Those
visitors wishing to find their way through Cologne's
street traffic should at least educate themselves as to
the major streets and how they run. Because most
of the traffic runs on many one way streets and are
often poorly marked, one can waste a lot of time and get
lost. Therefore, one should buy a city map well in
advance.
You can probably get one at your next gas station.
From the center of the city there running out to
the suburds and neigh- boring cities are many
spoke-streets which predominantly connect the
largest plazas in the city and travel in all
directions of the compass. The ring streets are
also typical of Cologne. Four routes run
concentrically
around
Cologne's left-bank, semi-circumscribing the city
center. They are the Militärringstrasse, der Gürtel,
die Ringe and the North-South route. Other than the
North-South route, all of the roads begin in Cologne's
north on the Rhine and end in the south once again at
the rivers flow. Along the spoke-streets and Ring-
strassen
you can almost always arrive roughly at your destina-
tion. To get more precise you will need to refer to a
street map.
Information about city traffic,
detours or closed routes and speed sensors is found
on-line at www.koelnverkehr.de.
Parking houses in Cologne's inner
city
This is a
selection of parking opportunities in the city of
Cologne. "PH" means parking house,
"UG" is equal to underground garage.
AREA
DOM/RHEIN
UG Dom
24 hrs open, 620 places, 30 for women. Entry:
Trankgasse. UG Gross St. Martin
24 hrs open, 210 places, 20 for women. Entry:
right of Sofitel PH Philharmonie
24 hrs open, 390 places, 20 for women. Entry: Trankgasse. UG An Farina
24 hrs open, 304 places, 20 for women.
Entry:
Laurenzplatz.
UG Maritim
Hotel
24 hrs open,
530 places, 37 of them for women. Entry: at the
hotel entrance.
UG Heumarkt
24 hrs open, 460 places, 30 f. women, 8 f. handicaped. Entry: Markmannsgasse.
About 40 parking houses
and underground garages with almost 17,000 parking
places exist in Cologne, approximately 30 of which are
connected to the electronic parking management system,
which,
using signs along the major roads, directs drivers
to the nearest parking house and many of those
display the number of free spaces (Photo). The
parking houses in the city are divided into four
"quartiers": Dom/Rhine, Neumarkt and
Ring on the left as well as
Deutz and Kölnarena
on the other side of the Rhine. Above in the green table
a choice of parking houses is being presented that is
connected to the electronic system and, therefore,
quite easy to find. Naturally, there are also some
parking opportunities beside the streets of the inner
city. On the other hand, those tickets are 50 cents for
only 15 minutes, that's more expensive than using a
parking house or underground garage.
Cars parked on the streets are
constantly checked by the official city administration.
Parking without a valid ticket or at no-parking signs
may easily cost 30 euros or more.
Filling stations in the City
AREA
DOM / RHINE
Total
49 Holzmarkt
Phone 21 25 12
24 hrs open
Service:
- Car Wash: yes
- Mechanics: no
- Shop: yes, small
- Miscelleneous: -
AREA
EBERTPLATZ
Aral
12 Riehler Strasse
Phone 97 26 040
24 hrs open
Service:
- Car Wash: yes
- Mechanics: yes
- Shop: yes, large
- Miscelleneous: -
AREA
CHLODWIGPLATZ
Shell
98 Bonner Str.
Phone 37 58 70
24 hrs open
Service:
- Car Wash: yes
- Mechanics: no
- Shop: yes, small
- Miscelleneous: -
AREA
NEUMARKT
BP
32 Cäcilienstr.
Phone 940 25 24
24 hrs open
Service:
- Car Wash: yes
- Mechanics: yes
- Shop: yes, medium
- Car Park
AREA
FRIESENPLATZ
DEA
166 Venloer Str.
Phone 51 15 85
24 hrs open
Service:
- Car Wash: yes
- Mechanics: yes
- Shop: yes, small
- Miscelleneous: -
AREA
RUDOLFPLATZ
DEA
29 Dasselstr.
Phone 21 72 13
24 hrs open
Service:
- Car Wash: yes
- Mechanics: yes
- Shop: yes, small
- Miscelleneous: -
Hotel
rooms in Cologne
HOTELS
IN COLOGNE I. Using internet booking machines
it's very easy searching for a hotel room in Cologne.
One of these special search engines is HRS - Hotel
Reservation Service with its many offers. Click the logo
for starting.
HOTELS
IN COLOGNE II: Looking for a hotel room in Germany
there are some other good booking machines on the net
such as HOTEL.de. They
also often have some cheap offers given by good hotels
in Cologne. Using the service is free, too.
Copyright 2005 - NICE
CITY! Cologne
Cologne's Street Net
The Ring Streets
Militärringstrasse
Militarringstrasse is the most exterior which be- gins in the
south on the Rhine in Marienburg and ends in the north at the
Neusser Landstrasse. Underway one passes the city forest, the
foot- ball stadium and a row of commercial properties.
The Gürtelstrasse (belt streets) or simply, the Gürtel (belt) as it is
so-called, lies closerto the inner-city and begins on the
Rhine in Marienburg as well. It includes mid- dle level to
high-end neighborhoods and in- dustry and commercial zones. Starting at the Sülzgürtel (Sülz belt) in Klettenberg
beginsthe number13 line which travels the Gürtel north.
The Innere
Kanalstr. begins at Luxemburger- strasse as
the "Univer- sitätstrasse" and runs along the back of the
campus of the Univer- sity of Cologne. From Aachenerstrasse they
are dubbed the Innere Kanalstrasse and head in the direction
of the Rhine shore, which ramp up to the zoo and flow on
into Deutz, Kalk and Mülheim.
The Ringe as the inner most street ring indi- cates the inner-city
and reflects the shape of the old city wall. The Ring street
begins on the south side of town as "Ubierring" ends
to Neu- stadt Nord and once again at the Rhine at Theodore-Heuss
Ring. From private residences to commercial real estate, on to
restau- rants and discos, one can find it all along the way. The Kaiser-Wilhelm Ring is exceptionally pretty.
The Nord Süd Fahrt(North-South drive) is a
four to six-point street running through Colo- gne's inner city,
connec- ting the northern and southern old town. That's very
practical for crossing the centre of Cologne by car within
only 5-10 minutes.
The spoke streets
Those
wishing to drive to a specific part of the city can chose a
spoke-street or thouroughfare.They begin predomi- natly on the Ring (see above) and
lead from there in all directions like spokes
in a wheel.Categorized
as such routes are the Aachen- erstrasse (begins at Ru-
dolfplatz
and heads westerly), Bonnerstrasse (begins at Chlodwigplatz
and leads southerly), and Neusserstrasse (begins at Ebertplatz
and leads northerly).
Traffic Control
Control
of the traffic and speedlimits is carried out by police cars
and stationary sensors.Here are some points throughout the city where
stationary sensors are in place:
- Aachener Str. vor RTL
- Rheinuferstrasse under the Severin's brigde
- Innere Kanalstrasse
- Universitätsstrasse in the underpass
- On the Zoobrücke
- On the Severinsbrücke
- Boltensternstrasse at the tall Axa Building
For the
time being, many sensors are uncovered and not working,
therefore, one should drive carefully.
Car
rental near
the inner city
AVIS >29 Clemensstr.
(near Neumarkt)
Tel. 234333
>In the central tation
phone 9130063
EUROPCAR
>26 Christophstr. (near Kaiser-Wilhelm-Ring),
phone 9126010
>In the main station,
Tel. 1392748
HERTZ
>19 Bismarckstr.
(near Friesenplatz)
Tel. 515084-7
>In the central station,
Tel. 51 50 84
SIXT >22-24 Deutz-Mülheimer Strasse (at the
Dorint Hotel), phone 70 200 54
>226 Aachener Strasse,
phone 9542300
>In the central station, phone 91 23 247
ENTERPRISE
311 Bonner Str., phone 348070
KÖLNER FLITZER
40 Rhöndorfer Str., phone 444044
TÖLLER 1-3 Am Malzbüchel (near Heumarkt), phone 219797
