Aachen is a small German university city right at the Belgian and Dutch borders. The city is located in Rheinland-Westphalen, one of Germany’s most dynamic regions and home to four of Germany’s ten largest cities, including Bonn, Cologne and Düsseldorf.
Tourism
Aachen has a very rich history and a stroll around its close-knit centre will show signs of such different periods as the Roman Empire, the French occupation in the late 18th century or, inevitably, the destruction caused by the bombings during World War II. But the city’s most important and more celebrated historical period was its tenure as capital of the Holy Roman Empire under Charles the Great.
The figure of Charlemagne is central to the city’s identity and the Carolingian times are seen as a lot more than history, a source of inspiration for the future. To share this perspective with its visitors, Aachen has developed the “Route Charlemagne”, a special walk that brings together the city’s medieval Carolingian heritage with its modern side – it takes tourists through Charlemagne’s cathedral, arguably Aachen’s most impressive monument, to the Town Hall, which stresses Aachen’s role as a European city and teaches its citizens about the European Union, through museums, the “Elisengarten” park and finally the inner city campus of the RWTH, one of the conference’s hosts.
The RTWH
Both science and student life play an important role in Aachen, with its four colleges spread all over the city and an estimated student population of 40.000, 21% of which foreign. The largest and most important of Aachen’s universities is the RWTH.
The Rheinisch-Westfaeliche Technische Hochschule Aachen (RWTH) is a research university internationally recognized for its achievements in several fields of engineering and science and one of the nine German Universities of Excellence, Germany’s equivalent to the Ivy League. The university is also a founding member of the IDEA League, a strategic alliance of five leading universities of technology in Europe. | |  |
Transport The closest international airports are Köln/Bonn and Düsseldorf, from which you can take a train to Aachen. However several airlines, particularly low-cost, also fly to smaller airports in the region and therefore Düsseldorf-Weeze, Maastrich/Aachen and Liège are also all worth considering when flying to Aachen. The city is also connected to the European fast-train network and those travelling from London, Brussels or Paris might want to consider reaching Aachen by train instead. | |
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Climate Aachen is part of a European temperate zone, characterized by mild winters and balanced temperatures throughout the year. The average temperatures for May lie between 12º and 16º C and late spring weather typically showcases an even mix of warm sunny days and colder rainy periods.
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