Cologne centre to the stadium

Cologne operates an urban light rail network made of lines running both underground (U-Bahn) and on the surface (S-Bahn). What’s more many lines that are notionally U-lines also run above ground, and many that are notionally S-lines also run underground.  So think of it as just one network!  The photo on the right, for instance, is the U1 leaving the stadium after a game – above ground.  By the time it gets into town, however, it’s below ground.

Boarding the U-Bahn after the game
The most important line in terms of getting to the stadium is the U1 in the direction of ‘Weiden Schulstrasse’.  It runs west-to-east across the greater Cologne area, from ‘Weiden Schulstrasse’ at the end of the line in the west, to ‘Bensberg’ at the other end of the line in the east.

Colgone station next to the cathedral

From the station or Neumarkt
The central point in Cologne for all visitors is the area around the main railway station and the cathedral, which are right next to each other on the side of the Rhine.  However, the U1 does NOT run from here.  You have two options: you can either wander down the pedestrianised Hohe Strasse and round into Neumarkt (about a 20 minute walk), where you can get the U1, or you can get any number of underground trains at the station (left) and change 2 stops down the line at Neumarkt.

Trains you can get from the main station (Hauptbahnhof) to Neumarkt are: nos. 16, 17, 18 or 19 (total journey time from the station to the ground is 25 minutes; from Neumarkt it is 16 minutes).  Stadium gallery 2 includes photos showing the stadium station’s location in relation to the ground.

From Deutz
If you’re starting out from the right bank of the Rhine, you can pick up the U1 at ‘Deutz / Messe’ or any other stations out to ‘Bensberg’ (journey time from ‘Deutz / Messe’ is 21 minutes).

From the airport
If you’re travelling straight from Cologne-Bonn airport to the ground, you can also make that trip on public transport.

Take the S13 S-Bahn from the railway station at the airport (heading for the ‘Hansaring’) and change at ‘Deutz / Messe’, continuing on the U1 (as above).  Takes 45 minutes.

Arriving at the stadium’s own station

Planned alternative
An alternative option, taking the S12 all the way to ‘Bonnstrasse’ and then getting the eastward U1 back a few stops to the stadium is also due to be available by the time of the World Cup.

Local transport online timetable info

Journey planner
You can plan your journey online at Cologne public transport’s website.  As you can see from the snippet of a screenshot on the left, the headings on this site are in English – however it requires input in German (i.e. it won’t recognise ‘Cologne’, for example).  We’ve therefore included below a few of the words you need to enter to get journey times for some popular trips.  (NB: extra trains run on match days).

Destination
As shown above, for ‘City’ enter Muengersdorf and in the ‘To’ field enter Rheinenergie-stadion (include the hyphen!).

Departure points
For the following departure points fill in the ‘City’ and ‘From’ fields as shown.

Main railway station / cathedral
City: Koeln
From: Dom

Neumarkt
City: Koeln
From: Neumarkt

Deutz / Messe
City: Koeln-Deutz
From: Deutz-Messe

Cologne-Bonn airport
City: Koeln-Grengel
From: Flughafen terminal 1

In every case, if after you press ‘Search now’ the system then offers you a selection of possible stops, accept the first default one shown.

Your match ticket is also valid on match days for local public transport (see ticket for precise times – it’s normally from around 4 hours before kick-off until the trams, trains and buses stop running).