Kempinski Hotel Taschenbergpalais
This five-star beauty was built in 1709, first to pamper August the Strong’s then-favorite mistress, and subsequently as a Wettin crown prince’s mansion. Court architect Pöppelmann designed it as part of an ensemble that includes Altstadt’s residence palace and Zwinger across the street. Gutted during 1945’s air attack, the structure reopened under the Kempinski banner a decade ago.

Pale yellow facades with white trim and sculpted ornamentation set the classical tone. Intermezzo, where meals are served on Rosenthal china, opens onto a courtyard embellished with fountains. Alongside the lobby, crystal chandeliers illuminate a grand Baroque staircase. An informal bistro occupies Taschenberg’s vaulted cellars.

The 182 guest rooms (plus 32 suites) feature red elmwood furnishings complemented by lacquered black cabinetry and door frames, royal blue carpeting and neo-Art Deco  lighting fixtures, beds covered in bright-red or dark-blue blankets and down comforters. Among bathroom niceties: polished granite vanity surfaces, Pierre Cardin toiletries and elmwood-framed mirrors.

Daily Rates: Singles from €152, doubles from €182
Contact: Kempinski Hotel Taschenbergpalais, Taschenberg 3, D-0106 Dresden, tel. +49/351/491 20 (800-426-3135 for Kempinski Worldwide Reservation Center), fax 351/4912 812, reservation@kempinski-dresden-de, www.kempinski-dresden.de
Rating: Quality 17/20, Value 15/20

Radisson SAS Gewandhaus
Another saved-from-the-rubble success, this former 18th-century garment-makers’ workshop and warehouse is now adjacent to the Rathaus and close to Pirnaischer Platz’s public-transit junction. If you arrive by car, there are spaces are out front (a rarity in the  inner Altstadt).

A glass dome overhangs the arched-windowed lobby lounge, warmed by an open fireplace. Primary décor, on light-toned walls and columns, consists of photos taken from Zeppelin airships during the 1920s and `30s showing the Gewandhaus and vicinity prior to World War II. Antique irons and sewing machines from the long-gone cloth-hall days stand on ledges in Weber’s, a chic restaurant..

Doorways to the 97 Biedemeier-furnished guestrooms (and three suites) are decorated with molded white plasterwork. Inside, extra-large beds are covered with thick duvets;  bathroom surface are marble. Top-floor rooms have a sloping roof line along the walls and window wells. Wellness amenities includes a swimming pool, solarium, and fitness center.

Daily Rates: Deluxe €115–250, business class €145–300, suites €400–750, breakfast €18       
Contact: Radisson SAS Gewandhaus Hotel, Ringstrasse 1, D-01067 Dresden, tel. +49/351/494 90, fax 351/4949 490, info.dresden@radissonsas.com, www.radissonsas.com             
Rating: Quality 16/20, Value 14/20       

Hotel Am Terrassenufer
Skeptics yelped in the early 1900s, when developers announced plans to relieve Dresden’s hotel shortage by converting a dormitory for Technische Universität students into first-class lodgings. Indeed, the 12-story prefab exterior exemplifies socialist GDR blandness. But a top-to-bottom makeover (including an inviting bright-yellow entryway) and a desirable location on an Elbe embankment make this a recommendable, reasonably priced choice. A 15- to 20-minute walk gets you to the Neumarkt.

All 189 rooms reflect socialist equality: same size, standardized appointments, and large windows. Views make a difference, however. An upper-floor room on the east-facing side rewards occupants with vistas past the Carolabrücke bridge, taking in the new Synagogue, Frauenkirche dome, Hofkirche and Kreuzkirche towers, and other Altstadt landmarks.

What had been the students’ cafeteria is now named Pavillon, a semicircular restaurant where Saxon specialties and Italian pastas dominate the menu. It opens onto a terrace for outdoor dining. Draft beers are poured in the two-level lobby bar, positioned for across-the-river views of Saxony’s gilded-topped state Finance Ministry.

Daily Rates: Singles €82–75, doubles €100–115  
Contact: Hotel Am Terrassenufer, Terrassenufer 12, D-01069 Dresden, tel. +49/351/490/9500, fax 351/490/9600,  hat@hotel-terrassenufer.de.
www.hotel-terrassenufer.de. 
Rating: Quality 11/20, Value 13/20

Hotel Martha Hospiz
On a central-Neustadt side street, a pair of four-story, circa-1899 buildings, connected  by a sunroom walled in glass and filled with wicker furniture, enclose a backyard garden. The hotel is affiliated with a Germany-wide Christian Verband association. Furnishings and polished woodwork in both the sizeable breakfast room and 50 spacious bedrooms (with deep-pile carpeting and either brown or blue color schemes) recall prim Biedermeier styling.

You’ll find a stone-walled dining and drinking nook and downstairs, Zum Kartoffelkeller, for varied Saxon potato concoctions. Prepare to pay extra for a room with private bath.

Daily Rates: Singles €72–84 (extra €54 with private bath), doubles €102–118
Contact: Hotel Martha Hospiz, Nieritzstrasse 11, D-01097 Dresden, tel. +49/351/8176 333, fax 351/8176 222,  marthahospiz.dresden@t-online.de,  www.vch.de/marthahospiz.dresden; Proprietors: Christiana and Winfrid Tilp
Rating: Quality 13/20, Value 13/20

Am Blauen Wunder
This stylishly contemporary hotel in Dresden-Blasewitz overlooks the 1893 “Blue Wonder” bridge, connecting the genteel neighborhood with Dresden-Loschwitz on the north side of the Elbe. (The beloved steel suspension span, its girders painted a light shade of blue, is one reason why metro Dresden’s 20-kilometer (12.43-mile) stretch of the river—flowing upstream by way of flood-plain Heide meadows, forested hillsides, patrician estate gardens, and Elbtal vineyards—attained designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site two years ago). 

The hotel’s sleekly curved contours stand out amidst the prewar Gründerzeitt, Wilhelminian, and Jugendstil villas lining Blasewitz’s fashionable streets. Crunchy white gravel and a silver metallic sign emblazoned with an image of the iconic bridge lead to the front doors and lobby, brightened by potted plants, ivy, and floor-to-ceiling glass. Framed art prints decorate all 44 guestrooms; closet and bathroom dimensions are generous. Culinario, the onsite restaurant, excels with Italian cuisine and wines for midday and evening meals.     

Daily Rates: Singles €78–95, doubles €95–130, junior suite €165
Contact: Hotel am Blauen Wunder, Loschwitz Strasse 48, D-01309 Dresden, tel.
+49/351/33 660, fax 351/3366 299,  reservierung@habw.de, www.habw.de
Rating: Quality 17/20, Value 16/20

Hotel Ambiente
This 20-room boutique hostelry, in business since 1993, is situated in the serene east-side Niedersedletz district, with Lockwitztalstrasse’s shops, restaurants, and a public swimming pool right around the corner. Greco, the resident parrot, greets arriving guests in scratchy German as they pass through etched-glass entry doors to reach the reception desk. Cabinetry is cherrywood; furnishings are custom-made. Bathrooms are completely up-to-date, and the morning’s gourmet-caliber buffet-breakfast will leave an impression. 
      
Daily Rates: Singles €71–91, doubles €86–118
Contact: Hotel Ambiente, Meusegaster Strasse 23, D-01259 Dresden, tel. +49/351/2078 80, fax 351/2078 836,  info@hotel-ambiente.de, www.hotel-ambiente.de. Proprietors: Gabriele Frölich and Günter Wuchsa
Rating: Quality 14/20, Value 14/20

An der Rennbahn
In Altstadt’s placid east-side Seidnitz neighborhood (midway between Grosser Garten parkland and a horse-race track), this is essentially a suburban inn with folksy, woodsy atmospherics—transformed from an 1890s Gasthof and Bürgerhaus into an amiable hotel a century later. Twenty-two guestrooms on the two upstairs floors are cozy and solidly furnished. Equestrian photos and artifacts cling to the gemütlich restaurant’s oak partitions and cream-colored walls. All-you-can-eat buffet breakfasts are ample. 

The brick-vaulted wine cellar, a leftover from the original Gasthof, doubles as an intimate Bierstube, and chestnut trees shade a 20-seat Biergarten. Real-life saddles, complete with stirrups, have been recycled into bar-stool seats. Tram lines #1 and #2 provide fast-enough access from elsewhere in town.  

Daily Rates: Singles €69–74, doubles €84–92
Contact: An der Rennbahn, Winterbergstrasse 96, D-01237 Dresden, tel. +49/351/2125 00, fax 351/2125 050,  buero@hotel-an-der-rennbahn-dresden.de,
www.hotel-an-der-rennbahn.de. Proprietor: Ursala Bolz
Rating: Quality 13/20, Value 14/20