Travel Information
Aachen is located in the very west part of Germany, next to the Dutch and Belgian borders. The The closest major cities are Cologne (70 km), Düsseldorf (80 km), and Brussels in Belgium (130 km).
Plane
Participants from overseas will most likely land at Frankfurt Airport (FRA). From there, a direct InterCityExpress connection will take you to Aachen via Cologne (you may have to change there) within about 130 minutes (see also Railway connections below).
From Düsseldorf Airport (DUS), you can either take the S-Bahn (light railway) to Düsseldorf Central Station and change there into a local train to Aachen. Alternatively, there is a direct connection from the airport to Aachen via Cologne from which you can then take a train to Aachen (see also Railway connections above). By car, it takes 1 hour and 20 minutes to get to Aachen via the A44 motorway.
The Cologne/Bonn Airport (CGN) is a hub for many no-frills airlines (e.g., Germanwings, TUIfly). From the airport you need to go to Cologne Central Station; from there trains to Aachen depart every 30 minutes (see also Railway connections above). By car, it takes an hour to get to Aachen via the motorway A4.
From Brussels Airport (BRU) take a local train to Brussels Midi station. From there you can take the Thalys or the InterCityExpress service directly to Aachen. You can also take local trains/ICs to Liege, and change there to another local train to Aachen (see also Railway connections above).
Finally, Aachen shares its own airport with Maastricht, the Maastricht-Aachen Airport (MST) which is located close to Maastricht (The Netherlands). To get from the airport to Aachen you can either take a taxi (around 85 euros), rent a car, or take the bus (line 59 from the airport to Maastricht Railway Station, and line 50 from Maastricht to Aachen). The connection via Maastricht-Aachen Airport might be an option for overseas flights with destination Amsterdam.
Train
Aachen is well connected to the German railway network via Cologne and Düsseldorf. Also, Thalys/TGV high speed trains going from to Cologne to Paris via Brussels (6 trains per day) call at Aachen Central Station, as do ICE high speed trains from Brussels (3 per day) and local trains from Liege (B) and Heerlen (NL). For detailed time tables and booking, consult the website of the German Railways.
Car
You can reach Aachen via the A4 motorway from Cologne, via the A44 from Düsseldorf, via the E25/A2 from Amsterdam or Eindhoven, via the E40 from Brussels or Liège, and via the E314 from Antwerp.
