Dresden and Prague

Dresden I knocked off in 2 days, Prague I did in 3 days.

Berlin, Munich, Cesky Krumlov and Krakow might be worth considering, athough Berlin and Munich could each occupy you for 3/4 days.

If you are into artistic things and nature, Dresden is a must see!

A cruise down the Elbe, the ornate Sans Sousi palace, the famous Opera House that premiered many works of Richard Strauss and some fine architecture and also some non so fine stuff from the Soviet era.

And Berlin is not too far away.

If your trip is not about "knocking off" places but about seeing and experiencing them, you could spend weeks in and around Dresden. The city has heaps to offer and day trip options to the landscapes of Saxon Switzerland, Elbe valley and Ore Mountains plus plenty of historical cities and towns, castles and palaces in the area are almost endless.

Sanssouci Palace is, by the way, located in Potsdam.

Both ok cities IMHO...plenty to see and do,and nice architecture etc.

Neither would be a highlight of Western/Central Europe though.....for me.

for 14 days I recomend also Vienna as a MUST SEE. It is not so far from there, but is better not to go for a day excursion, instead: 3-4 days in Vienna. :)

Fwoggie's right if you spend 2 days in Dresden, but use the city as a base as Blandine suggests and a week will pass quickly. Day trips to Meissen, Saxon Switzerland,perhaps Leipzig and other smaller cities in Saxony (Bautzen and Görlitz highly recommended).

If you were prepared to have three 4-5 day stays (instead of two seven night stays) you could consider going the long way round between Dresden and Prague. Two obvious options exist -

1. From Dresden via Zittau, cross the Czech border (regular trains including a couple direct from Dresden) to Liberec and visit the Cesky Raj area perhaps staying somewhere like Jicin or Hradec Kralove. Regular buses and trains from HK to Prague, about every 2 hours and taking around 1 1/2 - 2 hours. If you don't choose this, the HK is worth a day trip from Prague anyway.

2 Have a night or two in Karlovy Vary (the late 19th century architecture is the best example you'll find). Either train to Usti nad Labem and then train on to Karlovy Vary, or bus to Teplice (about 2 or 3 direct per day from Dresden, and Teplice is nicer than Usti) then pick up the same train line - Teplice is between Usti and Karlovy Vary. From KV to Prague there are frequent express buses taking around 2 1/2 hours.

For day trips from Prague, suggest you use the search box as it is a FAQ

Both cities offer what you're looking for. As blandine and mike9 say, Dresden is a perfect base for day trips. You could do about 1-2 day trips to small towns mentioned above and 1-2 day trips to Saxon Switzerland for hiking/nature/castles. The old town of Dresden can be seen within one day of course(like every old town), but if you want to discover more and enjoy some museums and some culture there is enough to do for several days. If the weather is nice you can just rent a bike and cruise ride along the Elbe river, have a beer in a beer garden(f.i. ride to the Elbe valley castles and castle Pillnitz and back) or enjoy the first sparkling white vine (Federweißer) of the season at a vineyard (f.i. in Altkötzschenbroda).
Just one link to some museums in Dresden:
http://www.skd.museum/en/homepage/index.html
Have a look at the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum (German museum for human biology, they often have good special exhibitions): http://www.dhmd.de/index.php?id=211

Prague: If you like medieval towns, then Prague is one just of the best destinations to choose.

The big plus is the easy transport between both cities: 2:18 hours by train every 2 hours and some bus lines. Mike9's loop Dresen-Liberec-HradecKralove-Prague might be really nice as well.

Of coarse it is the highly ornate Zwinger Palace that is in Dresden, not the the Sans Sousi as i had claimed, please do pardon me.

And IMO i do think there is a lot more to see in Dresden, than in Prague if you look harder, one intance is the Sempler Gallery that you can the Old Masters collection that is housed in one of the wings very adjacent to the Zwinger Palace.

It houses an important collection that include works by Rembrant, Raphael, Vemeer, Van Eyck, Titian, Holbein the Younger, Rubens and others.

And i would like to say that indeed Vienna can be done in a day trip from Prague, but from Dresden it would be something of a very long day indeed.

What do you think instead of Dresden and Prague I do Budapest and Prague? People suggested to leave Dresden for a good tour around Germany.