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Aachen

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Gadget88

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Anybody been here before? How close is the station to the shops and what is there to do?
 
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W-on-Sea

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The station is reasonably central. The cathedral (which is where Charlemagne was crowned) is worth seeing, and quite an unusual, almost Byzantine, style for Western Europe). No other sights really stick in my mind, perhaps as in part much of the centre is relatively modern, as the city's location has put it in the front line of several wars over the centuries.
 

Spoorslag '70

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It's about 1km from Aachen Hauptbahnhof to the dom, in the middle of town. There are various shops of all kinds (including a model shop (https://www.huenerbein.de/) if that fills your boat), various monuments, the dome... If you come to Aachen (or most German cities) during the christmas season (~December) you might find the christmas market quite intresting.

Railwise, the most intresting services surely are the hourly vintage (mostly from 1966) NMBS/SNCB EMUs on the local duties to Spa-Geronstere. The German side has mostly 111/120/146s with Dostos, some 425s, Inadequalent 2 EMUs (mocking how they are far from ideal for the duites on RE9 services) and Talent DMUs and some ICEs and Thalys to spice things up (a little). There is a pretty constat stream of freight from Aachen West onto the Montzen route, but I do not know any good spotting locations for these trains (and it is a bit far from HBF and the shops).
 
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AndrewE

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It's about 1km from Aachen Hauptbahnhof to the dome, in the middle of town.
Don't be confused by that mis-translation (or maybe misunderstanding.) You could spend a long time searching... DOM is simply the German for cathedral and anything less like a dome you have never seen!
 

Spamcan81

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Did a school exchange there in 1969 so I suspect some things have changed a bit since then.
This is still going though AFAIK https://travel.sygic.com/en/poi/rotating-tower-belvedere-poi:43619
There's an impressive cathedral and this https://www.nrw-tourism.com/elisenbrunnen but the natural spring water tastes foul as it's very sulphurous.
Also a theatre/opera house if you're into the arts.
Can't really recall the location of the shops relative to the station but as I said in the beginning, things must have change in the intervening 50 years.
 

stuart100100

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I was there last week on a day trip from Cologne by train...lovely around the cathedral and town hall...the markets probably added to the atmosphere

20181212_140152.jpg 20181212_121800.jpg 20181212_135903.jpg
 

eastwestdivide

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A short cycle ride to the three-country border point (D, B, NL) and adjacent highest point in the Netherlands.
Aachen is also one end of the Vennbahn cycle route on former rail lines.
 

Groningen

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I can only say that the main station of Aachen is located on the right place.
 

Max

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Like @stuart100100 I also recently visited for the Christmas markets (which were great by the way!). The station is a reasonable distance from the city centre but not unwalkable by any means. The 'alt Stadt' is very interesting to walk around, lots of little streets to wander through, and the shopping area is quite expansive though I'd say the choice isn't the most exciting. The 'Dom' is definitely worth visiting, it's (reputedly) one of the oldest churches in Europe with superb Byzantine interiors. I can wholeheartedly recommend Cafe Dom for coffee/cakes and LivingRoom for a meal. Enjoy your visit! :)
 

reb0118

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Its very handy for Aix-la-Chappelle.

It formerly had a notoriety for high level prostitution and the treatment of syphilis - I saw no trace of this on my last visit. The town centre was very pleasant with a few medieval bars. There is a model railway shop quite close to the cathedral.
 

MarcVD

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https://www.huenerbein.de . Already existed 40 years ago. Visited it with a belgian train driver who took me in the driving cabin for a trip Brussels Aachen and back (the Train was going to Cologne but a german train driver took over as of Aachen). HLE 18 to go, HLE 16 to come back. Will never forget...
 
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