Wuppertal - Germany

[Roger from Sussex]

Hiya everybody, I hope you are all OK,
I want to visit Wuppertal for a few days. Wuppertal is an industrial city in Germany(about an hour away from Cologne on the train, I suppose) - and it seems that I will be able to get there cheaply enough from Gatwick via Cologne/Bonn airport with good old Easyjet.
I want to go there to see the Schwebebahn which is the famous overhead railway(dingle dangle railway!), but unfortunately I can not afford the hotel rates in the city of Wuppertal which are expensive(correction - VERY expensive)as they are obviously aimed at businessmen on expense accounts rather than decrepid sixty-two year old gits like myself who are on tight budgets, and quite frankly posh four or five star business hotels are well out of my league !
Has anyone any ideas on a decent bed and breakfast establishment in Wuppertal, please?
Thankyou for your help,
Regards to all.
Roger.

[HW Jan.C]

The closest to the centre the most expensive usually, Try these web sites they seem to have some good prices.
www.activehotels.com
www.budget-hotel-rooms.co.uk
www.hotel.de
They seem to range from 39 euro upwards for bed and breakfast.You could always take a chance and not book, when you get in a taxi at the airport ask the driver if he knows of a cheap guest house close to where you want to be in the city.Hope this helps
Jan

[chizlit]

Hello Roger,
If Wuppertal is too expensive why not stay in Koln (more hotel choices), and travel to Wuppertal by train for the day, this is what I do. I really enjoyed the town, and I did go on the train (did you know there was a big problem with it a few years ago?!). Also the zoo is well worth a visit if you want something else to do.

[chrismac]

Hi Roger,
I've travelled and stayed in Wuppertal a few times, we have friends who live there . Some of the hotels in the city centre do weekend deals with reduced room rates aimed at regular tourists rather than businessmen. I am going again in early March and booked an executive double room at the Intercity Hotel for �154 for 3 nights which I thought was very reasonable. You can see the hanging railway from the window of the room, no more than 100yds away from the hotel directly across the road from the main rail station. I've ridden the hanging railway many times, it's a fantastic feat of engineering and I'm no great train fan I just enjoyed it's uniqueness.
It might be worth spending a little extra and getting the best position from which to make the best of the suspended railway , I'm sure you'll get value for money and the proximity to both railways an added benefit.

Take Care,
Chris Mac.

[Roger from Sussex]

Hello Everybody,
Firstly, please may I say 'thank you' to Jan C, Chizlit, and Chris Mac for their responses to my original quiery all of which are greatly appreciated - their comments,help and advice have all been duly considered in much depth and are really greatly appreciated.
I am all geared up to visit Germany for one week flying out on 22nd March 2006(I do hope the snow has gone by then - I hate the stuff!) with the primary aim of seeing and riding on the Schwebebahn overhead railway which is in Wuppertal, and which I must mention is so utterly different from any railway which I have seen before in my life, and I must add that this railway is really something which I desperately wish to see and ride on before I get too old to do anything about it.(I remember seeing pictures of this railway in a book when I was a child....and Boy!...that was very long time ago!) At this point I would mention that I am not a railway enthusiast of a hardened nature(and so it is really not essential for me to have a view of any railway from a hotel room - in fact in England my nearest railway station is around three miles from my home, and I have never used it yet!),however, most forms of public transportation do interest me up to a point, such as trains, buses and trams; but I will be truthful and add that like so many others, at home my car is generally my primary means of transport - but then holidays are meant to be different, and I do enjoy riding on alternative modes of transport for a change...and it is also nice not to have to drive so that one can enjoy the views and not have to watch the road also, and to be blunt I will never get the hang of driving on the wrong side of the road !!
Anyway to get to the point I am flying out on the daily Easyjet flight(on my own with my wife's permission; I might add! - now about those german live sex shows !!!!!!!!!!!!)from Gatwick which arrives at Koln/Bonn airport at 20.50 hours, and in view of this late arrival time I have considered it unwise for me to attempt to travel any further that night(in a country to which I have never been before, and one in which I certainly do not speak or understand the language), and so I followed 'Chizlit's' suggestion and based myself in Koln for the week, and as I will have six full days there I will go to Wuppertal(which is 31 miles away from Koln - about an hour's journey)on the main line train for either one or two days for day trips. There seems to be a good S-Bahn(suburban train)railway service from the Airport to the station nearest my hotel, which runs until late at night, hence my decision to base myself in Koln - if this doesn't work it's an arm and a leg job and a taxi to the hotel !
The DB German Main Line Railways, and the Schwebebahn railway timetables are both available on the internet, together with maps and times for Koln local transportation which has kept me busy on my computer in recent weeks accessing the required information and printing it off.
I am positive that Koln has much to offer me, both of transport interest (ie.trams) and also of non-transport interest(ie.the Dom cathedral) for my remaining days there, and as this is my first visit to Germany, I must say that although I am feeling very apprehensive in view of the horrid things that happened in Germany so many years ago(I was born in WW2), I am however looking forward to my first visit to this country.
My Easyjet return flight cost me �24.98 inclusive with all taxes included, which was an offer too good to miss, and after much searching on the internet I booked a hotel(through www.hostelworld.com who offered me the best internet price)just outside the city centre called the 'Hotel Fuerstenberger Hof' which is in an area called 'Weiner-Platz,'
and I was charged €247.00(about �172.90)for seven nights bed and breakfast with a private bathroom(it would had been �42 cheaper without a private bathroom), I just hope they have Kentucky Fried Chickens or a McDonalds in Koln for my evening meals....otherwise I am going to go very hungry at night!
Best wishes,
Roger
(Peacehaven,East Sussex)

[chrismac]

I'm sure you'll enjoy Germany and Koln is a beautiful city. I've visited it a few times too on my many trips over there. The cathedral is definitely worth a visit I'm not really in to architecture but this place absolutely blew my mind. It's a spectacular building, absolutely beautiful and worth a visit. Another good way to spend an afternoon is to take an afternoons boat trip on the Rhine which runs about 100yds from the cathedral. They do half or full day trips which are good value for money. There is also a chocolate museum not far from the cathedral that's worth a look round. It's in the guise of a working museum that goes through the history and process of chocolate making and of course has a big shop next to the exit!
You've no need to worry about the German people, the British stereotype of them is completely wrong. I've always found them to be warm and friendly and nearly all of them speak English as their second language.
Enjoy your trip Roger,
Chris Mac.

[Roger from Sussex]

Hello everybody - I hope that you are all well..

Whilst surfing tonight I realised that I had not let you know the outcome of my trip to Germany in March - my humble apologies for this omission,everyone.
Germany was great - the people were very nice and helpful - and I will most certainly return again in the future.
The Schwebebahn railway in Wuppertal was really most interesting, and Wuppertal town centre has lots of good shops, and there's a lovely bakery in the town centre where you can get a lovely mug of coffee and really delicious filled rolls too.
Cologne(Koln)is excellent too, the Dom cathedral was enormous and the local tram system was very good(I even got to Bonn one day, that's a nice place too) - and although the Hotel Fuerstenberger Hof in Wiener Platz where I stayed is hardly a 5 star hotel it was nevertheless very good indeed, and the breakfasts were fantastic and my room was quite comfortable and all the staff were really most helpful.(ps remind me to tell you about the additional channel on the TV in the bedroom sometime with the 'extra' naughty channel - no wonder I never got to sleep until 5am next morning !)
Take care everybody.
Kindest regards,
Roger,
(Peacehaven, East Sussex)