Goslar, Lower Saxony, 38640, Germany
of people enjoy staying here
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Snoozing
In the rebuilt old town
Konrad Adenauer
Does he love the beer or the construction workers?
Hey All,
I will be flying into Cologne on Feb 19 and departing on the 26. I was wondering if anyone could tell me a good amount of time to stay in Cologne. Also what other city would you recommended in Germany? We would probably like to visit Berlin and maybe one other in between... What is the best/cheapest way to get to Berlin? The rail seems pretty expensive...
Thanks for your help,
MLW20
You'll arrive in Cologne at Rosemonday, one of the craziest days there. If the carnival is the reason for your trip, enjoy it. It's quite an experience!
If not, you might want to go to Berlin first.
If you book ahead, you can get 25% off the price in the train. If your trip includes the night from Saturday to Sunday, you can get 50% off.
German Wings is a budget airline that flies to many cities in Germany - I'd check their website for some good bargains as they might be cheaper than the train. I think 2 or 3 days in Cologne is more than enough. I was there one February, and it was very cold walking around. The train ride from Cologne to Frankfurt via Bonn is very pretty and a day or so in Frankfurt/Wiesbaden is fun. Berlin is my favorite - don't miss that city.
If you DO go to Berlin, it deserves at least 3 days for a first time visitor. Cologne has some nice museums but is otherwise less interesting (apart from during the crazy carneval but that's because of the party atmosphere). However, Cologne is close to lots of nice scenery. Go for a train ride down the Rhine Gorge which gives great views of a World Heritage area as you follow the river a lot, with its castles on hilltops. You can hop off in some little pretty small town or village. My own favourite is Bacharach - just make sure your train stops there.
But if you're heading for Berlin, you could also stop somewhere along the way there but if you go by train, there are honestly more interesting places in Germany than along that route unless you are interested in cars and want to spend a day at Autostadt in Wolfsburg, the Volkswagen town with its car exhibition. Check train times here by the way: www.bahn.de (internat. guests for English).
Thanks for the responses so far! I am trying to decide- Does it pay to go to Berlin & Hamburg from Cologne or Munich? I've gotten mixed responses so far.
Also what is the best way to Hamburg from Berlin with a return? IF we decide on Berlin I found a really cheap flight roundtrip from Cologne.
Berlin-Hamburg is done best by rail. BTW HLX http://www.hlx.com is also flying from Hamburg to Cologne.
You ARE in Cologne for the carnival, right? Just making sure you know what you are doing. This is an unofficial holiday in the Rhineland -- make sure to plan some additional time -- services might not work as frequently, there also might be disruptions and the inner city is quite simply occupied by 1 million madmen and -women. Many shops will be closed as well... if they are open, half of the staff will be on leave or simply ditch...
Look up & you'll see 2 spires. 157 m in height, Cologne Cathedral was built in 1248 but was not completed until 1880!
Frankly, I'm not one who'd fall in love with a cathedral that is black in color. I like things bright & sunny, especially with regards to a place of worship :-).
This is one of the best open market are is Cologne Wilhelmsplatz in Nippes is one of the best site for all kinds of marketplace.
Normally each weekend there is a vegetable and fruit market is going on , from that place you can buy green colored fresh fruit and vegetables, the prices are very reasonable . in the meantime you can also buy
a variety of kitchen tools such as bowls and tin openers and so many accessories, if you can go to eat snack and have a fresh fruit drink on the open area, Vegetables,
CD,
Food Items,
House holds items,
Housing accessories,
I noticed this in a couple of locations around the old city centre and doing a little research I find that these cute little land trains are run by a comapany called Wolters Bimmelbahnen.
These offer city tours from the old city centre, pretty much next to the tourist office, out to the zoo and the chocolate factory. They also connect with the Rhein Sielbahn (cable car) and an all-inclusive ticket can be purchased which also includes a ferry crossing.
During December they also offer a Christmas Market tour.
For details see website.
We had out VT meeting dinner here and when Win first said we'd be going to a Bio restaurant, I wondered what this meant. Would everything be served in test tubes and beakers? Would the waiters wear lab coats and goggles? Should I wear goggles?
For those of you on the edges of your seats I'll tell you now that Bio means Organic. (In case you couldn't figure it out from my header!) Apparently, I wasn't alone in my confusion as a few good "Bio" and/or "Organic" jokes went around the table.
All in all, I'll say that the dish I ordered was very tasty. However, the plate with 3 tablespoon sized loaves of bread for a table of 5 was a little laughable. And also, the dinners of the two folks at our table who had ordered appetizers were forgotten. We got them promptly when we reminded the waiter but still... I had a white fish (I have no idea what kind!) sauteed in butter and served with potatoes. It was really good and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Did I say the Dom already? I never had the time to look inside....anyhow, I visited Cologne many times in the past but I never stayed overnight here. Once again I visited this place recently which enable me to take fresh new pictures of this lovely place, Oops...someone just stepped in the middle :-)
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Q: English brochure for self-guided tours "Can visitors walk through the Cathedral between 11 and 2 when there are no scheduled tours? For self-guided tours: Will the..."
A: "guided tours http://koelner-dom.de/informationen.html?&L=1 opening hours http://koelner-dom.de/oeffnungszeiten.html?&L=1 There are all kind of printed materials. But..."
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