Getting there/travel information

Air

Cologne/Bonn Airport (CGN) is a hub for low-cost carriers. There are connections every 10 to 20 minutes between the airport and the Cologne Central Station (Köln Hauptbahnhof), take line S13 (towards Köln Hansaring) or RE8 (towards Mönchengladbach). Travel time is 15 minutes and a ticket costs €2.80. A taxi also takes 15 minutes and costs around €27. Cologne is less than an hour away from Frankfurt am Main Airport (FRA) and Düsseldorf International Airport (DUS) by train.

From Frankfurt Airport you can connect with intercity express (ICE) services to Cologne. The travel time between Frankfurt airport and Cologne is around an hour. Tickets cost €71 but savings can be made if you book online through DB Bahn where you can print out your ticket in advance (alternative language versions of their website are available from the drop down menu at the top of their home page). There is also a (much) slower but cheaper IC train route you can take. Taking a taxi is not recommended.

From Düsseldorf take the "SkyTrain" to the airport's train station where every half-hour regional trains connect the airport to Cologne's Central Station. Catch either RE1 ("NRW-Express" towards Aachen) or 5 ("Rhein-Express" towards Koblenz). Trains usually depart from platform (Gleis) 4. Travel time is around 40 minutes and a ticket costs €11,30. Taking a taxi may cost between €80-100.

Rail

High-speed trains link Cologne to many German and European cities. Thalys connects the city directly to Brussels (1:47) and Paris (3:14); ICE offers through trains from Amsterdam (2:38) and Berlin (between 4:30 and 5 hours). London is around 4:30, changing in Brussels via Eurostar. Cologne Central Station (Köln Hauptbahnhof) is located in the city centre and is about twenty minutes’ walk (1.6 km, 1 mile) from the symposium venue.

Intercity Bus

Connections are especially good between eastern European cities and Cologne. The bus station is located at the Cologne/Bonn Airport. There are connections every 10 to 20 minutes between the airport and the Cologne Central Station (Köln Hauptbahnhof), take line S13 (towards Köln Hansaring) or RE8 (towards Mönchengladbach). Travel time is 15 minutes and a ticket costs €2.80. The closest station to the symposium venue is Hansaring (line S13).

Car

KOMED am MediaPark can be reached via Autobahn A57. Take the exit for "Zentrum/Innenstadt", then follow the signs to MediaPark. The entrance to the underground ring road is just after the railway bridge. From there, drive directly to the front of the building or into the MediaPark underground garage. As an alternative, use the entrance at “Cinedom”. The entrance to the parking building there also branches off into the entrance to the MediaPark underground garage (Parkhaus Zentral PZ) and the tunnel bypass road. The staircase at the orange cash till area in the central underground garage is directly in front of the KOMED convention center, Im MediaPark 7.

If you use a navigation system please put in the address „Maybachstrasse 10“ and follow the street signs directing you to the underground parking at MediaPark. More information about parking at MediaPark here.

Public transport

Underground: from Cologne Central Station, take lines 5, 16, 18 to Ebertplatz. Change to line 12 or 15 towards Ringe. Get off at the Christophstrasse/MediaPark stop.

Urban commuter train system (S-Bahn): from CologneCentral Station, take S6 towards Nippes, S11 towards Düsseldorf or S12 and S13 towards Hansaring. The closest station to the symposium venue is Hansaring. There is a direct S-Bahn connection between the Cologne/Bonn Airport and Köln Hansaring, with the S13.

Cologne has a good bus and tram network. Tickets are sold on a regional zonal tariff basis. The city of Cologne, Cologne/Bonn Airport, Cologne Central Station, and the Winter Symposium venue are all located in zone 1b. Tickets in zone 1b cost €2.70. However, if your journey is less than four stops you can buy a cheaper KurzstreckenTicket (Short Trip Ticket) for €1.90.

Tickets are available for one person or for groups of up to five, and for one or four journeys. Other tickets (week, month) are available for longer periods, but run from Monday to Sunday or the first to last day of the month - not when you first use the ticket. With the WelcomeCard tourists can use public transport for 24 hours.

Ticket vending machines are available on buses, underground and tram trains, and at most stops. However, be aware these machines often only accept coins or an EC card. Tickets bought here are automatically validated. If you purchase your ticket at a sales outlet, please validate it as soon as you enter the vehicle by using the red validating machine.