Drive or train, which is better?

Question

We are going to arrive in Cologne via the Thalys train and spend a week in the Eifel region. Would you suggest renting a car or travel by train? Is it easy to navigate the train system? (I'm not fluent in German but I have had about 5 years of it in school.) Or would having our own car be easier?

Thanks...

Answer 1

All the conductors speak English.  Taking the Thalys is cheaper, more eco-friendly, and faster than driving.  It's very simple to navigate, too.  Look for discounted train tickets on www.bahn.de

Answer 2

If you want to stay a week in more rural areas the car is the better solution with the train you can't reach everything and always depend on the time trains are leaving and arriving the car makes it easier to choose the time on your own.

@thumbs down

The question is not which is the ecologically correct way to travel in Germany!!

As I am living in a rural area in Germany  I know what I am talking about .Trains are good to travel between citys or in urban areas in rural areas they are not good and everybody in Germany not living in a major city knows that !!!

Answer 3

Train is pretty easy, if they go where you want to be. Kein problem!

Answer 4

I would say the train, you know exactly where your going without getting lost and you can sit back and relax and watch the scenery, also you can get up and stretch your legs without having to stop and lose travel time.

Sounds like a great trip, have fun.

Answer 5

If you have the time? go by car. If your in a hurry? then take train. With 5 yrs. of it in school, you have very good odds of understanding most of it. And if they talk faster then you can pick up, talk English. if the person them self doesn't speak English, they pretty much will slow down, so you can catch what they are saying.

Answer 6

Personally I would take the trains but i would by a Rail Pass. Either a German Rail or  Eurail Pass. They will save you a lot of money and make sure you get the Insurance with it.

http://www.raileurope.com/us/rail/passes...

If you travel with some one you can get twin passes and youth passes.

Driving though it  is on the same side of the road the street laws are a little different so unless you have an experienced German driver with you I would stick to trains and buses as much as you can.  You also have to be 25 with a major credit card and a valid liscence to rent a car there too.

they drive much faster than here in the states but are much safer too. the roads are not as clearly spelled out as well as ours so not everything is labeled as well. most cars are stick shifts though automatics can be gotten.

you will have a hard time reading the road signs too and emergency signs driving with out a fluent Germany with you as I did. With the trains they are not to hard to figure out. i think they are easier than the T in Boston!

Have fun, bring a translator and dictionary and practise as much as you can and do not forget back up ID, Health Insurance, let someone know where to contact you and know where the embassy is and their number!

other than that have a blast, it is an AWESOME place to go to.

Answer 7

If you travel distances within Germany, take the train (as long as there's no strike happening)

It's quite comfy and you see something from the countryside. On all IC and ICE's, announcements and schedules are made bilingual, so you're going to be fine. I'm not sure about smaller routes, however.

To travel to and within the Eiffel region you definitely need to go by car. Train service is sketchy and there are too many nice areas without train or any other means of public services so you have to have a car.

My suggestion after you arrive in Cologne:

a) rent a car and be on your way or

b) travel further to either Bonn or Koblenz and rent a car from there.

Answer 8

If you want to enjoy the Eifel region, rent a car and take a good road map, and enjoy the landscape. You'd miss so much when you take trains and busses only! Just be careful on the narrow winding roads they have there. I've been stationed at Daun when I was in the Bundeswehr (German army), and enjoyed the weekends just driving around with friends. Although as soldiers, we would have had free rides on trains and busses, everyone of us brought his own car.

If you arrive in Cologne, probably the best idea is to continue to Koblenz by train, and check out for a car there.

Answer 9

train is the safest way of transportation

Answer 10

If you want to spent a lot of time in small villages, I suggest you drive. Train is easy enough to navigate, but not very good in very rural areas. To some villages there are only buses which run 3 times a day, so you could be stuck if you do not have a car.

Koblenz, Aachen and Trier can easily be reached by train, though.

You can download a map of the local train and bus network here:

http://www.bahn.de/regional/view/mdb/all...

The map together with the journey planner at http://www.bahn.de will help you figure out wether you can reach the places you want by bus and train.

BTW, if you travel by bus or train on the routes of the above map you can use a special discounted train ticket called Rheinland-Pfalz-Ticket. It costs 26 EUR and allows unlimited  travel within the Laender Rheinland-Pfalz and Saarland for a group of up to 5 people between 9 am and 3 am the next day.

You can find more info on this ticket on this site (German only):

http://www.bahn.de/regional/view/rhldpfa...

Answer 11

who keeps giving thumbs down on all the answers? If you dont live in germany or never been there u can't judge the answer.

most people here are right. U take trains! U dont go driving around like u do in the US. Trains are the easiest, cheapest way to go any where. That includes whatever u feel like doing. Shopping, going to different cities, going to different areas of large cities...

Answer 12

i would suggest the train (even i hate the DB )but  you can enjoy the landscape and you still can get around downtown everywhere.you don't have to worry about parkingspots or drinking either.