Germany Guide
Saxony
Saxon Switzerland
The area from Pirna, 18km east of Dresden, to the Czech border is commonly known as Saxon Switzerland (Sächsische Schweiz), but that was always a conceit of the Romantics. This is classic Middle Europe – 275 square kilometres of rolling fields through which the Elbe River carves a broad steep valley, much of it protected as a national park ( 
www.nationalpark-saechsische-schweiz.de ). What comes closer to the nub of some of the most distinctive scenery in Germany is the area's second title, Elbsandsteingebirge (Elbe Sandstone Mountains): table-topped outcrops cone suddenly above the fields like miniature mesas, their summits sculpted over the aeons into fantastical pinnacles.
With a maze of gorges to explore and iron ladders that ascend sheer faces, this is superb hiking country, notably on the superb long-distance Malerweg (Painters' Way; www.malerweg.de ) track if you have a week to spare. Indeed, the story goes that the area's name stuck after eighteenth-century Swiss artists Adrian Zingg and Anton Graff wrote postcards home from their walking holiday saying, "Greetings from Saxon Switzerland". Later hikers included Caspar David Friedrich, who added the picture to the postcard with works such as Rambler Above a Sea of Fog. Rock climbing is also excellent, and for cyclists the Elberadweg ( www.elberadweg.de ), mainly along the south bank, but criss-crossing the river to avoid busy roads, is a superb option for touring. At a push you could tick off the main sights on a long, rushed day-trip from Dresden – the Bastei area, then a brisk walk that skirts around the Lilienstein outcrop to Königstein, Königstein for example. However, these are landscapes to savour and which are at their best away from the premier sights; set aside a couple of days at least.
Arrival
The S1 from Dresden (and Meissen) tracks along the south bank of the river to Rathen, Königstein, Bad Schandau and Schmilka approximately every half-hour; frequent passenger (and bike) ferries from each village ply to north-bank destinations. Be aware if driving that the only traffic bridges are at Pirna, at the west end of the area, and 2km west of Bad Schandau. An appealing way to access the area is on steam-cruisers of Dresden ferry line Sächsische Dampfschiffahrt (3 daily; 5hr 30min; www.saechsische-dampfschiffahrt.de ) from Dresden to Bad Schandau via all destinations en route. From late April to October, a bus service, Sächsisch-Böhmischer Nationalpark-Express, operated by Frank Nuhn Freizeit und Tourismus (4 daily 9.50am–3.15pm; 
035021/676 14, www.frank-nuhn-freizeit-und-tourismus.de ), shuttles from the Bastei to Königstein via Hohnstein and Bad Schandau, easing the logistics of a whistle-stop day-trip.