I'm going to koln (13-15 june 2006). where shall i go?

Question

i will be travelling with a friend and we'll be on a quite-tight budget travel plan. i think we will mostly walk or take a bus/train everywhere. need suggestions on this.

- i'm struggling to find the most coherent german (koln, in particular) tourism website, with clear map, ticket fares to main attractions, transport information, and a little bit explanation about various attraction places. but i kept finding them in language i couldn't even understand. any idea, friends?

- does german offer a discount for students? any concession ticket?

Answer 1

There are so many attractions to visit in Cologne, here is the official site for the city:

http://www.koeln.de/tourismus/en/

Also, don't forget to go to the chocolate museum.

Answer 2

I lived in Koln for 5 years; it is a wonderful city. If you arrive in the city at the main train station, you will be immediately beneath the towering spires of the Dom. It is an amazing thing to see. After you've seen that, walk across the street to the rather large and helpful tourist office. They should be able to provide you with maps, brochures, etc, also in english. If you go into the altstadt (old town) just to the south of the Dom, you can go into any number of brew pubs, where they make their own beer. I recommend one called "Pfifgen" which is on a square called AlteMarkt (Old Market). Do not be offended by the "rude" waiters-that is the tradition. Just buy a round for them when you buy one for the table. They will drink it with you. And whatever you do, do not order water or a soft drink, without ordering a beer. (Actually, the waiters make their money from commission on selling beer, and they do not make a cent from selling food or soft drinks...)

Send me some more information about things you would like to do or see and I can give you more detailed information.

Answer 3

By far the best website for finding discounts on tickets for students is http://www.studentuniverse.com .

If you're going to be in Köln (Cologne), I recommend visiting the Dom. It's a giant cathedral - and one of the few structures in Cologne that survived the second world war.

Cologne used to be a large Roman city, and there is an impressive Roman history museum with many artifacts - fortunately, some of the captions are written in English, so you won't be completely lost. It is, however, a museum in the most traditional sense, and if you don't enjoy looking at ancient artifacts, it will be very boring.

On the other hand, there is the chocolate museum. This museum features an in-house chocolate factory and free samples! This is a museum that anyone who is not allergic to chocolate can enjoy.

Cologne will be hosting a few of the world cup games during that time, so while it may be difficult to get tickets, I'm sure there will be plenty of parties and celebrations to attend.

For travel ideas in general, I like Rick Steves:

http://www.ricksteves.com