The shipyard at Dresden will be open to the public for tours on Saturday 15th April. The trips will start from Dresden at either 9.30am or 2pm aboard one of the paddle steamer fleet which will take people on the 10km trip southwards to Laubergast. There will then be a guided tour of the shipyard where the world’s oldest and largest paddle steamer fleet is still maintained, repaired and rebuilt.

The cost is 31 euros for adults and 21 euros for children.

You can book tickets online: Shipyard Tour – Sächsische Dampfschifffahrt (saechsische-dampfschifffahrt.de)

There are nine paddle steamers running from Dresden operating a variety of trip options appealing to different market segments. These include one and a half hour river trips from Dresden; three hour round trips between Dresden and Schloss Pillnitz; day trips from Dresden southwards into what is called Saxon Switzerland, a very scenic area with rocks and crags; day trips southwards through the wine growing countryside to Seusslitz; and a service connecting Bad Schandau in the south with Pirna and Schloss Pillnitz passing through Saxon Switzerland along the way. There are also evening cruises sometimes with a jazz band.

Ryanair has started to run some direct flights to Dresden from the UK. Otherwise KLM and Lufthansa offer through tickets with a change of plane at say Amsterdam, Frankfurt or Munich along the way.

For all who love paddle steamers it is a wonderland with so many trip opportunities to enjoy and up to nine paddle steamers to explore. And on Saturday 15th April you have the opportunity to go behind the scenes to see all the work which goes into keeping paddle steamers in service.