Aachen and Vaals
 

Hi. We now are going to travel from Delft to Aachen. We'd like to make a stop in Gouda and we have a rail pass. Does anyone know #1 if we can take a train to each place from Delft and #2 a place to stay in Aachen. I believe we can take a local bus in Aachen to Vaals? Then, our last question is can we take a train from Aachen to Monchengladbach and are there any interesting towns to see along the way?

Thank you for your help!

Heather

To get from Delft to Gouda you need to change trains in either Rotterdam or Den Haag depending on the time of train.

Does you train pass include Germany? If not you will need to buy a ticket in Heerlen.

To get from Gouda to Aken (the Dutch spelling) you need to get a train to Utrecht, then one to Heerlen, and finally one to Aken. It takes about 3 and a half hours.

I can't help with the bus information I'm afraid.
I am curious why you want to visit Vaals though.

There are 2 trains/hour between Aachen and Mönchengladbach, bound either for Dortmund or Duisburg.

I'm afraid there is not much (interesting) to see in between.

Thank you. I would like to take my 9 year old to Vaals to experience stepping in 3 countries at once. I'm not opposed to trying other areas. We leave Delft and have 2 days to get to Monchengladbach for a soocer match. Would like to take him to Gouda for the cheese (his favorite) and then after that, I'm at a loss as to what I should show him. I would appreciate any suggestions. Yes, our passs include Germany, Netherlands and Belgium.

thanks,

Thank you cowboy too for the train information!

I have taken trains from Holland to Aachen and it was like hetismij says - and from Aachen I took a train that went thru Monchengladbach, Germany en route to Cologne - and if going thru Cologne do not pass up the opportunity to get off the train and hop over to the huge Kolner Dom or Cathedral right next to the train station, on the Rhine - one of the world's biggest cathedrals - Gothic cathedrals and something to experience. the Cologne train station is also one of Europe's largest. I found Aachen to be one of the least pretty cities I've ever been in in Europe and passing thru Monchengladbach that city did not look much better - hopefully you have relatives in either or both or IMO your time could be better spent practically anywhere else! Gouda now that is a real charmer - especially if the market is on - one of the prettiest towns in Holland. ("Howda or Hooda" is how it is pronounced.

Thank you PalenQ. We have to be in Monchengladbach for a soccer match but not until late at night. I would rather spend time enjoying other towns until we have to be at the game. I'm really open to anything along the way from Gouda to Monchengladbach. I prefer charming towns to big cities if you have any suggestions. Aachen is not a necessary stop.

thanks,

Actually if you have a railpass then you could go from Gouda to Utrecht and hop mainline trains to Cologne, see the cathedral and walk along the marvellous IMO esplanade along the Rhine - bop around the really pleasant pedestrian shopping zone - perhaps get a hotel in Cologne and hop the train to near Monchengladbach for the soccer mathc and come back to Cologne as trains should run very late. check www.bahn.de - the German railway site for schedules of all trains in both countries. A good way to access IME the English language portion of the Wunderbar bahn.de schedule site is to go to www.budgeteuropetravel.com and on their home page click on the link 'Best All-European Railway Onlime Timetable" (or some such wording and this takes you to the English page where you just fill in the blanks - I reference this home page link because it also gives you several good tips on fully using the really fantastic IMO bahn.de site - tips that may not be apparent at first encounter (like in Germany which bus or train to take from any address to the train station and also which platform all you trains will be on, etc.

It is neither howda or hooda Pal. The G is similar to the ch in loch, a very gutteral sound.
The owda part is about right though.

Savannahs you will either have to walk up to the drielandenpunt, a long slog, or get a taxi - there is no public transport to it. Your son may enjoy the maze there.
Make sure you have the taxi number to phone for one to get you back down again.
There is a walking route up from Vaals on the website www.drielandenpunt.nl, but only in Dutch.

Maybe it would make more sense to stay there a night rather than in Aachen. If you decide to do that you get the train from Utrecht to Maastricht and the 50 bus from there to Vaals (and on to Aachen ;) ) You have to have OVchipkaarten for the buses in Limburg btw.

Another idea for your son is perhaps Gaiapark in Kerkrade.
http://www.gaiapark.nl/

I think that Vaals must be the high point I saw on the train from Heerlen to Aachen and there was a chairlift - yes high enough for a chair lift cableway to be operating - a ski lift if you have it - in hilly Holland!

There is a chairlift in Valkenburg, but I don't remember one in Vaals. In fact I am certain there isn't one, at least on the Dutch side of the border.

You wouldn't go near either Vaals or Valkenburg from Heerlen to Aachen though. You would cross the border at Kerkarade/Herzogenrath, and enter Aachen from the north.

It was indeed at Vlkenburg and I saw it from some train that stopped at some station down below - maybe going to Heerlen but any irrelevant to this post. thanks though for correcting me.