Best of Central and Eastern Germany: Frankfurt, Heidelberg, Saxon Dresden, Leipzig, Mainz, Wiesbaden & Erzgebirge - A 2026 First-Person Guide
Browse more guides: Germany travel | Europe destinations Best of Central and Eastern Germany: Frankfurt, Heidelberg, Saxon Dresden, Leipzig, Mainz, Wiesbaden & Erzgebirge - A 2026 First-Person Guide I wrote this draft after two long swings through central and eastern Germany during 2024 and 2025, plus a third short trip in March 2026 that I added once the Easter markets and the early spring Elbe steamer schedules were live. The route in this guide is the one I keep coming back to: Frankfurt as the air and rail anchor, Heidelberg for the romantic old-university afternoon, Mainz and Wiesbaden for the Rhine-Main pivot, then a clean ICE jump east into Saxony for Leipzig, Dresden, and the Erzgebirge hills along the Czech border. I add Bamberg, Würzburg, and Quedlinburg as Tier-2 detours because they are the three UNESCO old towns most travellers skip and most regret skipping. I am writing this as Saikiran. I am an Indian traveller, I plan budgets in rupees, I shoot photos with a sm...