Zittau sits in Saxony's far southeast, close enough to Poland and the Czech Republic that the borderland feeling is part of the visit. It was once a wealthy Upper Lusatian trading town, and the old centre still has enough churches, squares, fountains, and civic buildings to make a good day on foot.
The reason Zittau stands out from other small Saxon towns is its pair of medieval Lenten cloths. The larger one, displayed in the Holy Cross Church Museum, is a rare survival of the cloths once hung before church altars during Lent. Add the St Johannis Church tower, the old salt house and market square, and the town has a compact but real cultural core.
Zittau is also the starting point for the Zittau Narrow-Gauge Railway, a steam line into the Zittau Mountains and the villages of Oybin and Jonsdorf. That makes it more than a museum town: come for the old streets in the morning, then ride into the hills in the afternoon.