Cologne Travel Forum

Hello,
We are staying in Cologne for the F1 race, but need to get back and forth. Staying downtown so I can't really rent a car.
Does anyone know of a shuttle bus service I can contact that might run daily shuttles to the event? I know I can take the train to Koblenz and get a shuttle, but that sounds like 2 hours each way, 2x a day for 3 days...
Any help appreciated.

That's what the distance is. Cologne is not close to Nürburgring. I wonder why you picked that place. I'd stay in a more convenient location.

The hotel was included in a package my wife bought as a birthday gift for me, so any "why are we staying in Cologne?" urges I have had I've managed to suppress :-) Actually, six months of trying to find lodging closer didn't turn up much either... ( could have stayed in a trackside budget hotel for $750/night, 4 night minimum)
Interesting thing is this package was actually booked through the official F1 site, so I have to beleive I am not alone in my logistical needs. I don't really want to rent a car in a foreign (for me) country, on a big event weekend.
I am not opposed to spending some $$$ to solve my problem, but I probably won't be able to join the "helecopter on call" crowd

The hotel was included in a package my wife bought as a birthday gift for me, so any "why are we staying in Cologne?" urges I have had I've managed to suppress :-) Actually, six months of trying to find lodging closer didn't turn up much either... ( could have stayed in a trackside budget hotel for $750/night, 4 night minimum)
Interesting thing is this package was actually booked through the official F1 site, so I have to beleive I am not alone in my logistical needs. I don't really want to rent a car in a foreign (for me) country, on a big event weekend.
I am not opposed to spending some $$$ to solve my problem, but I probably won't be able to join the "helecopter on call" crowd

If this was a package, the hotel should know about any shuttle service. Have you asked them?

I just checked the Nürburgring website and from what it says the Koblenz shuttle seems to be the only feasible solution -- unless your hotel indeed has its own shuttle included in the package deal. There is no direct train link to the Nürburgring and every other train station that comes close would also involve at least a 30 min bus transfer.

I would not rule out that there is a private bus company in Cologne offering a shuttle service for F1 fans. There must be a lot of them in Cologne so it would make sense to offer this. You'd not save that much time though, the bus would also probably need 90 minutes for the distance.

The only train alternative might be taking the Ahr valley train (transfer in Bonn) to Ahrbrück which is the closest train station to the Nürburgring. There should be a bus route from there to Adenau and the Nürburgring. However, the train takes 1 hour from Bonn, and you also need to get there from Cologne (30 minutes), and then the bus from Ahrbrück (at least 30 minutes).

Forget all other train stations that might look close such as various stations on the Cologne-Euskirchen-Trier rail route. There is definitely no shuttle bus from there, and it is a hilly area with crooked roads that take forever to drive.

IMO staying in Cologne for the F1 is not such a bad idea. All local Nürburgring hotels are usually booked solid and charge incredible rates. There are frequent trains to Koblenz (which of course would have been a better place to stay). Do make the best of it and enjoy the trip through the Rhine valley -- the river valley starts south of Bonn and the section till Andernach is quite scenic (I happen to live there). Kolbenz is certainly worth spending a couple of hours in as well.

next time, you might wanna look for accommodation separately and use www.hrs.de and look for places such as Andernach, Sinzig, Remagen, Rhens, Boppard and of course Koblenz itself. Staying in Bonn would also have saved you at least half an hour.

Nearly all villages in the area have loads of b&b style accommodation and holiday self-catering apartments that do not appear in the booking engines but are linked through the local community pages. If the community does not have English pages, you can always write to the tourist information office, tell them what you want and they will usually come up with a suggestion.

An example for such place this is even featured here on VT, but there are many more:
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/tp/1da844/

Thanks to all for your comments,
Plan C will be to live with the longish train rides, and yes, since we are on vacation, we will enjoy the rides even if not as convenient as we'd like.
Plans A and B? At least we arrive on Wed, so I will have a little time to do some research through my hotel(s)concierge, so maybe I can find the direct shuttle system I hope to find... If not, I will be on the look out for others with the same plans and hope I can share a car hire with someone.