Wikitravel won the 2007 Webby Award for best Travel site!

Aachen

From Wikitravel Shared

Jump to: navigation, search

Aachen [1] is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, at the point where Germany borders on Belgium and the Netherlands. It has a population of 246,000. In French (including crossborder train services from Brussels and Paris), the city is known as Aix-la-Chapelle.

[edit] Understand

Aachen was the winter capital of Charlemagne, Holy Roman Emperor from 800 to 814 AD.

[edit] Get in

Aachen central station (HBf)
Aachen central station (HBf)

[edit] By train

[edit] from France and Belgium

The Thalys high-speed train ( http://www.thalys.nl ) connects Aachen with Brussels and Paris.

[edit] from elsewhere in Germany

Trains from Cologne and Düsseldorf run hourly; express trains take about an hour and local trains take 90 minutes.

[edit] By air

The nearest large airport is Düsseldorf. In addition to train connections, there is also a shuttle bus run by Taeter ( http://www.taeter.de/ ) that will take you from the airport to the main bus station in Aachen. The trip takes a bit over an hour.

[edit] Get around

[edit] See

Couven Pavilion in Aachen
Couven Pavilion in Aachen
  • Dom [2] This cathedral is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
  • Rathaus

[edit] Do

[edit] Buy

  • Adalbertstrasse Multiple shops and cafes in one of Aachen's most busy streets.

[edit] Eat

  • Cafe Maredo - Delicious Argentinian food chain based in germany. Good food, not expensive. Located in Blondelstr 11. they're open late and offer late-night specials as well as lunch specials. 'www.maredo.de'
  • Cafe Extrablatt - Sports bar style cafe offers food during the day and a place to hang out at night. They offer breakfast a buffet on a daily basis and a variety of lunch and dinner alternatives, especially the burgers! they're located in front of the Rathaus in the Market street (Markt str.) There's a Starbucks about 30 seconds walking on the other side of the fountain. ;)

[edit] Drink

  • Molkerei - Pub suitable for younger crowd. Located in the outer part of PontStr.
  • Mafe Madrid - Pub/Bar better for an older crowd. Located in the outer part of PontStr.
  • Pontstrasse - Beggining in Markt street, PontStr. offers a variety of restaurants and bars, from pizzerias to late night hangout spots. Pontstr. is very long, so if you're walking from the market by the Starbucks, keep going becasue you probably haven't found the heart of the street. PontStr. lasts until the outer circle of the city, you can see the west city gate from the main bars

[edit] Sleep

Youth hostel Aachen (Jugendherberge Aachen - Euregionales Jugendgästehaus).[3] Maria Theresia Allee 260, 52074 Aachen; phone +49(0241)71101-0

[edit] Cope

Religious services

St. Michael, Aachen-Burtscheid
St. Michael, Aachen-Burtscheid

Overview of christian churches in downtown Aachen:[4]

Catholic churches:

  • Hohe Domkirche, Domhof (15 min from central station).[5], [6] Sun: 07:00, 08:00, 10:00, 11:30; Mon-Sat: 07:00, 10:00; Sat: 08:00
  • St. Foillan, Ursulinerstr. 1 (just behind Aachener Dom).[7] Sun: 10:00, 19:30; Mon-Fri: 08:30, 18:30; Sat: 18:30
  • St. Marien, Wallstraße 48 (3 min from central station).[8] Sat: 18:30; Sun: 09:45, 11:15 (pol.), 16:00 (pol.); Tue, Thu: 18:30; Fri: 18:15 (pol.)
  • St. Peter, Peterskirchhof 1 (20 min from HBf; near bus depot).[9] Sat: 15:00 (vietn.); Sun: 11:15; Mon-Fri: 12:15
  • St. Michael, Michaelsbergstr. 6 (Burtscheid).[10] Sat: 18:15; Sun: 19:00; Wed, Fri: 18:00

For protestant churches in Aachen see also:[11]

  • Annakirche, Annastraße 35 (15 min from central station).[12] Sun: 11 Uhr
  • Auferstehungskirche, Am Kupferofen 19-21 (south from station Aachen-Rothe Erde).[13] Sun: 9:30 Uhr

  • Jewish community Aachen, Synagogenplatz 23, 52062 Aachen; Tel. (0)241-47780-0.

  • Bilal Mosque, Prof.-Pirlet-Str. 20 (near railway station Aachen-West); Tel. (0)241-88906.[14] Friday prayer: 13:45

[edit] Get out

  • World War II Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial[15]: 16 kilometers (10 miles) from the city near Henri-Chapelle, Belgium. From Aachen, take N3 southwest toward Liege, Belgium. Turn right onto Rue du Mémorial Américain. Open daily except for December 25 and January 1; 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The cemetery is the final resting place for 7,992 American military dead lost during the drive into Germany the Battle of the Bulge. A monument is inscribed with the names of 450 Americans whose remains were never found or identified. A museum and a chapel are located on the grounds. Free.
This article is an outline and needs more content. It has a template, but there is not enough information present. Please plunge forward and help it grow!

Retrieved from "http://wikitravel.org/review/Aachen"