Zwickau or Chemnitz?

[stuartmoss]

Which of the above is worth me spending Friday at? I'm stopping in Dresden (Weds-Sun) and have done so dozens of times before, and visited most places of note within a 3 hour train ride (inc Poland and Czech), but I've never been to either of these places - anyone in the know, which would you recommend and why?

 

[Gerald Fiennes]

Zwickau much more interesting unless you are really interested in the modern train/tram DMU scene, where Chemnitz is unique.

 

[stuartmoss]

Thanks Gerald, I may try and do both daylight permitting. What do you consider to be worth seeing in Zwickau?

 

[blackfive460]

I can't comment on Zwickau but I found Chemnitz, aka Karl-Marx-Stadt until 1990, interesting enough.
A web search will soon give you a selection of things that might be of interest but the Tram-train network should certainly be of interest and, if that's you thing, there's a 'Parkeisenbahn' that, if your visit is in March or later should be running on a Friday.
There's also a railway museum but that is only open at weekends.

One downside to visiting either Chemnitz or Zwickau now is that the trains from Dresden are no longer loco powered.

 

[sheff1]

What do you consider to be worth seeing in Zwickau?

It depends what sort of things you are looking for, but the tram train will take you right to the edge of the old town where there are many fine buildings. If cars are your thing, a visit here would be worthwhile https://web.archive.org/web/20120817184257/http://www.horch-museum.de:80/english/index_inhalt.asp

 

[Groningen]

Zittau has small gauge (see link below) and trains to the Czech Republic. To get to it you travel first through Poland. Dresden - Zittau is with the fastest train 90 minutes. Slower train takes 20 minutes extra.

http://www.soeg-zittau.de/cms/

 

[blackfive460]

Zittau has small gauge (see link below) and trains to the Czech Republic. To get to it you travel first through Poland.

Poland?
Not when I did the journey earlier this year.

You pass very briefly through the Czech Republic between Taubenheim and Neusalza-Spremberg but the nearest you'll get to Poland is at Zittau.

While Zittau is nowhere near either Zwickau or Chemnitz; in the opposite direction in fact, it is well worth a visit if narrow gauge steam is your thing.

 

[30907]

Poland?
Not when I did the journey earlier this year.

You pass very briefly through the Czech Republic between Taubenheim and Neusalza-Spremberg but the nearest you'll get to Poland is at Zittau.

To be pedantic, the line from Goerlitz has a lengthy stretch on the Polish side of the Neisse including a station which only serves (served?) Germany - but that's not on the route from Dresden.

 

[dutchflyer]

However, ZITTau is quite the other way from DD as Zwickau.
Why not do both: buy the Sachsen ticket (23 eur or so-after 9.00 mo-fr) and thats about the same as a normal return anyway from DD to those towns (but IC trains excluded-use the DD RE) and its also valid on all local urban transport in those cities. A full day just spotting seem rather overdone to me in both towns (but then I hardly ever engage in that sport).
Chemnitz used to be Karl Marxstadt and IMHO still has a ghostly communist feeling about it. Both stations are comparable in how busy and roughly same type of trains. Just read that DB wants to close its Reisecenter in Zwickau-a town of over 100.000 people-it hardly has/sells ''Fernverkehr''=long dist. tickets.