Cologne is linked to the rest of Germany by fast Autobahn (A) routes. The A1 leads north to Hamburg, forking east to become the A2 to Berlin; the A3 leads southeast to Frankfurt; the A4 leads west to Belgium via Aachen; the A61 (off the A4) leads due south towards Switzerland. Driving from the UK to Cologne is about 400km (250 miles) via Calais.

Note that as from 1 January 2008, the city authorities have designated Cologne a Low Emission Zone (LEZ) to enhance air quality. As a result only motor vehicles equipped with a red, yellow or green ‘Low Emission Labels' may access the city centre and parts of the boroughs of Deutz and Mülheim (Business travellers might like to note that the visitors parking Kölnmesse and the LANXESS arena lies outside the environmental zone, so no sticker is needed.) For more details and information on where to obtain stickers visit www.koeln.de/tourismus. Or simply use the city's Park-and-Ride system.

Eurolines (tel: 0871 781 8181, in the UK; website: www.eurolines.com) runs coach services to Cologne, including a direct service from London (journey time - 11 hours 30 minutes to 13 hours). The main German automobile association is ADAC (website: www.adac.de).

Emergency breakdown service: ADAC (tel: 8922 2222).