Both Cologne and Amsterdam attract tourists equally. The first city has a magnificent cathedral - a miracle of late Gothic, and the second is known for its Liberty life, youth parties, canals and the Red Light District. Therefore, being in Amsterdam, you should not miss the opportunity to visit Cologne. Moreover, the distance between these cities - especially by Russian standards - is very small - some 267 kilometers.
In this article we will tell you how to get from Amsterdam to Cologne on your own. Despite the fact that these cities are in different states, there is no tangible border between them for tourists. The fact that you are moving from the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the Federal Republic of Germany is reported only by a road sign. So if you have a Schengen visa with a single entry, you can safely travel to these countries of the European Union.
Airplane
Despite the territorial proximity of Cologne and Amsterdam, the option of traveling by air also deserves the right to exist, although it is more convenient and cheaper to travel by land. The straight line distance between cities is 240 kilometers. KLM Airlines promises to travel all the way in 55 minutes. The liner leaves from Schiphol airport in Amsterdam at 9:35 and at half-past ten it lands at Cologne-Bonn Flygafen im. Conrad Adenauer.
Of course, this option of travel looks tempting. But only at first glance. The flight price starts from 15,170 rubles. But if you think how to get from Amsterdam to Cologne as quickly as possible, then a plane is also not the best option. The fact is that airports are not located in the middle of the city, they still need to be reached. Are you an ardent fan of air transport? Well, we will write your roadmap in detail.
Flight action algorithm
If you have decided on an airliner when deciding how to get from Amsterdam to Cologne, you first need to get to the main railway station from anywhere in Amsterdam. This can be done using public transport, but the subway will be faster and more convenient. Get off at the Amsterdam Central stop. Go to the station building. Take the Dutch Railways train that leaves for Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. On this route, trains depart every half hour. Travel time is 13-15 minutes.
Get off the train and immediately get to the terminal. It should be remembered that you need to check in for a flight at least 45 minutes before departure. Depart from Amsterdam and after an hour land at the German airport. But this is not your adventure yet. Airport them. C. Adenauer is located halfway between Cologne and Bonn. To get to the city famous for its cathedral, you need to find the S-Bahn suburban train stop. You need route number 13. If you want to come to the very center of Cologne, you need to get off at the main railway station (Hofbahnhof). The cathedral rises nearby, some 50 meters away. A commuter train will get you there in a quarter of an hour.
Other types of transport
As you can see, the plane is not the fastest way to get to Cologne. Judge for yourself: a quarter hour journey from the station to Amsterdam airport (and this is not counting the passage through the city itself). At least 45 minutes waiting for departure. The journey lasts an hour. After you arrive in Cologne, you need to wait for the gangway to arrive and get your luggage. Find the S-13 stop. Wait for this train and get to the city (another 15 minutes). So it turns out that for your 200 euros (or 15,170 rubles) you will get to Cologne for about three hours.
The situation is aggravated by the fact that a direct flight is carried out only once a day. You can, of course, fly from Amsterdam to Dusseldorf, and from this city, having previously reached the main train station from S-11 from the air harbor, take the Intersity train to Cologne. It will not be much cheaper, but in time the whole road will take about five hours. So let's forget about the plane and consider how best to get from Amsterdam to Cologne. We still have land modes of transport: train, bus, car. Consider all of these travel alternatives.
A train. Pros and cons of traveling by rail
Many Europeans choose the train as a means of transportation. They are comfortable, fast, punctual, independent of traffic jams. Another advantage of rail transport, at least with regard to our route, is that the main stations of the two cities are located in the very center. In Amsterdam, the central station is located near the seaport, and Cologne Hofbahnhof is near the medieval cathedral, on the banks of the Rhine. So you do not have to spend any time or money to get to the train stations. You can get out of the car and go to explore the city.
Now we will tell you how to get from Amsterdam to Cologne on the ICE train, that is, on the high-speed Intercity. There is no special wisdom in this. I caught a train in Amsterdam, got off in Cologne. The main thing is to buy a ticket on time. The price for it varies in connection with the day of the week and time of travel, the class of the car, as well as how well in advance you purchased it. But we can say that the ticket price varies between 1500-2300 rubles. Trains on the Amsterdam - Cologne route leave every hour every afternoon. Travel time depends on the number of intermediate stations and ranges from 2 hours 44 minutes. (express stops only in Essen and Dusseldorf) up to three and a half hours.
Regional trains
In little Holland there is only one type of railway transport. These trains could be called the familiar word "train" if they were not so comfortable. But in a larger area of Germany there is a gradation of railway transport. It is the German Intercity that runs along the route Cologne - Amsterdam. How to get cheap from one city to another by rail? For this, in Germany there are so-called regional trains.
But first, we must get from Amsterdam to the city of Venlo - the southernmost in the Netherlands. For several decades, no border has existed, but tradition has remained. The Dutch train delivers passengers to Venlo, and there they are already waiting for the German regional train. It costs much less than Intercity. It does not need to reserve places. It can be bought in the machine directly on the Venlo platform. True, such a trip with a change will stretch for four and a half hours.
How to get from Amsterdam to Cologne by bus
There are many companies transporting between the two cities. Among them are German as well as international networks such as FlixBass. Consider first an offer from the Dutch company MeinFernbus. How is it profitable? Firstly, at a price. The company bus number 068 follows the route Amsterdam - Bayrort in Lower Bavaria. But so far we do not need. The main thing is that the bus makes a stop in Cologne. He gets there in 4 hours and 20 minutes.
Secondly, the convenient departure time from Amsterdam is 10:10. Getting to MeinFernbus is easy. They are tinted with a picture of grass and leaves (a hint of environmental friendliness of transport). Inside the passengers, complete comfort awaits: air conditioning, toilet, soft seats with lowering backs, Wi-Fi on board.
Chess Transport Company
This way to get from Amsterdam to Cologne loses the previous time in the way. It will take seven and a half hours. The ticket price is also slightly higher and starts from a thousand rubles. But the services in the yellow bunk bus number 26 are above class.
The flight is carried out once a day. The bus leaves Amsterdam at 13:20, and arrives in Cologne at almost eight in the evening. A significant drawback of this travel option is that the trip begins not in the center of the Dutch city, but at the P + R Zeebur station. You can get there by tram number 26. In Cologne, the bus also arrives not to the center, but to Gummersbacher Strasse. This is the area of Messe. To get to the center of Cologne, you need to cross to the other side of the Rhine.
International bus networks
If you are thinking about how to get from Amsterdam to Cologne quickly and cheaply, choose EuroLines or FlixBass. These buses depart from the Amstel station. And they arrive at the square, which adjoins the main railway station of Cologne, on the opposite side from the cathedral. Thus, we can say that the route of such buses runs between two city centers.
Another plus is the seductive price. International bus networks have sites with a Russian-language interface where you can purchase tickets in advance. The price of Eurolines on this route is 1200-1600 rubles. In the company "FlixBass" you can ride from Amsterdam to Cologne for just 755 rubles. It should be said that cars of international networks impress with a high level of service on board. These buses are as punctual as the trains.
How to get from Amsterdam to Cologne by car
You can independently overcome the distance between cities by three roads. The first option is as follows. In the Netherlands, you need to alternately follow roads A1, 30 and 12. When you cross the inconspicuous border with Germany, the highway will be called E25. The road surface and markings in both countries are just perfect. On the German side there is no speed limit on the speedway, so you can squeeze out everything that it can from the car. But in the Netherlands there are very large restrictions on this matter, and draconian fines are levied on violators. If you are thinking about how best to get from Amsterdam to Cologne, then choose this option.
If you want to see the sights along the road, go through Utrecht, Eindhoven and Venlo. So you will avoid the crowded denouement at Düsseldorf. In the first version of the way, you can get to Cologne from Amsterdam in 2 hours 50 minutes, and in the second - in 3 hours 10 minutes.