Hi,
I will be landing in CGN 10pm, and taking off from DUS morning of the following day 8:10am (landing Tue, leaving Thu), with a meeting in CGN on Wed.
So obviously spending the first night in CGN.

My question is about travel between those cities and where would it make more sense to spend the second night.

Haven't been to either place, so will also appreciate any touristic hints.

The train from CGN airport to Cologne main station is 13 minutes. (at least three trains an hour)

From Cologne main station to Duesseldorf airport is about 40 minutes (2 trains an hour)

Cologne has more history, so there are more sights. The most famous thing is of course the Cologne cathedral, a must see, right at the main station, can't miss.

I don't know how much time your meeting on Wednesday takes but if it is not a big thing, I would try and do some sightseeing during Wednesday and then take a train to Duesseldorf in the late afternoon.
Get a hotel in DUS and walk the "Altstadt" (old town) for a bit, have some nicer dinner there.

If your flight leaves at 8:10am, I wouldn't want to be at DUS later than 7am and that is really early if you have to leave from Cologne.

The airport of DUS is north of the city and about 15 minutes by local train to get right into the terminal.

If you have any further questions, let me/us know.

Thanks Philipp, this is really helping!
In CGN I will probably want a hotel close to work (not suer where it is yet, but I have a German partner who can help).
Could you recommend a hotel in DUS?

And a question about trains - do you have to book in advance, or just hit the counter?
Sorry if it's a silly question, last time I took a train for actual travel (that is, not with the kids for fun) was in 2001 in India...

No need to buy the tickets in advanced. There are ticket machines at the train stations for the local trains from CGN to the city. For your trip from Cologne to D�sseldorf you can either take a local train (takes long) or a long distance train (IC, EC or ICE). I would take the long distance train and get ticket from the ticket machine or the internet. To look up the schedule and buy a ticket get on www.bahn.de.

I partly disagree. No need to by a IC, EC or ICE ticket. They use the same routing, just make three stops less, actually saving is maybe 10 minutes.

Take a so called "Regionalexpress", abbreviated RE. They have the same fare as the so called "S-Bahn" that stops everywhere (like 20 stops on the way) but the RE just stops 4 times in between Cologne and Dusseldorf. That's not too bad. The RE trains usually leave from track 1,2 or 4 in Cologne. (depending of time of day)

Unfortunately, I can't really recommend a hotel in DUS. Are you with a particular chain? I would just try and get one downtown that suits your budget/preference and either take the taxi in the morning to the airport or the public transportation.

That's a good joke. The regional express departing at -31 and -49 past every hour has four extra stops on its way (Deutz, M�lheim, Leverkusen Benrath) and that requires an extra 10 minutes. The fare is by far cheaper and these double decker trains give you good sights. There is a nice masterthread on Railways in Germany in the European Railway forum giving you all the information in detail (I know it because I wrote it) Depending on where "work" is it might be by far easier on jump on one of these on the intermediate stations

It depends a bit on the size of your pocket and where you want to stay.

If you want to have the most downtown locations, the IC is an obvious choice. There is a very reasonable HI (Graf Adolf Platz) in the mid of downtown. Starwood has a mediocre 4P property still in a very good location. Hilton and Radisson are more in the suburbsclose to each other, however, about 10 minutes from the towncentre by tram. Beside that there are hundreds of privately operated hotels or smaller chaines (like Lindner) not known in other parts of the world.

You could spend the second night in Cologne either. The regional express trains start running at 5.49 and they take you into Duesseldorf Airport Trainstation in 38 minutes from Cologne Central. So no problem to catch your flight. An 810 service sounds like Berlin, Hamburg, Nuremberg or at the utmost Lisbon so you have a 45 Minutes check-in time. At this time of the day I would calculate 20 minutes from downtown Dusseldorf by cab to the airport.

If you want to go the night before and stay at the airport, there is a Sheraton (a bit tired) and a Maritim (brand new) linked to the terminals.
.

Thanks for all of this useful info!

One more thing about getting the tickets. If you�re in a hurry, you can also buy the tickets onboard the train. There will be a 10% surcharge though.

I strongly advice against it unless really necessary. Especially if one is not capable the German language. OP would have to buy the ticket from the guy who checks if there is anybody on board going for a "free ride". It always looks fishy if somebody says: "sorry, I was in a rush" and I have seen when he would not see the 10% surcharge ticket but rather have him pay a fine of 40 Euro!

That sounds serious.. Although, admittedly, with the types of conducters I�ve met, I can see this situation

OTOH, I do that quite often and never had trouble (I tend to be one of those people running up the stairs and jumping into the train when the doors alread beep). The important thing is just to tell him rightaway you need a ticket.

Considering the surcharge it�s not optimal in any case, but good as a backup.

I understand. I would do it anytime before I miss a flight or something important but it's not a situation I desire to end up with.

Dangerous advice: You can't buy ticket on local trains in NRW - only on the long distance trains. They will happily sell you a 40-Euro-Fine-Ticket

That's fine for IC, EC, and ICE trains, but regional trains require tickets prior to boarding. On these routes there is no ticket collection, but, rather, spot ticket inspections.