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Cologne Cathedral

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Cologne Local time

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Germany

Travel to Cologne

Flying to Cologne

Airlines offering flights to Cologne from the UK include Lufthansa, easyJet, Germanwings and TUIfly.

Travel by road

Summary:

Germany is covered by an excellent and extensive system of roads and toll-free Autobahnen (motorways). In Cologne, traffic drives on the right and the minimum age for driving is 18 years. Generally, there are no speed limits on Autobahnen but individually marked speed limits appear on a large percentage of motorway miles. A maximum of 130kph (81mph) is recommended. Speed limits of 130kph (81mph) or 100kph (62mph) apply outside built-up areas and 50kph (30mph) in towns. Foreign drivers require proof of insurance and their national driving licence - a Green Card is strongly recommended. A country identification sticker must be displayed on the vehicle.

The main German automobile association is the Allgemeine Deutsche Automobil Club - ADAC (tel: 01805 101 112; www.adac.de).

Emergency breakdown service:

ADAC (tel: 8922 2222).

Routes:

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.

Cologne is a Low Emission Zone (LEZ). 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.

Coaches:

Eurolines (tel: 0871 781 8181; www.eurolines.com) runs coach services to Cologne, including a direct service from London (journey time - 11 hours 30 minutes to 13 hours).

Travel by rail

Services:

Trains from all over Europe run to Cologne, terminating at the main central station Hauptbahnhof (Hbf). Its satellite, Bahnhof Deutz, on the opposite side of the river Rhine, is located next to the Messe (trade fair grounds). Both are connected to the city's U-Bahn (underground railway) and S-Bahn (overground light railway) network. In fact, some of the U-Bahn network also runs overground.

Operators:

There is no direct rail link between the UK and Cologne. However high-speed Eurostar (tel: 08432 186 186; www.eurostar.com) trains link London St Pancras with Brussels Midi/Zuid in around three hours. From Brussels, high-speed Thalys and German ICE (Inter City Express) trains run to Cologne. The total journey time can be as short as 5 hours 45 minutes.

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