Bastei bridge: a hiking trip from Dresden

Located in Saxony Switzerland, not actually close to Switzerland at all, sits a stone bridge that looks straight out of a fairytale. The hike overlooks stone pillars and a valley with a small German town on the river. Just about 30 minutes from Dresden, Germany this place is a must add half day trip to get outdoors. I have included all the details needed for a great trip to hike Bastei.

View of the empty stone Bastei bridge — Early morning meant few people to share the bridge with

Getting there:

There are a few ways to reach the bridge. If you have a car you can drive and park with a very short hike to the bridge. This is the easiest way if possible and makes this bridge fairly accessible for many. There still will be some stairs and a bit of walking but nothing strenuous to say the least.

Looking at stone pillars across the river. Bastei bridge is a the top. — The view before the ferry, hiking to the top of the stones

The next way you can reach the bridge which I did, hiking up. I would highly recommend this as it is a beautiful and shorter hike. If you choose this option from Dresden you will need to take the train line S1 toward Bad Schandau. These leave every 30 minutes from multiple Dresden stations depending on where you are closest to. The ticket will cost about 6.50 euro each way and takes 30 minutes to arrive to your stop, Kurort Rathen. It is easiest to buy tickets from the machines a the station. After arriving at Kurort Rathen stop you will get off the train and head left down the hill toward the river and ferry. The ferry leaves every 10-15 minutes and is 2 euro round trip.

Once you arrive on the other side hike into the town along the river. You will soon come to an area with benches and a yellow building in front. Here you will turn left and head uphill. After a couple hundred feet you will see a sign on your left to a paved trail heading toward Bastei bridge.

Image of sign to pointing to Bastei bridge trail — Take a left here to start the hike to Bastei bridge

The hike:

The hike took me about 20-25 minutes with a couple stops for photos. I would say the hike is easy-moderate only because there are quite a few stairs. The trail is well maintained with several look out points to take in the beautiful views.

Overlooking the river and Kurort Rathen — Views on the way up

At the top:

Once you get where you can see the bridge you will have a couple trails which take you to good lookout points. Before the bridge you will see a wooden built fence and can go in and up metal stairs to get to a lookout. Here it said 2 euro for adults to enter however there was never anyone there but may be during peak season. This area is where the fortress was which originally built which had a wood bridge where the stone bridge now stands. After stopping at this make sure you walk across the bridge and take a look at the amazing views on each side! Lastly, past the bridge take the trail to your right before the stairs and head to another great lookout point. This vantage point is where most of the photos of the bridge you see online have been taken.

When to go:

The Bastei Bridge is located in the national park and is free to visit. This does mean it will be more popular on the weekends and holidays of course. Since there is nearby parking and a hotel on top this is not an area which everyone must hike to to see which means more people have access. I would recommend early morning for photos and less people. There were maybe 20 people there when I went for sunrise and most were photographers. It was early October when I visited therefore I left Dresden just before 6am to get there around 7am.