How to take the rail journey from Cologne/Köln to Dresden

On multiple dates in 2024 these trains will be instead be departing from Koln-Messe Deutz station, due to works on the railways around Koln / Cologne,

Final Destination: Dresden

All trains also call at: Magdeburg and Leipzig

These direct trains are usually the slowest option for travelling from Koln/Cologne to beautiful Dresden by train.
So if you're not averse to changing trains, you can get to Dresden more than 90 mins faster by taking a combination of ICE trains.

Though these direct trains are usually the (much) cheaper option for travelling by train from Koln/Cologne to Dresden.
Having something to watch or read with you is recommended, for most of this train ride, you will be travelling across the flat plains of northern Germany

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings usually open: up to 6 months ahead of the travel date - but this period of time is shorter when looking up journeys in August to October.

A choice of tickets

Three types of tickets are available:
Two types of discounted tickets, which will be cheaper the further ahead you book - Sparpreis and Super Sparpreis
One type of non-discounted ticket - Flexpreis

A key difference between these types of tickets is refunds:

• Super Sparpreis tickets are cheapest, but they can't be refunded at all.
• Sparpreis tickets can be refunded for a fee, but the refund will be in the form of travel vouchers to be used for alternative / future journeys.
• Flexpreis tickets can be refunded at no additional charge.

The other key difference is that both types of Sparpreis tickets are only valid on the specific departures selected when booking, but Flexpreis tickets live up to their name, as they can be used on any departure on your travel date.

Note that none of the tickets can be exchanged to a different departure.
There's no need for this to be available for Flexpreis tickets, as they aren't train departure specific.
If you book a Sparpreis ticket and want to travel by a different departure you can refund it and then use the travel voucher towards the cost of the new booking.
Super Sparpreis tickets can't be exchanged or refunded.

The Sparpreis and Flexpreis tickets also include 'City tickets', which can be used on public transport between locations in the city centres and the stations where the train will depart and arrive.

Seat reservations

Seat reservations are optional on this route
They cost €4.90 when travelling in 2nd Class and €5.90 when travelling in 1st class.
Specific seats can be selected from seating plans - you don't have to accept the seat(s) that you will be automatically offered.

They are included within the cost of booking 1st class Flexpreis tickets.
Though despite seats being automatically assigned when booking these three types of ticket - and these tickets being valid on any departure, you will need to pay to re-book the reservations, if you subsequently decide to travel on an alternative train.
So because you won't save by booking these types of tickets in advance, it can be a good idea to wait until you are sure when you will want to travel.

When booking Super Sparpreis, Sparpreis and 2nd class Flexpreis tickets, you have the option of purchasing seat reservations later.
It can be worth re-looking up a journey a week or two ahead of travel, because the DB website will indicate how busy a departure will be.

Booking on the DB website

When looking for tickets from Köln Hbf on the DB website type ‘K‘ or 'COLOGNE' into the ‘from‘ box and not ‘Ko‘.

You can find these direct trains more easily by making a proactive selection of 'Direct Trains Only'.

Trains departing at different times can be cheaper than others leaving on the same day, so if you can be flexible with your departure time use the 'best prices' tool - at the top right on the list of journey options.

When looking up this journey if you don't opt to only see the direct trains, there are dozens of other daily journey options which involve taking more than one train.
Of these, most of them involve making non-guaranteed connections between trains of less than 15 mins in either Berlin Hbf or Frankfurt (Main) Hbf.
Opting to taking a chance on making these connections isn't a gamble; unless the transfer is into the final train of the day on to Dresden - you won't have to re-book tickets if a delayed train results in a missed connection.

Or you can avoid having to make such tightly timed connections between trains by extending the Transfer time between trains - but if you do this, the journey options you will then see, will have a similar end-to-end journey time as the direct trains.

However, there is one daily exception, which has been singled out, because the connecting time between trains in Frankfurt (Main) Hbf, is an easily timed 37mins.
Though it is typically available when departing Koln Hbf at 07:18.

Book early and save: Yes
Online bookings usually open: up to 6 months ahead of the travel date - but this period of time is shorter when looking up journeys in August to October.

A choice of tickets

Four types of tickets are available:
Two types of discounted tickets, which will be cheaper the further ahead you book - Sparpreis Europa and Super Sparpreis Europa
Two types of non-discounted ticket - Flexpreis Europa and Flexpreis Plus Europa.

A key difference between these types of tickets is refunds:

• Super Sparpreis tickets are cheapest, but they can't be refunded at all.
• Sparpreis tickets can be refunded for a fee, but the refund will be in the form of travel vouchers to be used for alternative / future journeys.
• Flexpreis Europa and Flexpreis Plus Europa tickets can be refunded at no additional charge.

The other key difference is that both types of Sparpreis tickets are only valid on the specific departures selected when booking, but both types of Flexpreis tickets live up to their name, as they can be used on any departure on your travel date.

Note that none of the tickets can be exchanged to a different departure.
There's no need for this to be available for Flexpreis Europa tickets, as they aren't train departure specific.
If you book a Sparpreis Europa ticket and want to travel by a different departure you can refund it and then use the travel voucher towards the cost of the new booking.
Super Sparpreis Europa tickets can't be exchanged or refunded.

The Sparpreis, Flexpreis and Flexpreis Plus tickets also include 'City tickets', which can be used on public transport between locations in Köln city centre and Köln Hbf.

Seat reservations

Seat reservations are optional on the ICE train and on the EC train between Munchen and Innsbruck.
They cost €4.90 when travelling in 2nd Class and €5.90 when travelling in 1st class.
Specific seats can be selected from seating plans - you don't have to accept the seat(s) that you will be automatically offered.

They are included within the cost of booking 1st class Flexpreis tickets and both 1st and 2nd class Flexpreis Plus tickets.

On this journey which involves two trains on which seat reservations are available, the fees cover all trains - if reservations are added when initially booking.
Specific seats can be selected from seating plans, you don't have to accept the seat(s) that you will be automatically offered.

When booking Super Sparpreis, Sparpreis and 2nd class Flexpreis tickets, you have the option of purchasing seat reservations later.
It can be worth re-looking up a journey a week or two ahead of travel, because the DB website will indicate how busy a departure will be.
Though if you opt to add reservations later you will have pay the fees per train..

Booking on the DB website

When looking for tickets from Köln Hbf on the DB website type ‘K‘ or 'COLOGNE' into the ‘from‘ box and not ‘Ko‘.