Kempinski Hotel Taschenbergpalais

Hotel description

If you know your local history then you’ll know why a reconstruction of an 18th-century Baroque palace is just as big a point of local pride as an authentic, unreconstructed 18th-century Baroque palace. Either way, today the Taschenbergpalais is Dresden’s top luxury hotel, with the Kempinski flag flying over its 200-odd rooms and suites.

It’s the perfect location for something like this, in the heart of Dresden’s historic city center, surrounded by sights including the opera house and the Zwinger palace. And while the exterior’s reconstruction was painstaking in its historical correctness, the interiors, by the Swedish firm Living Design, are actually somewhat contemporary. Additionally the rooms benefit from some of the advantages of modern building: they lack for none of the modern comforts, including underfloor heating in the marble bathrooms, a healthy complement of high-tech gadgetry and plenty of space to stretch out.

Completing the package are a couple of fine restaurants, a completely modern spa and wellness center, and all the meeting space you could possibly need. It’s perhaps an exaggeration to say it’ll have you feeling like 19th-century aristocracy, but not much of one — there’s definitely something to be said for occupying a room at a city’s most prestigious address.