens: the deliberately anti-baroque half of Dresden.