Cologne Travel Forum

Hi there

I will be reaching on Zweibrücken airport saturday morning. I would like to know which will be the cheapest medium of travel from there to Cologne. I tried in bahn site, unfortunately the UK mastro card is not working in site. Is there any risk if I take the ticket from station at that time ? is there option for getting a bus to Cologne ?

Thanks in advance.

From looking at the bahn site, I saw at least a dozen different route solutions just between 6 and 10 a.m. About half of those solutions did not require reservations, and many of the others suggested reservations because of high traffic...but since regional trains and buses don't take reservations (I'm not sure about the ICs and ICEs in Germany), if you have a ticket, you can get on, even if you stand.

Thus, just from looking at your options, it seems highly improbably that you won't get to Cologne on Saturday, even if you won't find out the exact path until you get there ;-)

I don't know about the bus; I am sure that the locals will be along presently...

Bill

Hi friend thanks a lot for the quick answer. But am quiet confused on your sentence "Thus, just from looking at your options, it seems highly improbably that you won't get to Cologne on Saturday, even if you won't find out the exact path until you get there ;-) "

I can see its only 272Kms. So you meant to say one day not enought to reach there ? or any challenging route is this one ?

Your suggestion will be valuable to me in this case.

Thanks again

I think you can risk to buy the ticket at the train station when you arrive. I looked at the Bahn website and am really amazed how complicated they travel from Zweibrücken to Cologne... Some connections go via Mannheim, which is then like a triangle trip.... and costs more.
You could also take the Germanwings bus from Zweibrücken to Saarbrücken (which is the capital of state Saarland) and take a train to Cologne from there. It leaves Saturday at 8:20 from Zweibrücken Airport. But on the other hand, it does not matter timewise, so you should take a bus to Zweibrücken train station and buy a ticket there. Ask them for a connection via Koblenz or Trier. That's the "direct" route and should cost approx. 55 Euro and take approx. 4-5 hours. There are trains at 8:13, 9:13, 10:13, so every hour.
Ingrid

DB timetable
http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en
From: Flughafen, Zweibruecken
To: Cologne
and select as means of transport "only local transport".

From Homburg(Saar) to Cologne you could use the HappyWeekendTicket. EUR 37,00. Best if you can find some co-travelers. The ticket is good for 1-5 persons.

Bus Zweibrücken Airport to Homburg(Saar)
Couldn't find a price. Zweibrücken - Homburg(Saar) is EUR 3,10. The airport is however not directly in Zweibrücken. But the ticket should not be much more expensive.

> is there option for getting a bus to Cologne
No. Zweibrücken is not exactly a natural place to fly in for Cologne.
From the closer airports to Cologne there are direct trains or buses to Cologne.

You can buy the Happy-Weekend-Ticket from one of the ticket machines at Homburg(Saar) station. Counter is also possible but EUR 2,00 more expensive.

The Happy-Weekend-Ticket covers also the trams and buses in Cologne.
It is valid on the day of purchase till 3am next day.
No need to buy in advance. No advantage to buy in advance. The ticket is always available and seat reservations are anyway not possible on regional trains.

"So you meant to say one day not enought to reach there ? or any challenging route is this one ? "

No, no, I meant that no matter which course you end up taking, you should be assured that there will be a way to make the trip on that day, even if you simply arrive at the airport and then look for your options. The overall trip, which, yes, seems complicated, should take 5-6.5 hours, if all goes well.

Your question was "Is there any risk if I take the ticket from station at that time " and my response is (or should have been) "no, since with all these options, you'll get there one way or the other."

Bill

next time, if you come by Ryanair, you should use Weeze or Hahn airports. And if you are using Ryanair or Germanwings, you can fly to Cologne International airport directly. Cologne is one of the few places that is normally excellent to reach, even when taking Ryanair! Given the complicatedness of your trip, I would actually see if there's a cheap Ryanair flight to Hahn or Weeze and simply throw away your Zweibrücken ticket.

sorry, I mean Tuifly or Germanwings...

Thanks to all for the quick responses. So I can feel something fishy on this remote place. So I booked the train ticket using my frnds card and I will be carrying that card with me ..oopps...any staff in Bahn out here ??? :-)...

And the ticket was 31 Euro all togther. Route is Zweibrücken Hbf -> Saarbrucken Hbf -> Koblenz Hbf -> Koln Hbf. and its almost 5 hrs.

Once again thanks to all you...

Thanks

> So I booked the train ticket using my frnds card and I will be carrying that card with me ..oopps...any staff in Bahn out here ??? :-)...

Better to take a confirmation with you, signed by your friend, that you are allowed to use his card for this trip. You may not need it, but the staff won't know if the card holder is your friend - or just someone you have stolen the card from.

Sure I will take that with me. Thank for the pivotal factor.

Yes they checked the card. But didnt asked for letter, since they didnt checked my photoID card. Thanks fr all ur help. And last but not least, the trains are awesome. Both in quality and technically.