The iconic Cologne Cathedral and Hohenzollern Bridge beautifully lit up against the night sky, reflecting in the Rhine River.

Erlangen to Cologne

Compare trains, coaches, flights and ferries from Erlangen to Cologne. From £62.02, with the total price and every fee shown up front.

One passenger pays £62.02, every fee included. Services cover 623 km and are run by 2 operators across 1 mode.

Checked 7 October 2026Priced for 27 October 2026One passenger, all fees included

What one seat costs

Every operator we hold on this corridor starts at £62.02, so there is no spread to show.

Typical fares · Priced for 27 October 2026

£62.02

  • 263%Moves across the booking window

Departure times on this route

12Go lists the departures it sells between Erlangen and Cologne.

See departures on 12Go

Partner link. The seller pays us a commission when a booking completes, and it never changes what you pay.

Fares by date

What this journey usually costs, by departure date. It shows which days run dearer.

Typical fares

  1. about £165.21Thu8
  2. about £143.54Fri9
  3. about £132.70Sat10
  4. about £121.87Sun11
  5. about £103.49Mon12
  6. about £101.13Tue13
  7. about £77.10Wed14
  8. about £105.37Thu15
  9. about £84.17Fri16
  10. about £93.59Sat17
  11. about £100.18Sun18
  12. about £67.67Mon19
  13. about £81.34Tue20
  14. about £76.63Wed21
  15. about £78.98Thu22
  16. about £81.34Fri23
  17. about £88.41Sat24
  18. about £67.67Sun25
  19. about £70.50Mon26
  20. about £62.02Tue27
  21. about £67.67Wed28

Based on what this route has cost recently. The live fare is confirmed when you book.

The train gets you into Cologne. These two partners take it from there, and the bed is theirs to book.

A hotel room

A room in Cologne for the night the train gets in

Sort by distance from Koln Hauptbahnhof and you can see which places are ten minutes on foot and which are not.

Partner links. We earn a commission when a booking completes, and it never changes what you pay.

Booking window

When to book Erlangen to Cologne

The same search run across the whole booking window, so the shape of the curve is visible rather than described.

  1. £45.5290 days
  2. £81.8160 days
  3. £66.2645 days
  4. £66.2630 days
  5. £67.6721 days
  6. £76.6314 days
  7. £77.107 days
  8. £132.703 days
  9. £165.211 days
Cheapest lead time
Fares bottom out around 90 days ahead, at £45.52.
How much it moves
The gap between the cheapest and dearest lead time is 263 percent. The dearest point is £165.21, 1 days out.
What that means
Today sits inside the cheap window, which closes about 90 days before departure. Waiting from here has usually cost money on this corridor rather than saved it.
£165.21£45.52137142130456090

Book now Fares on this route are lowest around 90 days ahead. You are inside that window.

This corridor, specifically

Facts that apply to Erlangen to Cologne and to no other route on the site.

Clocks

Both ends keep the same time, so the arrival is the departure plus the journey.

The shape of it

623 km

325 km as the crow flies, 92% further by the route services take. The bearing runs north-west.

Who lives at each end

102,675 → 1,024,621

Population at the departure city and at the arrival city, which is usually what decides how often anything runs.

The route

GermanyFranceCzechiaBelgiumNetherlandsPraguePragueBrusselsBrusselsFrankfurt am MainFrankfurt am MainStuttgartStuttgartEssenEssenDresdenDresdenAntwerpAntwerpLeipzigLeipzigDuisburgDuisburgWuppertalWuppertalMannheimMannheimKarlsruheKarlsruheAachenAachenGhentGhentChemnitzChemnitzHalleHalleErlangenErlangenKölnKölnMap data: Natural Earth, GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)Map data: Natural Earth, GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
The journey

What the journey looks like

Direct or connecting, how far the route really runs, and what happens when a connection is missed.

Direct or connecting
0% of the services we sell on this corridor run through without a change. The remaining 100% involve one connection.
How far it really runs
The route covers 623 km against 325 km in a straight line, a detour of 92 percent. Track and road geometry account for the difference.
Where the change is
Connections are made at Munich. The gap between arriving and leaving is 93 minutes, of which about 5 is walking.
If the connection is missed
The tightest connection we sell here has a 10 percent chance of not being made on the timetable alone. Part of this journey is a self transfer between separate tickets, so leave more time than the minimum and expect to check in again.

Cologne is large, and the road in from CGN can take longer than the last hour of the flight. Cars are not our business.

A taxi rank outside an airport terminal

A car waiting when you land in Cologne

Settled in advance, so the ride into Cologne costs what it said it would rather than what the rank says.

Partner links. We earn a commission on a booking, and the fare is the same as going direct.

Who runs this route

The train gets in hours before any room is ready. Holding a bag is not what we sell.

Left luggage lockers

Left luggage near Koln Hauptbahnhof

Most of the points near Koln Hauptbahnhof open before the first train and shut after the last one.

Partner links. We earn a commission on a booking, and the price is the same as going direct.

Questions about Erlangen to Cologne

The questions people actually ask about this journey, answered from the same prices and times the page above is built on rather than written once and left to go stale.

How long does it take to get from Erlangen to Cologne?

Erlangen to Cologne covers 623 km. Each operator's own departure and arrival times for the date you pick are in the search at the top of this page, beside the total price.

How much does it cost to travel from Erlangen to Cologne?

The cheapest fare from Erlangen to Cologne is £62.02, as of 7 October 2026. A typical fare across the next three weeks is £84.17. Both figures are the total for one passenger, including taxes, supplier fees and our service fee, so nothing is added at checkout.

What is the cheapest way to get from Erlangen to Cologne?

The cheapest way from Erlangen to Cologne is by train, at £62.02 for one passenger on 27 October 2026. The comparison table on this page shows what each mode costs side by side.

When should I book Erlangen to Cologne?

Fares from Erlangen to Cologne bottom out around 90 days before departure, at £45.52. Across the whole booking window the gap between the cheapest and the dearest lead time is 263 percent, measured on 7 October 2026. Booking inside the last week has consistently cost more on this corridor.

Which day of the week is cheapest for Erlangen to Cologne?

Monday is the cheapest day to depart from Erlangen to Cologne, at £70.50. That is the median of 21 priced departure days across the next three weeks, as of 7 October 2026. Shifting a departure by one day is usually worth more than shifting the booking by one week.

Which month is cheapest for Erlangen to Cologne?

March is the cheapest of the next 6 months to travel from Erlangen to Cologne, at £54.01 for one passenger. Each month is priced on its fifteenth, so the comparison is like for like rather than a mix of weekends and midweek departures.

Who runs services from Erlangen to Cologne?

2 operators sell services from Erlangen to Cologne across 1 mode: Arverio Bayern, DB Fernverkehr. Journey times, fares and fare conditions differ between them, and the operator table on this page compares all of them on speed, flexibility and what is provided on board.

Is there a direct service from Erlangen to Cologne?

0 percent of the services we sell from Erlangen to Cologne are direct. The rest connect at Munich, with about 93 minutes between the two services. Both legs are sold on one booking, so a missed connection is rebooked at no charge.

Which station or terminal do services from Erlangen to Cologne use?

Services from Erlangen to Cologne by train leave from Erlangen and arrive at Koln Hauptbahnhof. Allow about 44m in total for reaching the departure terminal and leaving the arrival one, which is already included in every door to door time on this page.

Can I change or refund a ticket from Erlangen to Cologne?

2 of the 2 operators we sell from Erlangen to Cologne allow a change or a refund. A change on a changeable fare costs £4.28. The operator table on this page names which is which, and the condition is shown again before you pay.

Where these numbers come from

Places, coordinates, operators, which operator serves which pair, and every distance on this page are real and come from open data. Where a corridor has a filed timetable the departure times are real too, and ferry fares are the prices the operators publish themselves.

Observed service A carrier record names this operator on this pair, carried through unchanged.

Prices come from the supplier wherever we hold a live quote. Elsewhere we show an indicative price built from the real distance, the real operator and a fare curve over lead time, day of the week and season. Those are labelled Estimated fare and cannot be booked.

Defined in full at Door to door, Fares, The booking window, Carbon, Distances

Being on the water gives Cologne a set of days out that do not start at a station.

A guided tour group

Day trips out of Cologne and across Germany

Day trips that leave Cologne in the morning and cover a good part of Germany by evening.

Partner links. We earn a commission on a booking, and it never changes the price.

The two ends, compared

Erlangen reaches 7 places in 3 countries on services we hold, over distances from 161 to 446 km. Cologne reaches 86 places in 26 countries, from 11 to 9,070 km.

Other ways to make this journey

Leaving Erlangen

  • 7Places you can leave for
  • 3Countries
  • 1Operators

Arriving in Cologne

Leaving Cologne

  • 86Places you can leave for
  • 26Countries
  • 58Operators

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