Janis W.
Yelp
I was traveling with my two college-aged children, and we were in Dresden on a Monday. Basically all museums are closed in Dresden on Monday, except for the historic Green Vault, so that made the decision which museum to visit easy. When we first arrived in Dresden we didn't know where to go - we easily found the opera hall and other landmarks, but we couldn't find the entrance to the Green Vault. We even asked other people on the street and no one knew! We finally stumbled on to the entrance and made our way in.
We arrived around noon that day, and there was absolutely no one in line. We purchased our tickets at the desk and our time for entry was just a 10 minute wait. There is a small gallery that you can walk around and look if you want, or just have a seat on one of the benches inside. There is an audio guide which you should absolutely take with you. When it is your time, you go two by two through a set of doors, then you stand there in front of a second set of doors until the first are completely closed, then they open the second set. It was a little like some sci-fi movie so to be honest we did have a little giggle about it. Once inside you go from opulent room to opulent room - and the rooms generally have a theme. One room was filled with ivory pieces, others with crystal, etc. There are hundreds of items in each room; it is a bit overwhelming. The audio guide helps you to hone in on some of the more important pieces, but some of the explanations tended to be pretty long winded. My favorite was one of the final rooms with all the jewels - jeweled buttons, sword hilts,all sorts of things! Made you wish you could have seen some of these people "in the day" wearing all these items.
To leave the exhibit you have to go through the airlock procedure again. This museum is a little pricey, and probably would not be interesting to younger teens or smaller. But we were glad to do it, and then were off to enjoy the rest of Dresden.