World Cup 2006 Question

On a similar topic as KimandMartin%26#39;s Gelsenkirchen World Cup post, I was thinking of staying in Cologne for a couple of World Cup games... the games are in Dortmund and Gelsenkirchen.

Is it practical to travel from Cologne to these two cities for the games? Deutsche Bahn reckons an hour each way to each of the cities from Cologne.. any other locations near Gelsenkirchen recommended?

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I recommend stying in Düsseldorf (Duesseldorf),

also very nice at the river Rhine and closer to Dortmund and Gelsenkirchen

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I think it%26#39;s for sure possible to attend games in Dortmund and Gelsenkirchen from Cologne. Add another half hour for the trip between the Main Station in Gelsenkirchen and the Stadium and another 15 Minutes for Dortmund Main Station to the Stadium. If you op for Cologne, make sure you don%26#39;t have to travel too far to the train station cologne, things could get a little bit incovenient then and cologne is quite big.

Another good idea might be Dusseldorf, it saves you a little less than half an hour each way to Dortmund/Gelsenkirchen and back and is for sure a good place to be during the WC as well!

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To give you an idea:

Ireland 4 mio inhabitants 70.280 km^2

VRR 7,2 mio inhabitants 5.027 km^2

London 7,4 mio inhabitants 1.579 km^2

The VRR is the local public transport network of this region.

efa.vrr.de/vrr/linienplan_schnellverkehr.pdf

Your entrance tickets for Dortmund and Gelsenkirchen cover also the trip to these stadiums from anywhere inside the VRR area (e.g. Düsseldorf - but there are many more cities).

Travelling from Cologne is timewise also possible, but Cologne is no more in the VRR area. Another problem ist that Cologne is much better known abroad and you%26#39;re not the first one with this idea. And Cologne is a venue city itself. Thus it won%26#39;t be easy or cheap to find something in Cologne.