Planning a trip to Germany from UK-help!

jnielow

Dear Everyone,

I am hopefully looking at planning a trip to see friends in Germany Leverkusen.The trip is hopefully in May 2011,I have not started planning massively but have taken a brief look at things.I just wondered if there is any frequent flyers to Germany on here that can suggest our best option ie fly/who with? train etc. Our options for airports are Cologne/Dusseldorf.

Any help would be welcomed!

Thanks

Jason

Pelican_eats_pigeon

Train to Köln via the Brussels Eurostar is surprisingly easy and much more comfortable than flying.

http://www.seat61.com/Germany.htm is a good resource.


I would avoid flying Ryanair as what they call "Düsseldorf" is actually Weeze, which is a very long way from where you want to be.

If you really want to fly, kayak.com has a nice feature where you can select all airports within a geographical area so that you can compare prices between Düsseldorf and Köln.

nigelgg

Flybe fly to Düsseldorf from Southampton and Birmingham. The airport has its own station on the main line; you can book trains on Deutsche Bahn's UK website at http://www.bahn.co.uk/db_uk/view/index.shtml.

Takecareofthepennies

Where are you flying from? Düsseldorf International (DUS) is the most convenient airport for Leverkusen as Köln/Bonn (CGN) is on the other side of Cologne. P_e_p is right in suggesting to steer clear of Ryanair due to the location of the airport they are using.

Direct flight options from London to DUS include Lufthansa and BA (from Heathrow) and Air Berlin from Stansted. You get quite reasonable prices if you can book well ahead.

twokatz

However, it is very easy to get to Leverkusen from CGN. You get the train (S13) from the station at the airport (direction Cologne). They run every 20 minutes and then change at Deutz Messe (the stop immediately before Cologne Central Station) and change onto the S12 which stops at Leverkusen-about 15 minutes from Deutz Messe. The trains are really easy-don't be scared of them.

twokatz

twokatz wrote: »

However, it is very easy to get to Leverkusen from CGN. You get the train (S13) from the station at the airport (direction Cologne). They run every 20 minutes and then change at Deutz Messe (the stop immediately before Cologne Central Station) and change onto the S12 which stops at Leverkusen-about 15 minutes from Deutz Messe. The trains are really easy-don't be scared of them.

I forgot to say, easy to fly to CGN with Germanwings from Manchester or Stansted. You can often pick up single fares from £19.99 on the web site. Germanwings are owned by Lufthansa.

bignred05

I'd actually like to stick up for Ryanair, and flying to Dusseldorf "WEEZE"

having flown to Weeze twice in recent years and have just booked to go again in March 2011

earlier this year we flew with Ryanair to Weeze for £19 return, yes we then had to get a bus/shuttle to connect to a local train service onto Monchenglach, this only cost a few euros, due to being able to buy a family day ticket on the airport shuttle bus

now I looked on 1 or 2 other airlines (Flybe springs to mind) whilst the fares where about £60, the taxes took the actual fares upto about £160

now considering if we had of flown to dusseldorf main airport with Flybe, we would have paid at least £120 more for the flights and would still have to get on to a train/bus for the onward journey

providing you do your homework (a few minutes either on MSE or tripadvisor) and Ryanair can work out a real bargain

btw have booked our flights for March 2011, £62 for 2 of us, then something between 8 - 14 euros for our onward trip

Ryanair/Dusseldorf WEEZE can work if you are prepared to work towards making it work

Pelican_eats_pigeon

Weeze is not, has never been, and will never be a convenient route for getting to Leverkusen. Frankly, such a big detour would make the Eurostar quicker. Coupled with the discomfort of the Ryanair experience this makes the money saved pretty pointless, especially when carriers like Germanwings and Air Berlin fly a more convenient route for only a few pounds more.

It would be helpful to know where in the UK the OP was departing from to be able to give the best advice. I know I'd end up getting the train myself, it's only about 5-6 hours and really comfortable, but if the starting point is outside of London it would change things.