Why this ride
A 224 km round trip from Dresden - roughly 4 h 32 in the saddle. The stops in between: Dippoldiswalde Medieval Silver Mines, Altenberg-Zinnwald Mining Landscape, Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works and Marienberg Mining Town.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Dresden Elbe Valley and Marienberg Mining Town
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 224 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 32
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Saxon Wine Route
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 26 km this is Saxon Wine Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 26 km
- Named road
- Saxon Wine Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Dresden Elbe Valley
Dresden's Elbe valley once held a World Heritage listing and then lost it. Inscribed in 2004 for its blend of Baroque city, river meadows, palaces and vineyards, it was removed from the list in 2009 after the city built the Waldschlösschen bridge across the meadows, a decision that sparked fierce debate. The landscape itself, however, remains beautiful: the river curves through wide green meadows, with the domes and spires of the old town on one side and the villas and vineyards of the Loschwitz slopes on the other.
Read the complete Dresden Elbe Valley write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Dresden Elbe Valley is where the day begins. Next is Dippoldiswalde Medieval Silver Mines.
2. Dippoldiswalde Medieval Silver Mines
In 2008, when parts of the old town of Dippoldiswalde began to subside, engineers investigating the problem found something nobody expected: a network of medieval silver mines running beneath the streets, dating back to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The tunnels contained remarkably well preserved wooden ladders, tools and even shoes, offering an unparalleled glimpse of mining at the start of the Ore Mountains' silver boom. These finds are part of the Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region listed by UNESCO in 2019.
Read the complete Dippoldiswalde Medieval Silver Mines write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Dippoldiswalde Medieval Silver Mines comes up about 26 km into the recorded legs. Next is Altenberg-Zinnwald Mining Landscape.
3. Altenberg-Zinnwald Mining Landscape
Altenberg lives with a hole in the ground, and is proud of it. The Pinge, a huge funnel of collapsed workings beside the town, opened up in 1620 when old tin mine tunnels caved in, and later collapses widened it into the crater you can look into today. Tin was the reason for everything here: the town grew around the mines in the fifteenth century, and the Zinnwald workings a few kilometres up the ridge, right on the Czech border, kept digging into modern times. The whole district is part of the Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region, a UNESCO listing shared between Saxony and Bohemia.
Read the complete Altenberg-Zinnwald Mining Landscape write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 48 km into the recorded legs you reach Altenberg-Zinnwald Mining Landscape. Next is Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works.
4. Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works
Down in the valley of the Flöha, on the edge of Olbernhau, stands an industrial village that looks almost too neat to be real: slate-roofed workshops, a hammer mill, workers' houses and a stout gatehouse, all enclosed within a wall. This is the Saigerhütte Grünthal, a works that separated silver from copper ore by a technique called liquation, and it is one of the best preserved sites of its kind in Europe. It forms part of the Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region, listed by UNESCO in 2019 for both the German and Czech sides of the range.
Read the complete Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works, about halfway. Next is Marienberg Mining Town.
5. Marienberg Mining Town
In 1521 Duke Heinrich of Saxony founded a new town in the Ore Mountains to house miners drawn by recent silver strikes, and he had it laid out on a regular grid around a huge square market place, following Renaissance ideas of the ideal city. Marienberg is the result, and its plan is still clearly visible, with straight streets, the town church, the Zschopau gate and a stretch of town wall. The town is part of the Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region, the cross-border World Heritage Site inscribed in 2019, which recognises eight hundred years of mining in these mountains.
Read the complete Marienberg Mining Town write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Marienberg Mining Town sits at 109 km, about halfway. Next is back through Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works.
6. back through Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works comes up about 131 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Altenberg-Zinnwald Mining Landscape.
7. back through Altenberg-Zinnwald Mining Landscape
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Altenberg-Zinnwald Mining Landscape write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 175 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Altenberg-Zinnwald Mining Landscape. Next is back through Dippoldiswalde Medieval Silver Mines.
8. back through Dippoldiswalde Medieval Silver Mines
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Dippoldiswalde Medieval Silver Mines write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Dippoldiswalde Medieval Silver Mines, late in the day. Next is Dresden Elbe Valley.
9. Dresden Elbe Valley
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Dresden Elbe Valley write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 224 km.
Leg by leg
Dresden Elbe Valley to Dippoldiswalde Medieval Silver Mines
Dresden Elbe Valley → Dippoldiswalde Medieval Silver Mines is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Dippoldiswalde Medieval Silver Mines to Altenberg-Zinnwald Mining Landscape
Dippoldiswalde Medieval Silver Mines → Altenberg-Zinnwald Mining Landscape is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Altenberg-Zinnwald Mining Landscape to Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works
Altenberg-Zinnwald Mining Landscape → Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works to Marienberg Mining Town
Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works → Marienberg Mining Town is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Marienberg Mining Town to back through Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works
Marienberg Mining Town → back through Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works to back through Altenberg-Zinnwald Mining Landscape
back through Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works → back through Altenberg-Zinnwald Mining Landscape is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Altenberg-Zinnwald Mining Landscape to back through Dippoldiswalde Medieval Silver Mines
back through Altenberg-Zinnwald Mining Landscape → back through Dippoldiswalde Medieval Silver Mines is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Dippoldiswalde Medieval Silver Mines to Dresden Elbe Valley
back through Dippoldiswalde Medieval Silver Mines → Dresden Elbe Valley is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Krupka Mining Landscape and Freiberg Mining Landscape · 237 km
- Freiberg Mining Landscape and Lauenstein Administrative Centre · 281 km
- Dresden afternoon · Altenberg-Zinnwald Mining Landscape · 281 km
- Dippoldiswalde Medieval Silver Mines and Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works · 234 km from Dippoldiswalde · 234 km