buses to and from Dresden
Not a long time ago the only possibility to get to Dresden was, by the means of public transport, to go by train. In many other countries in Europe you can go around much cheaper by buses. The reason that there are hardly bus connections between big cities in Germany is a law, that, if there is already a train connection, its not allowed to have another public transportation. This rule was made to protect the train from competition.
So what happens is, because there is no competition, train prices are so high that ride sharing became very popular and is a common way of cheap travelling in Germany. But the rules are about to change, at least thats what the new federal government promised.
For some reasons in the last years more and more bus connections came up. One reason is that some of the bus companies are owned by Deutsche Bahn, the German railway company, so they wouldn’t sue against themselves.
So today you can travel to Dresden by bus from almost all directions, but its sometimes not very frequent or they go at uncomfortable times. Here is a list of bus connections to and from Dresden:
Dresden-Berlin
6 x daily, 18 € one way, 1 € per piece of luggage
timetable for Berlin <> Dresden <> Berlin as PDF
You have to make a reservation! Online here or call 030/86096211 if you go from Berlin, 0351/4921357 if you go from Dresden. Your hostel staff will help you.
Dresden-Leipzig
4 x daily, 10.80 -14.30 €,
timetable for Leipzig – Dresden – Leipzig
You can buy the ticket from the bus driver. You can also buy them online here or call 01805 999 182 [14 ct./min.]
Dresden – Prague
2 x daily, 16 €, luggage up to 20kg is free
timetable for Dresden – Prague
You have to make a reservation! Send an email to vertrieb@rvd.de or call 0351 / 492135. Your hostel staff will help you.
Dresden – Chemnitz – Hof – Bayreuth – Nuremberg – Munich
2 x daily, Dresden – Nuremberg 38 €, Dresden – Munich 57 €
timetable for Dresden <> München as PDF
You have to make a reservation! Online here or call 030/86096211 if you go to Munich, 09281/2252 if you go to Dresden. Your hostel staff will help you.
So, as you can see it is not unpossible to go around by bus, but its very difficult and restricted. For the ones who really need to save the money its maybe worth the consideration.