Cologne/bonn Airport

Overall spacious and clean airport. Cheapest long-term parking P3 was full. Obviously not an incident because there was a staff member to advise about other possibilities present. Had to choose between queuing or going to P2. Travelling by GermanWings was outside Schengen which meant departing by bus from a (temporary?) big party tent connected to the Terminal 1 building. Very hot because of the sun on the roof. Passport control on return also in a tent. Bagage reclaim big enough (now?) no problems there. Picking up co-passengers after collecting the car from the parking turned out to be a big problem at least for Terminal 1. The natural place to wait seems only accessible for taxi's and the like. Advice: collect them from the departures level where they can wait on a visible spot.

At CGN Germanwings use their own terminal 1 which they only share with LH. Arrivals: Passport control and baggage reclaim in Terminal 1 old outdated and extremely small. Once outside you can actually start enjoying the airport especially when you reach T2. Very nice layout spacious lots of shops bars etc all in glass very modern. Connection on the train to the city centre easy to find and use. Regular service at very good price. Departures: From train station very long way to walk and not very good signposted. Once in actual terminal it all changes. Germanwings' check in area very big and spacious it was fairly busy yet it didn't look chaotic. If travelling with hand luggage it is possible to use self service check in which is easy to use. Security very quick and polite. Shopping good for the size of the terminal. If travelling outside Schengen my advice wait to go to your gate until last minute as once you clear immigration there is no shops or bars. No airbridges in terminal 2. Departures side of airport is very modern spacious clean good sign posted very nice to use. They need to do something about arrivals tho as it is not very nice and gives wrong impression. There is also a small viewing area on top of the terminal which is free and gives good overview of the airport.

CGN is a pleasant small airport. It reminded me of BRS except that CGN used a jetway BRS didn't. Train connection is kind of weird. I wanted to use my free luggage trolley to the train door which means using the elevators which never are easy in any airport. The elevators in CGN are hard to find and the buttons are really confusing with the labels not clear and worn off: I ended up on the wrong floor several times in the terminal and in the train station I ended up on the wrong side of the tracks. The train ticket machine wouldn't read my VISA bank card so I had to go back through the terminal and crazy elevators to find an ATM machine which did work to give me cash to use in the train machines. When I arrived in the Cologne Main Train Station the same type of machine accepted my bank card with no problem and a train staffer was there to help also. Also flying out be aware that you can't get into Burger King on the other side of security. The only normal place to eat is Subway and the attendants there ignored me so then I went over by the Continental gate for a German place for Cappucinno and Crescent which was okay. Otherwise just a handful of shops and not much else so just remember that it really is just a small airport. The security seemed okay but the security staff doesn't speak English and there's no fast line for guests who know what they are doing but otherwise no real problem. (I have a metal medical implant and am too familiar with security in many airports.) Okay that's all. Probably comparable to HHN (which I've used many times) but maybe better because of rail link and closeness to an actual city.

I used this airport in December 2006. It is a small airport with only very limited facilities especially on the departure floor after security. I also find that it is rather poorly sing-posted. It took me a while to locate the train station from the arrival at Terminal One. On the way back I had to take a long detour from the train station to the Terminal building. I was shocked with the smoking arrangement. There were numerous anouncement to inform passengers that smoking is only allowed at the cafes and the bars. Surely these should be the last place it should be allowed.

Pretty good airport here mainly used for low-cost carriers such as HLX- Express and Air Berlin. Good range of facilities my only gripe is the wait between getting off the plane and baggage reclaim but otherwise a very good airport with all the facilities you need.

May 2006. Well designed calm and spacious airport with a fair range of shops / eating options for the size of the place. Rapid connection to Cologne Main station and then onto the rest of Germany by rail. Only one criticism - exiting the station on the way back I did a very long detour because the signs were not too clear but it gave me the chance to have a look around this pleasant airport.

Good airport following major infrastructural investments. Extremely easy to get around with numerous new shops being added recently. New transatlantic flights starting in May (Continental to Newark) and with the airport's great emphasis on low cost segment big future ahead.

Cologne airport is one of my favourites whether it's the shiny ultra- modern new terminal or the 1960s "old" one which has a cool retro appeal of its own. If you're into architecture you'll enjoy it here. Staff are mostly friendly and chatty the atmosphere is calm and spacious and a good tip is it's got one of the cheapest duty free shops I have found in Europe (whiskey bargains to be had!) what's more at the "old" terminal you can walk into the little duty free and buy on LANDING which means if you're coming from the UK and wanting to bring your German friends an alcoholic gift it's by far the best place to pick it up and there never seems to be a queue. Only downside I can think of is that you need to be ready to walk long distances through its large spaces especially if you land at the old terminal and then want to get the bus into Cologne. However the S-Bahn link to the main station has recently been completed it's cheap and quick and at the end of the line lies one of Germany's best and friendliest cities.

Cologne/Bonn really has developed within the last years. When I was young the airport served only a few European destinations and was mainly used for inner-german LH flights. Nowadays CGN is expanding rapidly since the no-frills carriers Germanwings and HLX moved in. The new Terminal 2 is a very nice steel/glass construction with a large departure hall and a lot of shops and cafés. Although Terminal 1 is more than 30 years old it still has a relaxed and cozy atmosphere. However restoration will be necessary in the future for sure. A weak point is the public transport system. At the moment passengers have to take busses either from Cologne or Bonn to get to the airport and back. A new railway station is under construction and will be opened on June 23rd 2004. I hope this will make the airport even more attractive as I really like flying out of CGN.