Twenty-five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, differences in the quality of life between the eastern and western parts of Germany have mostly vanished. Although East Berlin was the first former East German city to undergo revitalization following the reunification of Germany, two other large cities close to Berlin in the state of Saxony — Leipzig and Dresden — are now quickly catching up, attracting young high-tech entrepreneurs, savvy real estate developers, Michelin-rated chefs and world-famous designers, all of whom are turning the cities into innovative and vibrant cultural and business destinations, great choices for side trips from Berlin or Prague.

In Leipzig, the well-known architect Zaha Hadid designed a stunning BMW factory, and the Bio City district evolved into a biotechnology and biomedicine center with more than 60 companies and 36 research institutions. In Dresden, the capital of the state of Saxony, the new 5G Lab Germany recently opened, a partnership of the city’s top university, Technische Universität, and the private firm Vodafone.

Saxony may attract the newest and most advanced high-tech businesses, but visitors will also have no trouble finding the historic, classic Saxon brands like the bespoke watch firm A. Lange & Sӧhne, founded in the small town of Glashütte in 1845, and Meissen Couture, a company which has been manufacturing expensive porcelain since 1708 in the city of Meissen and which may own the world’s oldest corporate logo. The firm offers interesting tours of its workshop and museum. Schloss Proschwitz, a winery outside the village of Zadel, is Saxony’s oldest private wine estate, producing high-quality Riesling and Pinot Gris for more than 800 years. The on-site restaurant, located in the Manor, offers a remarkable place to enjoy lunch and sample the local beverage.

As many of Leipzig and Dresden’s inner-city neighborhoods blossomed with new restaurants, hotels, boutiques and art galleries, the two cities emerged as must-see destinations, so much so that Leipzig is now called “the new Berlin,” and Dresden’s Altmarkt-Galerie development received a nomination for the 2013 Global Award for Excellence by the Washington, D.C.-based Urban Land Institute.

Bach statue in front of Thomaskirche in Leipzig © Claudiodivizia | Dreamstime.com

When I visited Leipzig to attend the city’s annual Bach Festival (the composer worked in Leipzig from 1723 to 1750), I spent hours listening to Bach’s music at several concert venues. I spent equal time walking the city’s cobblestone streets, stopping at some of its famous 15th- and 16th-century buildings, including Thomaskirche (St. Thomas Church), where Bach worked as a cantor, and Auerbachs Keller (Auerbach’s Cellar), dating from 1438 and becoming the most popular bar in Leipzig by the 16th century. (This 538-year-old business is only the second-oldest restaurant in the city.) When the German writer Goethe studied in Leipzig in the 1760s, he often visited this basement tavern for food and wine, and included descriptions of its noisy cellar in his play Faust.

After World War II, Leipzig became part of Soviet-controlled East Germany, a sullen, gray city filled with depressing Russian-style, prefab concrete apartment blocks and putrid air pollution from area factories. The city attracted contingents of East European business travelers attending trade fairs, but few Americans visited.

Beginning in the 1980s, small groups of Leipzigers, young and old, started holding silent demonstrations protesting the East German government. These were the first mass demonstrations against Communist rule anywhere in East Germany, and along with similar demonstrations throughout East Europe, this “Peaceful Revolution” led to the eventual fall of the Iron Curtain.

In the early 2000s, Porsche and BMW opened large plants near Leipzig, attracting skilled workers and high-tech ancillary businesses and spurring other developments including the city’s first Michelin-starred restaurant, Stadtpfeiffer, located in the modern Gewandhaus concert hall. More recently, the old brick buildings in the former industrial suburb known as Plagwitz were renovated into loft apartments, art galleries and design offices. Residential houseboats moor along the canals, and restaurants flourish, including the vegan kebab shop Vleischerei and meins Bar and Café, a busy place with traditional German food and always excellent beer.

The Spinnerei, a large former 19th-century cotton mill near Plagwitz, now houses 120 artists’ studios, a café, an art cinema and several unique studio lofts called Meisterzimmer that offer simple but well-designed, inexpensive overnight lodging to visitors. For more traditional, luxurious accommodations, the 176-room, 5-star Steigenberger Grandhotel Handelshof, opened in 2011, lies within walking distance of all center city attractions.

Young Germans, attracted to Leipzig’s exciting arts and cultural scene, are moving to the city in large numbers. Admission applications to the University of Leipzig doubled in the last few years, and new music clubs emerged within the city’s many historic spaces. A 100-year-old theater, UT Connewitz, Leipzig’s oldest surviving movie theater, was converted into a huge film and dance space with international bands and weekend crowds from Berlin and Prague.

Dresden © Seqoya | Dreamstime.com

Dresden is only a one-hour train ride from Leipzig (slightly longer by car). Both cities have similar populations (about 550,000) and impressive downtown revitalization projects, and both emerged from the bombed-out ruins of World War II and 45 years under Communist control to transform into exciting and eclectic destinations.

The Dresden State Art Collection comprises 12 museums, many housed in a restored palace along the Elbe River, with others in different parts of the city and the state of Saxony. Many of the collections, from paintings and coins to porcelain and clocks, date to the 17th century. These priceless art works were evacuated prior to World War II bombing raids which terribly damaged most of the buildings in the city, including those which housed the works.

Following the war, many of Dresden’s most important buildings were reconstructed to look just as they did before. The Zwinger palace (now part of the museum complex), the Semper Opera House, Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady), the Hauptbahnhof (central rail station) and the shops and commercial buildings along Prager Strasse were all rebuilt after 1945. The unusual German Hygiene Museum played a large, albeit controversial, role in Germany’s former Nazi and East German governments, and its renovated and expanded presence in Dresden attracts many visitors to its permanent and temporary exhibitions on health and the human body.

Modern architecture in Dresden came later, beginning in 2002 with the opening of the city’s Altmarkt-Galerie and Volkswagen’s “Transparent Factory.” Altmarkt-Galerie, a popular mixed-use area for both Dresdeners and visitors, completely revitalized the city’s central core, featuring 200 retail shops, several good restaurants and office space close to museums, hotels and the central station. One of the city’s best hotel properties, the 5-star, 214-room Hotel Taschenbergpalais Kempinski, is just a six-minute walk from Altmarkt-Galerie. Another excellent deluxe hotel, the Bulow Palais, across the Elbe in the Neustadt district, offers 58 guestrooms and the Michelin-starred Caroussel restaurant.

Volkswagen’s modern manufacturing plant was designed by architect Gunter Henn in a large center city garden. In this “Transparent Factory,” visitors can watch the production line of its Phaeton model as the cars move along a huge, glass-walled assembly line. The building’s floors are covered in Canadian maple, and sustainable construction materials are used throughout the complex, symbolizing Germany’s dedication to ecofriendly, industrial-chic style for its new buildings.

For visitors driving to Dresden or Leipzig from Berlin (two hours to either) or Prague (two hours to Dresden; about three to Leipzig), Saxony offers a castle-filled countryside with dozens of lovely river towns, including Torgau, located on the Elbe with a 16th-century town center; Meissen, on both banks of the Elbe and the site of Albrechtsburg Castle and the Meissen porcelain factory; Bautzen, a village with medieval city walls and churches on a hill above the river Spree; and Grossenhain, founded in the 1200s on a beautiful river called Grosse Röder.

Dresden Opera House © Sean Pavone | Dreamstime.com

Saxony Info to Go

The best way to reach Leipzig and Dresden from Berlin or Prague is by driving on the high-speed autobahn system, or via Deutsche Bahn’s Intercity-Express (ICE) trains. The multilevel Leipzig Hauptbahnhof, constructed in 1915 and restored several times, remains one of the world’s largest rail stations, with 24 long-distance platforms and dozens of shops and restaurants. Frequent ICE trains connect Leipzig with Berlin (one hour, 12 minutes) and Prague (three hours, 31 minutes).

Dresden Hauptbahnhof, constructed in 1898, features 18 platforms. Due to serious damage during World War II and flooding in 2002, the station was beautifully reconstructed in 2006, winning the worldwide 2007 IStructE Award for Heritage Buildings. ICE trains connect Dresden with Berlin (two hours, six minutes) and Prague (two hours,15 minutes).