Dessau's main draw is two UNESCO World Heritage Sites within easy reach of each other. The Bauhaus cluster — the Bauhaus Building, Meisterhäuser, and Kornhaus — occupies the city itself and its northern edge, while the Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz spreads across the floodplain 12 kilometres to the east. Between these two, you can spend a very full two days without running out of material.
For architecture and design enthusiasts this is a pilgrimage city. For everyone else, the Garden Kingdom alone justifies the detour — Wörlitzer Park is one of the finest English-style landscapes in Europe, and in spring or summer it is genuinely beautiful.