|
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
|
Homepage Contents Tourist Services-Traffic > Journey to Cologne
|
Journey to CologneIn the 100km around Cologne, businesses can reach more than 17 million customers and have made the region one of Germany’s most important logistical locations. Ten million passengers use Cologne-Bonn airport annually and Germany’s second biggest freight airport has a goods turnaround of 700,000 tonnes. Two further international airports (Düsseldorf and Frankfurt) are also within easy access, via the Inter City Express, in just under one hour. More than 250,000 passengers and 1,200 departures/arrivals daily make Cologne’s central train station one of Europe’s most important transport hubs. Thanks to its infrastructure and its central location, the city of Cologne can be reached fast and without any problems - whether by land, water or from the air. The airport Cologne/Bonn is an international hub for German as well as international air traffic. The city can be reached with ICE trains on several railway stations, main station, Deutz and the airport station. Over motorways Cologne can be reached fast and easily by bus as well as with your own car, although you always have to reckon to get stuck in a traffic jam. Even by ship travelling to Cologne is possible. On a trip on the romantic Rhine even the journey here becomes an unforgettable experience. |
|
 |
Airplane The Cologne Bonn Airport is the largest low-cost hub in Continental Europe. Over 10 million passengers take off from here to about 130 destinations. In terms of total air traffic, i.e. passenger and freight taken together, Cologne Bonn is the fourth largest airport in Germany. Included in the biggest ever building project in the history of the Cologne/Bonn airport is a new terminal with subterranean intercity (ICE) and suburban (S-Bahn) railway stations, two multi-storey car parks and a re-designed arrival and departure system.
Centre of low-cost airlines While DBA (founded by British Airways, now part of Air Berlin) touched down at Cologne/Bonn Airport (CGN) since the nineties on a regular schedule, in late autumn 2002 two new »No-frills carriers« have been established in Cologne - Germanwings (with Deutsche Lufthansa holding a controlling interest) and Hapag-Lloyd Express as a venture of the German tourist group TUI (renamed to TUIfly in March 2007).Charter airlines have opened their reservation systems for flight-only passengers, too. So Cologne/Bonn Airport can be considered as the German centre of low-cost airlines increasing considerably its passenger volume within the next years. At the same time, Cologne is going to become a premiere low-cost destination for city tourism in Europe.
|
Low Cost Airlines
|
|
|
Railway Following three years of renovation, Cologne's main railway station has been sparkling with a new gleam since spring 2000; it is now brighter, more spacious, and more modern. Where for decades, in the »heart« of the railway station, lines of baggage rolled and parcelled goods were stored, there is now a shopping mall which invites passengers to stay a while with its diverse range of cafés and restaurants. With its historic steel and glass construction, Cologne's main railway station is far and away the most important rail junction in Europe. Each day, more than 1,300 trains link Cologne with the rest of Germany and abroad, including 14 high-speed links with the »Thalys« via Brussels to Paris, London and Amsterdam. Four times a day, the luxury train »Metropolitan« travels to Hamburg. Almost 150 other ICE, IC and EC trains stop in Cologne. Direct services to Cologne Main Railway Station by InterCity (IC), EuroCity (EC), InterCityExpress (ICE) Eurostar/Thalys, Metropolitan DB Nighttrain, DB Cartrain:
Rail transport of goods is also to be found in Cologne. The largest inland railway container and transhipment station is »Bahnhof Eifeltor«. Here, well over 300 wagons are loaded daily. In Gremberg also, an average of 5000 goods wagons are shunted per day. In total, 6 million tonnes of freight pass through Cologne by rail annually. |
Sales Guide: 
|
|
Car Today Cologne, the city of millions, also has one of the top traffic infrastructures in Europe. 10 main branches of the European motorway network meet in Cologne. Although the closed motorway ring circulating the city is exemplary, traffic jams are commonplace, not only during the rush hour or at the beginning of the main holidays. The A3, for example, the eastern section of the Cologne circular motorway experiences the highest ever traffic density in Germany.
Distances in km Parking in Cologne
Cologne's environmental green zone
|
Traffic
Lifts
|
 
|
Ships & ferries
Part of a classic visit to Cologne - at least, on a first visit, but also later every now and then - is a boat trip on the Rhine. The best selection is provided by the »White Fleet« of the traditional shipping company, Köln-Düsseldorfer Deutsche Rheinschiffahrt (KD). It offers round trips, evening excursions with music or, from Easter until well into autumn, longer excursions to the Drachenfels, the Loreley or as far as Rüdesheim. Rhine trips along Cologne's enchanting Old Town panorama or to the old fishing village of Rodenkirchen in the South are also offered by smaller shipping companies in Cologne like the Kölntourist Personenschiffahrt am Dom. The landing stages are upstream and downstream of the Hohenzollern Bridge. ...more about Rhine Tours
Although crossing by ferry, as an alternative to the Rhine bridges, is no cruise, it is always an experience. Decisive here is naturally whether you are on foot or have come by car. Below is a description of the individual ferries and their use. |
Ferries
|
Means of Transportation:
A traffic guide system has been set up as a pilot scheme which displays information about the current traffic situation in the city on the motorways surrounding Cologne and on the link roads. Parallel to this, a parking guide system simplifies travel in the inner city of Cologne for motorway drivers. Around 30 multistorey car parks are linked to the system. The position and space-situation of car parks are displayed on large, partly electronically controlled road-report signs.
Since the beginning of 2008 parking fees can be paid via mobile phones. One call is enough and only the time you actually parked is counted.
One of the first environmental green zones was coming into force as of January 1, 2008 in Cologne. As of now, you are able to order the environmental badge online from your home country. The traffic signs that mark the entrance to an environmental zone belong to the general traffic indicators in effect for everyone and also apply to foreign vehicles.
Generally, at the same locations as all registered vehicles in Germany a tag can be acquired; at the vehicle registration office, the engineers' associations, such as the Technical Inspection Authority or Dekra and at all workshops in Germany licensed to do an EI (Emissions-Inspection). It is of course easier to order the tag online, for example at the city of Cologne directly.