51.84° N · 12.33° E
Less than two hours from Berlin: the Bauhaus building and the masters' houses in Dessau, and Wörlitz Park, with gondolas and a palace, a World Heritage Site.
What to do
Each plan says how long it takes, who it's for and whether you can book.
Visit · 1 h 30 · €14 · Gropius's glass building of 1926, with workshops, canteen and studios; daily guided tour at 11:00
Visit · 1 h · €10 · The houses where Gropius, Moholy-Nagy, Feininger, Kandinsky and Klee lived, in a pine wood a few metres from the building
Walk · 2–3 h · Free · The English garden of the Gartenreich: lakes, canals, bridges, temples and Stein island, a World Heritage Site
Itineraries
Days and weekends already planned out, with how to get between each stop and who to book with.
Plan the trip
Each choice narrows the next: the season shapes how best to travel, and how you travel decides where you stay and where you eat.
When to go
From May to September, with gondolas every day in Wörlitz and all the palaces open; April and October, with gondolas from 11:00 to 15:00. In winter the Bauhaus and the park are open, but not the gondolas or most of the palaces.
How you travel
Choose how you're travelling and we'll tell you where to stay, how to get around, where to eat and which services you'll need. We only show the ways of travelling that make sense here.
It is done by public transport: direct RE7 from Berlin to Dessau, around an hour and three quarters, and bus 304 to Wörlitz every hour. The Bauhaus is within walking distance of the station.
About 130 km on the A9, around an hour and three quarters to Dessau, and 15 km more to Wörlitz. With a car you can combine the Bauhaus and the park in one day, and reach the Gartenreich's other palaces, such as the Luisium or Oranienbaum.
You fly to Berlin: BER airport has direct flights from Madrid, Barcelona and other Spanish cities. From Berlin, the RE7 reaches Dessau without changes; from the airport, you go first to the centre or look for a connection with the RE7. By hire car, about 150 km via the A10 and the A9.
Who you're with
A trip with a toddler is not the same as one with a teenager. Pick yours to see what works and what to bear in mind.
With children, Wörlitz is the strong point: a flat park with lakes, bridges, an island with a fake volcano and gondolas. The Bauhaus appeals more from around age ten.
Where to stay
We show you what suits the way you travel.Change how you travel
Why we like it: Sleep in one of the 28 student studios of the 1926 Bauhaus building, one reconstructed as it was; from €55 a night.
Why we like it: Four-star hotel on Wörlitz square, next to the park, with a restaurant, massage room and World Heritage packages.
Services for this trip
Where to eat
From set lunch menus to Michelin stars. We mark the price level and what to order at each place.
What to order: a dish of the day or a coffee after the visit, in the Bauhaus basement
What to order: the weekend midday menu on the square terrace
Map
The places to stay and services on the map are the ones for the way you travel. Turn on the layers you want and tap a point to see its details.
Nearby
The closest places, whichever country they are in.
51.34° N · 12.37° E
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52.41° N · 12.56° E
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52.38° N · 12.94° E
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52.40° N · 13.07° E
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Tips
€29 for the four Bauhaus buildings for three days.
They show rooms that you do not see on your own; the one in the building is at 11:00.
The Bauhaus is open, but the Wörlitz palaces are closed.
Dessau and Wörlitz are two faces of the same Elbe district, south-west of Berlin, already in Saxony-Anhalt, and both are World Heritage Sites. In Dessau is the Bauhaus: the design school that Walter Gropius moved here in 1925, whose glass building of 1926 is the symbol of modern architecture. About 15 km away, Wörlitz is the heart of the Gartenreich, the garden kingdom that Prince Francis of Anhalt-Dessau created at the end of the eighteenth century: an English park with lakes, canals, bridges, temples and palaces, explored on foot and by gondola.
For a traveller from Spain it is a different kind of day trip from Berlin: twentieth-century design in the morning and an Enlightenment garden in the afternoon.
The Bauhaus in Dessau. The Bauhaus building, with its glass workshops and the original canteen; a few minutes away, the Masters' Houses, where Gropius, Kandinsky, Klee and Feininger lived; and in the centre, the Bauhaus Museum, with more than a thousand pieces from the school. A €29 ticket covers everything for three days.
Wörlitz Park. The park, free and always open, is explored along paths between lakes and bridges; the gondola, 45 minutes on the lake and canals for €12, is not to be missed. Inside the park are Wörlitz Palace, the first neoclassical palace in Germany, and the Gothic House.
By train, the RE7 regional links Berlin with Dessau in about an hour and three quarters, with no changes; check for engineering works, which in 2026 affect the line until 12 December. From Dessau station, the Bauhaus building is about a 10-minute walk. Bus 304, the WelterbeLinie, goes to Wörlitz every hour from the bus station at Dessau Hauptbahnhof.
By car, about 130 km along the A9, around an hour and three quarters to Dessau; Wörlitz is another 15 km. With a car the day is easier.
A day covers the Bauhaus building and the Masters' Houses in the morning and Wörlitz in the afternoon, with the gondola. With a night, add the Bauhaus Museum and another Gartenreich palace, such as the Luisium or Oranienbaum. And there is a special night: sleeping in a student room in the Bauhaus building itself.
In Dessau, the Bauhaus café-bistro, in the basement of the building, is open Monday to Saturday from 8:00 to 22:00 and on Sunday until 17:00. In Wörlitz, the Wörlitzer Hof restaurant, on the square beside the park, serves all day at weekends. To sleep, the Bauhaus Atelierhaus, from €55, or the four-star Wörlitzer Hof.
From May to September, with gondolas from 10:00 to 17:00 every day and the palaces open Tuesday to Sunday. In April and October the gondolas run from 11:00 to 15:00. From November to February the Bauhaus is open Tuesday to Sunday and the park remains open, but without gondolas.
Questions
On the RE7 regional, about an hour and three quarters with no changes; or by car along the A9.
On bus 304, every hour from Dessau Hauptbahnhof, or by car, 15 km.
€14 for the building, €10 for the Masters' Houses, €10 for the museum, or €29 for everything for three days.
No: the park is free; you pay for the gondola and the palaces.
Yes, in the Atelierhaus, from €55 a night; it is closed from 7 December 2026 to 21 February 2027.
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/germany/saxony-anhalt/dessau-worlitz
