Both to bolster their local economies and as a means of combatting overtourism, an increasing number of global destinations are charging tourists taxes or fees just for visiting. You’ll frequently find them tacked onto your hotel bill, but sometimes they’re collected immediately upon arrival.
Dresden – the city that saved my Christmas
21.12.2023 - 11:54 / theguardian.com
When I was eight, Christmas was ballistically exciting and worth dragging my parents out of bed at 4am for. Over my 32 years since, a combination of atheism, credit card bills and John Lewis-branded Venus flytrap monsters has made me more cynical than excitable about the holiday.
But I feel my humbug attitude slowly dissolve as I walk between the Christmas markets of Dresden, passing a man in an enormous polar bear costume by the grand baroque Frauenkirche building. Finnish Lapland may officially be Santa’s home, but Dresden, in the state of Saxony, southeast Germany, is for many Europe’s capital of Christmas, thanks to its huge network of outdoor Christmas markets.
Soundtracked by the ambient sizzle of fine Thuringian sausages, the markets eschew plastic tat in favour of handcrafted wooden toys. To demand Coca-Cola here instead of a steaming hot local brew would be blasphemous. Rather than mine pies, slices of Dresdner Christstollen, dotted with raisins and almonds, are washed down with mulled wine.
I’ve come to Dresden (population 585,000) in an attempt to restore my depleted Christmas spirit – just one of millions visiting its Christmas markets each year. Then, during the Christmas comedown that will inevitably follow, I plan to explore Dresden’s more underground creative side.
I take the 9.01am Eurostar from St Pancras to Brussels Midi, then trains across Germany to Dresden via Frankfurt: 12 hours in total. A new route to Dresden launching soon will make this trip less of a slog. The European Sleeper, which started running between Brussels and Berlin last May, extends to Prague and Dresden from 25 March 2024, travelling between Brussels Midi and Dresden Hauptbahnhof three times a week each way. A mid-afternoon Eurostar from London to Brussels will connect with the European Sleeper at 7.22pm, with passengers waking in central Dresden at 8.29am.
Aware that I’ll graze on tooth-troubling treats later, and hungry from spending the previous day on trains, I have an early lunch at Brennnessel, a vegetarian restaurant near Hotel Indigo Dresden, where I’m staying. My white carrot soup is mildly spiced and delicious, and I can see why the cosy restaurant is half-full already, just after 11am opening.
From Brennnessel, it’s a 15-minute walk to Striezelmarkt: the jewel of Dresden’s Christmas markets. It’s on Altmarkt (Old Market Square), which was rebuilt after the 1945 bombing by US and British forces that destroyed much of Dresden, and dates from 1434. Back then it was a one-day event for Dresden residents to buy meat for their Christmas feasting, but local tastes seem to have sweetened in the six centuries since. Today, many of the stalls are selling chocolate lollies and icing-dusted Dresdner
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