This fall we will be traveling from Brugge to Munich. We will stop and stay the night in either Frankfurt or Cologne? Anyone have any suggestions between Frankfurt and Cologne?
Is one trip a more pleasant train ride (views?)?
Would Cologne or Frankfurt be more pleasant for an evening of sightseeing?
I would propably go with Cologne, Frankfurt is more of a financial hub than a tourist hub. Both cities where bombed extensively during WW2, so there is not much of the old buildings left. The Cologne Cathedral did however survive the war and is very impressive and Frankfurt has not got anything to top that i think.
The train ride along the middle Rhine valley is very scenic, especially between Koblenz and Bingen, but it is not the direct route between Cologne and Frankfurt, so you have to take a local train.
"Is one trip a more pleasant train ride (views?)?" They would likely take the same exact route. Even if you stopped for the night in Köln, you would probably pass through Frankfurt on the way to Munich. Unless you take the slower train through the Mittelrhein, the scenery along the way isn't all that interesting (I'm not sure about Frankfurt to Munich, though). The ICE corridor between Köln and Frankfurt is one of the fastest in the German rail network, however.
Either or works for an evening of site-seeing, but I find that Frankfurt is overall a little cleaner and nicer.
There is a lot to see in and around Frankfurt, and fabulous half timbered towns (Fachwerk) including a couple with walls around the town and castles (Idstein, Buedingen, Braunfels among others).
Fairly unique food, too.
I might think of Frankfurt as a but more midway, but it is probably a draw. It would be a good place to stop if you visit the castles on the Rhine on the way.
All depends on what YOU want to see, really.
My preference would be to spend the night in Cologne. There is a train leaving Brugge around 9 am that gets you to Cologne just after 1 pm after a single train change in Brussels. That will give you the afternoon and evening to see Cologne, one of my favorites.
Next morning take the 8:18 EC train direct to Munich. This train goes up along the Rhine River through the famous gorge and castles, by passing Frankfurt. Between Mannheim and Stuttgart is nice rural German scenery, then Ulm to get a glimpse of the cathedral tower, then Augsburg and finally Munich at 2:11 pm.
This route takes about an 1 1/2 hours longer than the high-speed line to Frankfurt, but that goes mostly on the median strip of the Autobahn between Bonn and Frankfurt, and the most scenic part is watching the digital speedometer in the coach approaching 300 km/hr. You'll be passing Mercedes Benz's like they're standing still.
Definitely route yourselves along the Cologne-Koblenz-Mainz-Frankfurt route if you want some stunning scenery.
And if you're doing that already, the best place for an afternoon/evening stroll and a stopover is Mainz, IMO, also on the Rhine just a short distance west of Frankfurt. (If you want to see the Cologne Cathedral, schedule a 1-2 hour stopover in Cologne on the way there; use luggage storage facility at main station.)
Mainz, old town 1
Mainz, old town 2
Mainz' Romanesque Dom in heart of the old town
Map showing some of Mainz' large pedestrians-only zone (pink streets.)
I've gotten completely confused in all my research. Where do I book an EC train?
I'm also having trouble figuring out how to add in a stopover in Cologne to see the cathedral. Maybe I am using the wrong site.
Now I'm thinking we could go from Brugge, stop to see the cathedral in Cologne, then stay the night in Mainz but I'm struggling to sort out what to book where to make that happen. This is our first time in Germany and for train travel and all the options are REALLY confusing.
Buy tickets and look at the trains at:
http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en?country=USA
You can book all trains to/from Germany from anywhere in Europe, including RB, RE, IRE, EC, IC, ICE, CNL. You can print the tickets at home.
If you want to stop in Cologne, just click on "enter stopover" and enter it in the box and the minimum time you want to stop. I'd say 3 hours to see the cathedral and time to store and retrieve luggage. Be sure it shows "Koeln Hbf" as the cathedral is right next door. You can also click on the left hand buttons to view to actual itinerary where train changes occur and the amount of time and also all the intermediate stops along the way.
Okay... so we've (tentatively) decided on the 7:48 EC train from Frankfurt to Munich (because, to my understanding, the scenery through Darmstadt, Ulm, etc. is better than on the ICE train route). However, there is the following notification: "EC 113: Frankfurt(Main)Hbf - München Hbf: Construction work. Train is running 25 minutes early. With the changes in departure time a reservation is temporarily unavailable. Please check your itinerary again shortly before departure." Does this mean the train may not run? I mean, it says that a reservation is temporarily unavailable but you can buy the tickets so I'm confused!
THANKS!
** We're also open to staying in a small town along that route instead of Frankfurt but I had trouble figuring out which one/if it was worth the hassle.
I thought you were staying in Mainz?
"I'm thinking we could go from Brugge, stop to see the cathedral in Cologne, then stay the night in Mainz... but I had trouble..."
It works for me when I use Mainz Hbf as a stopover. Of course, you don't say what the travel date is. You said you want to travel via Ulm, right? I tried this data:
Departure date: Thursday July 9.
Start: Brugge (9:08)
Destinaton: München Hbf
Then input your stopovers...
Via #1: Cologne (2 hrs. stopover time)
Via #2: Mainz Hbf (14 hours stopover time)
Result:
1.) Trip from Brugge (9:08) with a change in Bruxelles-Midi, arrive Cologne 13:15 for stopover
2.) Leave Cologne 15:53, ; arrive in Mainz at 17:38 - travel via the scenic Rhine Valley via Bonn and Koblenz
3.) Leave Mainz on July 10 (7:46) with a change in Mannheim; arrive Munich 11:27 (ICE 591, stops in Stuttgart, Ulm and Augsburg on the way.)
Saver fare is available for this route.
Don't worry about the reservation. It's not required for this trip. You can buy this ticket without one and buy it later if you really want to reserve a seat.
Thank you! I hate to be ignorant but I really don't understand what these "notifications" mean. To me "cancelled" mean the train won't run.
EC 115: Mannheim Hbf - Stuttgart Hbf: Construction work. The train is cancelled between Mannheim Hbf and Stuttgart Hbf. Please check your itinerary again shortly before departure.
EC 115: Köln Hbf - Ulm Hbf: Construction work. Train is running 20 minutes early. Please check your itinerary again shortly before departure.
