I was looking at the guidebooks - the Germany Guidebook 14th edition was published January 2023. The Best of Germany, 4th edition was published in January 2024.
I am headed to Cologne/Dusseldorf in late May 2024. I will be based there, and taking only limited day trips (husband is there for work during the daytime hours), so I won't be headed too far away from that area.
Which guidebook do you all recommend?
Posted by
Chicago
7869 posts
I'd skip the guidebook and go to the Tourist Information Center when you get to Cologne where the info will come from locals and will be most current
https://www.cologne-tourism.com/arts-culture/sights/detail/tourist-information-cologne
Posted by
Berlin
2260 posts
Cologne or Düsseldorf? Seems close on a map but they are very different - no joke. Different slang, different region, different food, different beer, different habits, different mindset, one capital, one a million-people city.
Example beer: never ask for a Kölsch in Düsseldorf or an Alt in Cologne. And this is only one example.
NRW tourism website is good for inspirations. Endless recommendations to make in these two regions.
And for Nigel: Try the Schwebebahn in Wuppertal.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
I should have been more clear -- Staying in Cologne, but husband has work in Dusseldorf. I get they are different cities, and trust, we know about the Kolsch in Cologne!
My basic question was which guidebook to get -- but it sounds like both Jazz+Travels and MarkK are recommending online local guides instead of the Guidebook, correct?
Posted by
Berlin
2260 posts
I just do not know a good guidebook for this purpose.
Worked partly in Bonn for some years, so I know the Cologne corner as well. Still connected there.
Posted by
Paradise
6651 posts
Earl Steinbicker is my favorite travel author for great daytrip instructions. This book was written not specifically for day trips from Cologne, but for day trips from Frankfurt and multiple other possible base locations within the Rhineland. So YOU will want to focus on those places listed below which are more or less possible from a Cologne base.
Daytrips in Germany's Rhineland: 25 one day adventures from Frankfurt and other bases...
I have used two of his other books previously which included some of the following destinations, which are listed as chapters at the Amazon site for this Rhineland book and would be possible from Cologne:
Düsseldorf
Mainz
Frankfurt
Rhine cruise
Rüdesheim/Bingen
Trier (2.5 hrs. away by train)
Limburg
Wiesbaden
These additional destinations may or may not be in Steinbicker's book but are certainly worth visiting from Cologne:
Aachen
Bonn
Monschau
Münster
I will just point out that the TI Office webpages are valuable for determining whether or how to visit these places.
Rick really isn't set up to offer the more complete kind of guidance that you'll need with Cologne as your geographic anchor.