The Bastei Bridge
A stone bridge among rock towers above the Elbe — Germany's most famous natural view.
Thomas Wolf, www.foto-tw.de — CC BY-SA 3.0 de · Bybbisch94 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Bybbisch94 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Bybbisch94 — CC BY-SA 4.0
Yes, with the right plan: from the upper Bastei car park (car or seasonal bus) the walk to the bridge is minutes, nearly level. The climb from Rathen is the hard way — 45 minutes of steps — so choose your approach to fit. The bridge itself asks nothing.
Half a day for bridge and lookouts, a full one with the fortress or a longer trail. Summer is green and busy, autumn golden and magical, even winter has its frost-charm — just avoid rain days, when the rock turns slick.
Main trails and bridge, yes — hands held at the lookouts, where railings are of the historic sort. Children adore the ferry, the vintage train and the 'stone city' rocks. Pushchairs cannot do the Rathen stairs — take the upper car-park approach.
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Half an hour from Dresden begins scenery unlike the Germany you know: sandstone towers rising from the Elbe valley forests like columns of a natural temple, with paths winding among them above the drop. This is Saxon Switzerland, the national park named in admiration by eighteenth-century painters. Its star is the stone Bastei Bridge of 1851, slung between the towers some two hundred metres above the river — among Germany's most photographed views, and standing on it is free at all hours. Around it spreads a network of lookouts and trails for every level, from a family's one-hour walk to genuine climbing. The neighbouring Königstein fortress — one of Europe's largest hilltop strongholds — completes the day, or a ride on the vintage railway and river ferry. This is Dresden's finest day trip bar none; the S1 suburban train runs from the city to Rathen, then an uphill walk to the bridge.
A stone bridge among rock towers above the Elbe — Germany's most famous natural view.
Rock balconies over the river's bend and villages — every step a photograph.
A vast hilltop stronghold never taken — the day's ideal second half.
A small river town and an old ferry — the approach is an outing itself.
Bastei area, 01847 Lohmen