Hello:
I need to be in Cologne on the evening of June 12, and will fly into either Amsterdam or Paris, arriving in the morning on Thursday June 7 or Friday June 8.
I don't particularly want to spend time in Amsterdam or Paris, but would rather travel slowly to Cologne -- through countryside and interesting smaller towns. Bus, train, boat -- I will just have a small backpack, so very mobile.
I'm having difficulties figuring out the transit -- everything I find on the web seems to be either (a) get a car, or (b) ride a high-speed train from city X to city Y.
How do I research/plan this? And suggestions for interesting routes would be gratefully received.
Cheers!
"Slow" public transport from Paris or Amsterdam to Cologne?
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The German railways site gives all train connections including slow milk-run trains, but you have to give it the right instructions.
After entering your dates, destination, etc., be sure to click on "only local transport" under "means of transport" at this page:
http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en
When the itineraries pop up, click the white-on-red horizontal arrow at the left of each itinerary, and the changes of train will appear.
Then you can also find every stop for every train mentioned too. Where the changes are listed, move your cursor over to the "Products" column and click on the train numbers - you'll get a pop-up with every station that train passes through.
The above will help you find towns on the most direct routes. If you want to zig and zag, you'll need to enter "stopover" points (near the top, under "destination.)
Utrecht, Maastricht and Aachen spring to mind as possible stopovers between Amsterdam and Cologne.
I think I would prefer the route from Paris.. Reims, Metz and or Luxembourg, Trier, down the Mosel valley with a dozen "quaint" small towns to choose from on the river.
Metz, in France, has a handsome cathedral and a new branch of the Pompidou museum. It is a pleasant place for Franco/Belgium/German food and drink. Too bad the train station and museum are a couple of kilometres from the historic centre.
Maastricht, full of history plus a famous euro accord, and Aachan, centre of the Holy Roman Empire with some Charlemagne relics to see, are both worth a stopover. It depends on how you manage your rail connections.
Strasbourg to me is one of the most underrated cities in Europe and smack on a slower way to Germany - from there do a day trip to nearby Colmer, a gem of a wine town in the Alsace wine district - then do as Cowboy suggests head for Luxembourg via local trains and via Trier go down the Mosel by train to Cochem - a picture postcard town of your dreams - magnificent castle popping out of vineyards right in the town center - lots of neat cozy guesthouses to stay in - do a day trip to Burg Eltz from Cochem - Eltz Castle is one of the most famous in Germany - once gracing the 500 mark banknote (I believe was 500) - signifying its importance. The train or boat ride down the Mosel is magnificent - deep gorge partly covered with vineyards and dotted by those "quaiant' small wine towns - the Mosel wine area being one of the most unique and raved about in northern Europe - from Cochem it's a few hours at most to Cologne.
For lots of great info on European trains I always highlight these fantastic sites - www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.seat61.com and www.ricksteves.com. You pretty much have to take a bullet train out of Paris to say Luxembourg, Metz, Belgium or Strasburg as regional trains simply do not run those routes - at least direct and score deep discounted tickets at www.voyages-sncf.com - from the German or Belgina borders you can work your way over by regional and local trains all the way to Cologne.