Berghotel Bastei hosts seminars, conferences, banquets and weddings for up to 120 guests in five rooms, and puts up participants in 64 bedrooms. The four-star hotel and its Panoramarestaurant stand on the Bastei rock plateau in Saxon Switzerland National Park, high above the Elbe valley, in the municipality of Lohmen, about 30 km from Dresden.
Seminars and company events
The meeting rooms are full of daylight and look out over the Elbe or the Wehlgrund gorge, and the hotel describes its technical equipment as up to modern standards. The Panoramabalkon is the plenary room, with 120 seats in rows, and the Freischützstube suits a workshop in a U-shape for 45. Smaller groups use the two salons in the hotel building for board meetings of 8 to 18. The hotel publishes meeting specials, and its own kitchen covers breaks, lunches and dinners. After the sessions, the setting does much of the work: hiking routes start at the door, and the hotel has a sauna area and a beer garden.
Weddings and receptions
Civil ceremonies take place in the Basteiklause, seated for 35, once the date has been agreed with the Lohmen registry office. Receptions follow in the Basteiklause (40 at a banquet), the Freischützstube (35 to 45) or the Panoramabalkon (70 to 120). The hotel offers a sparkling wine reception with canapés or petits fours, coffee and cake from its own bakery, a wedding cake by its confectioner, and multi-course menus or buffets. It also arranges flowers from the in-house florist, a photographer, hair and makeup, a carriage or limousine and music. Guests retire to their rooms at the end of the night.
Rooms and capacities
The Panoramabalkon covers 170 square meters: 120 in rows, 80 at a banquet or in parliament style, 70 in an E-shape. It is air-conditioned and can be separated from the Panoramarestaurant. The Freischützstube (80 square meters, air-conditioned) holds 80 in rows, 45 in a U-shape, 40 at a banquet or in parliament style and 35 in an L-shape. The Basteiklause, on the ground floor of the Panoramarestaurant, takes 40 at a banquet or 24 at a single table. Salon Rathen (28 square meters) seats 18 at one table, with floor-to-ceiling windows and terrace access, and Salon Wehlen (17 square meters) seats 8 in a quiet corner of the hotel.
Accommodation
The hotel has 64 air-conditioned rooms, from singles and doubles to doubles with a view of the rocks, a junior suite and a suite. A sauna area with a steam bath and a relaxation room is open to guests.
Catering
The kitchen serves set menus from 10 people and buffets from 20, including a grill buffet. The wine list covers Saxon, European and international wines. Other outlets on site include the Bastei Lounge, a pastry shop and the Panorama beer garden.
History and setting
Guests were first served on the Bastei in 1812, in bark huts. A stone guesthouse designed by the Dresden court architect Thormeyer followed in 1826, and the stone Bastei Bridge was built in 1851. The Panoramarestaurant was rebuilt between 1975 and 1979, the current hotel building was completed in 1991, and the hotel received its four-star rating in 2002. A new viewing platform opened in 2023.
Getting there
Dresden is about 30 km away by road, and the hotel sits within the national park, so most groups arrive by coach or car. The village of Kurort Rathen, on the S-Bahn line from Dresden along the Elbe, lies at the foot of the rocks, with footpaths up to the plateau.
