Hotels Cologne, Germany - Hotel Booking

Information

Local time

Distance

Munich: 283 miles
Berlin: 297 miles
Frankfurt am Main: 94.8 miles
Kassel: 113 miles
Hamburg: 221 miles

Weather of Cologne

Weather averages for Cologne, Germany
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average high °C (°F)	5.2	6.6	10.5	14.2	19.0	21.3	23.7	23.7	19.6	14.6	9.0	6.2	13.9
Average low °C (°F)	0.7	0.9	1.7	3.6	7.7	10.7	12.8	12.3	9.6	6.2	2.5	0.6	5.8
Precipitation mm (inches)	60	47	63	51	72	88	86	65	69	62	63	71	797

Tourism Office of Cologne
Kardinal-Höffner-Platz 1
COLOGNE (KÖLN)
Germany

Get in Cologne

By bus: Cologne has an (inter)national bus station (ZOB) it is located at Breslauer Platz on the north side of the Hauptbahnhof. Direct daily buses to Serbia.

By plane: Cologne Bonn Airport (IATA: CGN), handles international and domestic flights and is a hub for the low cost airlines Germanwings and TUIfly. The airport is approximately 15 minutes by S-Bahn (local train) to the center of Cologne.
Düsseldorf International Airport (IATA: DUS), offers many intercontinental connections. Train ride from the airport train station to Cologne central station takes about 40 minutes.
Frankfurt Rhein Main International Airport (IATA: FRA) is the largest airport in Germany, served by all major international airlines. ICE (InterCityExpress) high speed trains connect Frankfurt Airport and Cologne central station in less than one hour. If you book your Deutsche Bahn train ticket online three days before your departure to Cologne, there are a limited number of seats at a reduced price of 30-50%. If you pay full price you do not have to take a specific train, but discounted tickets are restricted to the train on your reservation. Note: Trains via Koblenz, which use the slower, yet extremely scenic route along the Rhine Valley are also 30% cheaper. The ICE train takes about one hour, the slower more scenic route takes about two hours.

By train: Cologne is served by two major train stations - Köln Hauptbahnhof and Köln-Deutz.
Cologne is linked with Amsterdam, Brussels, and Paris by Thalys and ICE High Speed trains. Additionally, the Frankfurt airport (IATA:FRA) has direct service to Cologne and is within one hour by ICE trains.

By car: As of January 1, 2008, Cologne requires all cars to have a "Low Emissions" sticker in order to drive around in the city center (Low Emission Zone, "Umweltzone"). 
Plenty of motorways (Autobahns A1, A4, A3, A57, A555) lead to Cologne. During rush hour the streets are heavily congested, also due to massive construction of a new subway tunnel Nord-Süd Stadtbahn, crossing half the city centre.
For cheap parking, with quick connections to central cologne, use park and ride ("park und ride"). At some stations, parking is free when you present a validated transit ticket on exit.

Get around Cologne

Cologne has a very good subway/tram and bus network "KVB" (Kölner Verkehrsbetriebe); one- and three-day-passes are available. The tickets are valid for subway, tram and regional train within the VRS-network. Trips within the city limits require zone 1b tickets. For short trips of up to 4 stops on subway, tram or bus there is also the slightly cheaper "Kurzstrecke" (short trip ticket). 

Cologne's subway and tram-system, or U-Bahn, is a mixture between both systems: A subway line can go on street-level and end up as a tram or vice versa. There are vending machines or ticket-offices at larger stations The trains and busses also have vending-machines.

Regional Trains are known as "S-Bahn", "Regional-Bahn" and "Regional Express". Not all the trains have ticket vending-machines so remember to buy a ticket at the station.

Cologne has, like Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt, a Call A Bike - System. After you sign up to the system, use your credit-card to pay per minute, and you can pick up or drop off one of the silver-red bikes anywhere in the city.

But, on the whole, the center of Cologne is not that big for a city of one million. It is entirely feasible to walk from one end of the center, say, the Rudolfplatz, to the other end, say, the Dom, on foot in half an hour. On the other hand, a trip by subway/tram line 13, which encircles the larger part of the town, takes close to 3/4 of an hour.

Student Travel Tip: Student travel can be very cheap to and from Cologne, as well as the surrounding area. The German rail company (DB: Deutsche Bahn) offer a 'Schoene Ferien Ticket' during student holiday times and allows free travel throughout Northrhein Westphalia on local buses, trams, U-Bahn and some trains.

The ticket is available to anyone with valid student identification (student union card, enrolement card etc.) and personal identification (passport, driving licence etc.). Note: the ticket is only valid for student holiday dates of Northrhein Westphalia and the ticket is not valid for high speed express trains.