Let's drink to Dresden: The Hedonist

What to see and where to be seen

Call the shots: Art'Otel's bar

We start by maximising the happy-hour bellinis at the classy Karl May Bar, inside the Hotel Taschenbergpalais Kempinski (00 49 351 4912 720; kempinski.com). Then we take the short stumble back through the Aldstadt for an intense – and much-needed – all-you-can-eat session at Sushi und Wein (00 49 351 30707510; Sushi-und-wein.de) at Maxstrasse 1, a venue conveniently across from our sleeping place: the Art'Otel Dresden (00 49 351 49220; artotels.com/dresden). Finally, we fetch up at our suite to enjoy panoramic views of Dresden's storied skyline (and to order digestifs from the Factory bar below).

Dreaming away the morning, we cross into nearby Neustadt for a serious dose of German hipsterdom. To make the most of the sunny biergarten weather, we park ourselves at the riverfront Augustus Garden (00 49 351 8020774; augustusgarten.de) at Jagerstrasse 19, where we slurp Paulaners and conceive our game plan. Heading through the leafy Neustadt Markt and into the heart of Neustadt (the jeans on offer getting decidedly skinnier along the way) we make a beeline for Devil's Kitchen (00 49 174 7387373; devils-kitchen.eu) at Alaunstrasse 39, to chomp on towering burgers and curly fries in the kitschy, diner-themed joint.

It's all go along the Alaunstrasse, and the shady Louisengarten (00 49 160 796 5137; biergarten-dresden.de) on Louisenstrasse is already filling up – as are we on half-litres of golden Radeberger pilsner. We then stretch our legs with a stroll through the whimsically mosaicked Kunsthofpassage, poking into craft shops and picking up boho accessories at Mrs Hippie (00 49 351 8013258; mrshippie-dresden.de) at Gorlitzer Strasse 25. Then it's time for coffee at the Thalia Cinema Café (00 49 351 6524703; thalia-dresden.de) at Gorlitzer Strasse 6, where we debate testing our linguistic abilities with an artsy film before sensibly deciding on a taste of homegrown indie punk at al fresco Scheune (Alaunstrasse 38; 00 49 351 323 55 6 40; scheune.org).

For dinner, we head to the casual but packed Curry & Co (00 49 351 2093154; curryundco .com) on Louisenstrasse 62 for piping-hot, drippy currywurst and a cone of perfectly greasy fries. From there, we make for retro-cool Raskolnikoff (00 49 351 8045706; raskolnikoff.de) at Bohmische Strasse 34 for a few drinks before popping next door to Sidedoor (00 49 179 6856440; sidedoor-dresden.de), where we take up a prime position at the bar.

Around midnight, we gulp in a dose of fresh air on our way to Madness (00 49 351 4483835; madness-dresden.de) at Louisenstrasse 20 for a few hazy, red-hued drinks. Then, all too soon, we're grabbing a godsend doner kebab from Ararat at Alaunstrasse 37 and winding our way back to Art'Otel, feeling wistful about all the other busy, cool little Neustadt hang-outs that there wasn't time to explore.

A Hedonist's Guide to ... (Hg2) is a luxury city guide series for the more decadent traveller. For more information, see hg2.com