My sister and I will be in Cologne during Christmas market season. We will be there for 4 nights before moving on to Brussels. I would love to take us on a day trip or two not more than 2 hours away from the city. Does anyone have any suggestions? We both love history (I am a WW2 Jewish historian). I think she would love a river cruise down the Rhine to look at the scenery and then a train ride back to Cologne - is this possible at this time of year? Both of us are active and love to explore cities and small towns. Travel will be on trains – no driving with a bum knee. Look forward to any responses – Thank you!
Posted by
2081 posts
Marilyn,
If you care to, look up "the bridge at Remagan".
i took a short train ride from Koln to there. THeres a small museum built into one of the bridges towers. Also in between is Beethoven's birth place in Bonn.
happy trails.
Posted by
Greeley, co, usa
2588 posts
Boats were not running on the Rhine when we were there in Dec. 2011.
Posted by
San Francisco
14980 posts
Hi,
In light of your historical interests you can logistically take day trips to Bonn (as pointed out above, I do recommend that) and to Düsseldorf. Both Düsseldorf and Köln have the Dokumentation Center. Also, you might well find Heine's House/Museum interesting (native son) in Düsseldorf, Germany's great lyric poet.
Posted by
Green Bay
21163 posts
You can, however travel along the Rhine using what is called a "Quer durch Landes" ticket. Travel after 9 am week days and all day weekends for 1 to 5 people on a single ticket. You do have to use regional trains, but you can get off, tour about, and get back on the next train. 44 euro for the first person and 8 euro for each additional person. Info here
The weekends are even better deal called "Schoenes Wochenende" (Happy Weekend) ticket. This one is a flat 44 euro for one to five people and good all day. Info here
For closer to home trips, the are "laender" tickets. Cologne is in the German land (state) of Nord Rhein-Westfalen. These tickets cost 28.50 euro for one person and 41 euro for 2 to 5 people. This will cover day trips on regional trains after 9 am week days and all day weekends. This would cover a day trip to Aachen and a day trip to the previously mentioned Remagen, which works even though Remagen is in a different Land (Rheinland-Pfalz). The Laender tickets also include all the subways and buses during the day. Info here
Posted by
L'Occitanie, France
10633 posts
Day trip from Cologne: Aachen to see Charlemagne's chapel. Magnificent.
Posted by
London, United Kingdom
4684 posts
Another option is Bruehl, a town halfway between Cologne and Bonn which has two famous baroque palaces and the birthplace museum of the Surrealist artist Max Ernst.
Posted by
OP
Monterey Bay
18 posts
Thank you everyone for your quick replies! We are so looking forward to this long overdue trip and your tips are helping me so much!!
- Marilyn
Posted by
Kansas City
272 posts
We enjoyed a day trip by train to Aachen from Cologne.
As I recall, it was a pretty easy walk from the train station to the Charlemagne sites.