Transfer help DUS/CGN please
 

Hi all,

I need a bit of help with finding the most efficient way for a ground transfer. MY LH flight lands in DUS and need to go from the DUS Airport to the city of Cologne. Due to various timing factors I could not get a flight directly into CGN but I am flying out of there.

Can someone please give me information on the DUS airport ground transfer options? Is there a train station convinient to the DUS airport that could take me to CGN and if so how difficult would that be? Any other options you would recommend with approximate cost? I am traveling on business and can expense the cost but it must be resonable.

Many thanks for all your help and suggestions :)

DUS has two railway stations serving the airport. One is located directly inside the terminal building (and appropriately named Düsseldorf Flughafen Terminal) and served by local S-Bahn trains running every 20 to 30 mins. A trip to Cologne would require a change of trains at Düsseldorf main station (Hauptbahnhof, Hbf) and take around 45-55 minutes.

Your other option is the station situated at the trunk line. It can be reached directly from the terminals by SkyTrain (which is supposed to take six minutes). From that station regional trains run twice per hour and take just short of 40 minutes to Cologne main station (no change of train required). Additional service is provided by long distance trains which take around 30 minutes.

Use http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en for schedule information (you may enter 'DUS' in the FROM field and 'K' in the TO field). If you manage to avoid ICE trains the cost should be around EUR 10-11.

http://www.duesseldorf-airport.de/ also has a map of the airport showing the locations of the two stations.

Have a save trip & enjoy your stay

If you go the route with the long-distance station requiring the sky-train ride: Keep in mind that this is a pay-for service requiring a seperate ticket (at something like 2€ one way).

Other than that going from DUS to Cologne should be a piece of cake as long as you do not have lots of luggage. However if you have, maybe you want to consider a one-way rental car - especially the local trains are frequently very full and have little room to store your luggage during the ride.

Greetings - Dirk

Thank you all for your help!

using a rental car is only a good choice if you need it too, for your work in Cologne! A Taxi ride from DUS airport to Cologne City should be around 40 -50 Euro. ( You can deal with some drivers if you ask not to use the meter ). If you want to go from DUS to CGN airport, that would be a different thing. CGN airport is on the other site of Cologne as DUS is. And I would say from the citycenter it´s around 20km to the airport. From airport to airport some rentalagents offer small cars up to 4 h. for around 29 Euro.
And check if your flight out of Cologne is ( I think you transfer in FRA ) out of CGN or QKL !!!!!! The first one is Cologne/Bonn airport, and QKL is the airrail staition in Cologne city next to the Dome ! The LH airrail goes every 60 minutes and takes about 55 minutes to FRA airport with a highspeed ICE! If you have a LH ticket/segment I would always prever the QKL ride which is much more convinient.

The train connection between Düsseldorf Airport and Cologne Airport is quite good, however the commuter trains could be very crowded during rush hour, so you might think about a first class ticket.
Some ICE and IC trains are stopping at Düsseldorf Long Distance railway station (do not mix it up with the S-Bahn Station in the Terminal). The train station is connected with the terminal by the skytrain.

Travel time between DUS and CGN is app. 35 – 40 minutes, depending on the train you choose.

:eek: Really?? I rode it just for the heck of it about two years ago when transitting at DUS (on one of the last UA flights to IAD), and I don't recall paying anything.... is there at least a free alternative if you need to go the train station, or are you SOL??

I think it works like this: If you already have a ticket for train, local transport or the parking house, this ticket is valid also for the SkyTrain. If you don't have such a ticket, you need a separate "Kurzstrecke" ticket (€1.10) to go to the train station. Although I've travelled with the SkyTrain 100's of times and still never seen a ticket inspector.

Sorry if this is a stupuid quesiton, but do I have to prepurchase the train ticket or can I purchase the train ticket upon arrival at DUS?

I checked my local rail ticket issuer and even tho the train ticket from DUS to CGN is only 16 USD, the service charge is $18 USD!!
:(

You can buy at the station, or on the train (for a surcharge). Alternatively, buy at bahn.de without service fee. This doesn't work for all trains, but you can even print your own ticket.

SmilingBoy.

I heard on local DUS radio last week that there will be modifications (=enhancements) to the S-Bahn service covering the airport. The radio comment mentioned that the S-Bahn Terminal station will no longer be served in future and all trains will go to the long distance stations, thus pax will need to use the Skytrain to get to the terminal.

As I am not so familiar with the different S-Bahn lines I am not sure what the press weasels are saying...but I guess the radio comment was correct.

This answer is dangerous as it is half correct.You can buy tickets on long distance trains only (ICE, IC, IR). You CANNOT buy tickets between DUS and CGN on Regional Express Trains (RE), Regional Trains (RB) and Suburban trains (S-Bahn). The RE trains are most convenient because they go directly between the two airports in 58 minutes -51 past the hour. If you do not have a valid ticket on theese trains you will face the "normal consequences" up to criminal prosecution.

I propose buying an ICE ticket on Bahn.de. This will cost you a couple of extra Euros (about 6) but you can use every train (incl every regional and suburban train) arriving and every connection and no hazzle at all.

[QUOTE=Rambuster;7511292]I heard on local DUS radio last week that there will be modifications (=enhancements) to the S-Bahn service covering the airport. The radio comment mentioned that the S-Bahn Terminal station will no longer be served in future and all trains will go to the long distance stations, thus pax will need to use the Skytrain to get to the terminal./QUOTE]

That gave me some kind of shock, but according to the press release fortunately the S-Bahn Terminal station will continue to be served in the future. They only discontinue the S7 and have the S11 going into the airport with new carriages.

[QUOTE=Flying Lawyer;7511299]Thanks for the clarification. WDR2 probably didn't understand what was going on either. They mentioned that all passengers will now need to use the skytrain. This message also gave me quite a shock, as I have a monthly parking place at DUS Hauptbahnhof (€ 71 per month) and usually take the S-Bahn to the terminal too.

Take a look at this one:

http://www.rp-online.de/public/artic...olingen/422683

Does the S11 go from Hbf to DUS Terminal ?

Here the options, how to buy a ticket:
http://www.bahn.de/p/view/internatio..._booking.shtml

Please follow this in the Germany forum.

Kiwi Flyer
LH moderator

In future: Yes

When will this change happen?

Connecting from DUS to longhauls on a regular basis I've lately resorted to taking a fast and more luggage friendly train (e.g ICE or IC) to Duesseldorf main station and a taxi from there. That way arrival will be comfy and the check-in desks only a hundred meter dash from the cab.

Sorry for being very direct, but this is clearly insane advise.

You are telling us, that

• you arrive at Düsseldorf Main Station on a long distance train on platform 18 or 16,
• schlepp your luggage through the station to a cab and
• go on a 20 to 30 minutes cabride investing 20 to 25 Euro with the risk of being caught in the rush hour

instead of taking the escalator down from your arrival platform and up again to to platform 13, take the S7, arrive at DUS Terminal Station after 12 minutes (even for free as part of your long distance travel), take the escalator up and arrive at the utmost 50 meters from the taxi rank and 150 meters from check-in?

I have my German office in the heart of Düsseldorf and I normally avoid cabs to the airport but take subway and S-Bahn as I know perfectly well that this will bring me into the airport in 21 minutes. Cab is 15 minimum but can take as long as 40 minutes.

I would like to know what the opinions are for my situation:

I arrive with my family of four (2 adults, 2 young children) at DUS on a Monday evening (~17:30) in June. We need to get to Schwelm to visit friends. We will be arriving from the US so we will have several bags. I figure my options are:

1) Taxi - expensive?
2) Limo - very expensive??
3) Train from Dusseldorf Airport Terminal - no Skytrain, luggage space?
4) Train from Dusseldorf Airport - Skytrain, maybe more luggage space?

With the new info on this thread, maybe option 3 may not be so good anymore (I think that the connection was at Soligen vs. Dusseldorf Hbf.).

Opinions?

Thank you (danke).

The S7 to Solingen will still be operating in June. You might wish to check on www.bahn.de.

Either take the S7 at 18.03 from the Terminal Station and change at Solingen or (more realistic) take the S7 at 18.43 and change at Düsseldorf Main to a Regional Express Train from Platform 7. Luggage on the S7 should not be a problem. That train is never overcrowded when it starts at the airport. The RE train during rush-hour. Well....

You need two VRR tickets from the machine on the Platform for a C-Fare, 8,70 for an adult, 1,20 for a kid over the age of 6. Travel time is about an hour. Taxi should not be faster and will cost about 150 Euro for 70 km.

I wouldn't say its' insane as it got me on my Schengen flight last time just at check-in cut off when it already seemed too late.

Two points: I can tell the cab driver to speed up within his/her limits while there is always the possibility that the S-Bahn is delayed. You are of course right about rush hour but I almost never take morning or late afternoon flights exactly because of this. Last time cost was 18 EUR but I agreed on 20 before the drive to make sure to get there fast. ;)

Second, while the schlep is there at Duesseldorf station (200 meters?) I much prefer to arrive at departures level at DUS instead in the cellar (also called "Regionalbahnhof or similar).

To give another insane advice, the Japanese/Euro fusion bistro at Immermannstrasse is quite fun to try. Young and creative Japanese team with great enthusiasm.

Japanese food is never insane. Which one you are talking about? I alweys fancy good advice for lunch.

Forgot the name but it's sandwiched between Kushi-Tei and the gay bar opposite of the Nikko hotel. Had a very fun evening there last autumn, they do the fusion stuff quite well and have a rather secure hand in both European wine and Japanese shochu & co.

But better go with friends or close business partners, the atmosphere is relaxed and casual.

I don't know what makes food "insane", but if a food can be insane, "fugu" is.

Thank you Flying Lawyer. I went to the DB website, but I don't see the S7 at 18:43, but I do see the S1 at 18:13 (perhaps this is what you meant?). But it doesn't really matter...I'll just print out the schedule and depending on how long it takes us to clear customs and get our luggage (and if necessary take the SkyTrain), we'll just get the next available train. And at ~20 euro for the train vs. 150 for a taxi, I think the train is the obvious choice :)

So is the 18:00-19:00 timeframe still rush hour, or will it be winding down?

Remember: There are two station:

Düsseldorf Flughafen Terminal where the S7 departs and
Düsseldorf Flughafen Fernbahnhof where the S1 departs.

If you only enter Düsseldorf Flughafen on Bahn.de, you get the Fernbahnhof which is connected to the Termnal by the Skytrain. If you want to avoid the Skytrain and the extra change, chose the Terminal station.

Between six and seven is the in the middle of rush hour.

Danke. Now I see the 18:43 S7 - this will likely be the best option (assuming our flight is on-time).

That's great information. Again I ask: When will S11 service begin and S7 service end?

No date announced. Considering that major changes take place either in May or in November I do not expect it to happen before November. Anyway, nothing will change between DUS and Düsseldorf Main, just the number of the train.