The most beautiful christmas market in Saxon Switzerland
Throughout the weekends of Advent
- traditional market of minstrels and craftspeople with the presentation of ancient arts and crafts.
- fairy tale plays, historic Christmas carols live and visits of Santa Clause at the Big Christmas stage at Parade Ground
- advent spectacle at the small Christmas stage in the casemate's court
- illuminated fairy tale path with fairy tale pavillon
- „Kintopp“-Movies in the Ammunition Store: „The hundredthousandstarshotel“- landscape recordings of Saxon Switzerland
- insiders’ tip: Visit the underground Christmas world in the casemates which are illuminated by dozens of Moravian stars! Listen to romances in the grotto of fairy tales and taste natural products of regional vendors.
Special attractions for children
- tinkering gifts in the dwarfs’ workshop
- printing fortress and christmas graphic arts at the historic printing press
- watching silhouette movies of Lotte Reinigers fables and tales under starry sky
- Santa Claus’ cottage with a post-box for Christmas lists
- fairy-tale plays and puppet shows
- listen to stories in the fairy-tale grotto
- meet Santa Claus
- ride on a hand-driven childrens‘ carousel
- ride on the dwarfs train opposite the Officer's Mess
- opening of the longest Advent calender in Germany (112 metres long)
- unravelling the „constellation mystery“
- historical embossing of coins
- Christmas crib with living animals
and many more...
Admission Fees and Booking Tickets Online in advance
You can get tickets for the historic-romantic Christmas market:
- In the online ticket shop of Königstein Fortress:
Order and print your tickets from home or book them while on the go using your smartphone/tablet
NEW for Families: Family and Mini family tickets that you purchase online can be used as tickets for linked transport systems within the VVO region. Prior date selection and personalisation required. - At the Königstein Fortress box office
on the day of the event
To prevent delays at the box office, we recommend booking tickets in advance using our online shop.
The admission fees in our online shop match those of our box office. We do not charge any advance booking fees.
Ticket prices |
Information |
Day ticket |
Standard fare – for all visitors from 16 years No prior date selection required! |
Group ticket |
For groups starting from 15 Persons No prior date selection required! |
Reduced day ticket |
Free admission for children up to 6 years. |
Family ticket |
For 2 adults |
Mini family ticket |
For one adult and max. 2 children up to 16 years on the day of the event until 4 A.M. of the next day Mini family tickets purchased in our box office do not qualify as local transport tickets! |
Additional information:
- Holders of annual tickets admission directly in busy periods.
- For a free ticket, holders of Schlöserland cards must present those at the box office or check in using the Schlosserland card app.
We accept the following cards:
Getting there
Public transport
Free transport for families using the Kombiticket within the local transport VVO!
Online tickets for families and mini families are also valid for local transport services – special transport excluded – on the day of the event until 4 A.M. of the next day
To Königstein town station: train Line S1 (Meißen-Dresden-Königstein-Bad Schandau)
Walking distance (3 min) to Königstein Reißiger Platz:
either with Fortress Express directly to the entrance of the fortress or
with Bus line 241 to Thürmsdorf-Vogelstein/Festung (15 minutes walking distance to the fortress or take the Fortress Express shuttle service)
Fortress Express
9:30 A.M. to 07:30 P.M. every half hour from the city to the fortress and shuttle service from the car park at the fortress
The Fortress Express does not qualify as public transport and is run by a private operator.
Ticket prices:
Prices Königstein Reißiger Platz - Festung:
- One-way ticket 4.00 € per adult / 1.50 € per person - reduced fare
- Return journey: 5.00 € per adult / 2.00 € per person - reduced fare
- Family ticket: 12.00 € (2 adults & up to 4 children)
For holders of Online-family tickets and mini-family tickets, the shuttle service is for free.
Getting there by Car
Car park "Festung Königstein"
Ticket prices: up to 4 hours: 5.50 € | up to 5 hours: 6.50 € | Day ticket for 5 hours: 7.50 €
Alternative car park Leupoldishain
In case of many visitors, we provide a free alternative car park in the industrial area of Leupoldishain. It is signposted in all directions from approx. 1 km before the turn towards the fortress.
From there, shuttle buses (fee required) will bring you to the fortress.
Please use the signposted car parks only! Parking at the side of federal road B172 is not allowed!
You would endanger yourself and other road users.
Additional Info regarding journey and parking facilities, see here.
Dresdner Stadtrundfahrt Buses
Dresdner Stadtrundfahrt bus tours offer a day trip from Dresden to Königstein.
For more information, see here (German).
Program overview
Magdalene's Castle
12:00 a.m. / 1:30 p.m. / 3:00 p.m. / 4:30 p.m. | puppet show
12:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. | Print your individual Christmas present with a historical printing press
Garrison Church
12:00 a.m.– 4:15 p.m. | Advent music
Old Barracks
4:00 p.m. | Opening of Germany's longes Advent calendar (112 m)
Officer's Mess
4:00 p.m.– 7:00 p.m. | watching silhouette movies of Lotte Reinigers fables and tales under starry sky
Big Christmas stage at Parade Ground
pantomimes, clownery & music
at Sundays, 3:30 p.m.| Visit of Santa Claus
Small Christmas stage at casemate's court
clownery & music