Kaiserslautern city and football guide
Kaiserslautern city
Kaiserslautern isn't the shortest city name on earth. Probably not the longest, but not quite as abrupt as Bury. Or Cork.
That's why the 50,000 Americans in the town and area have opted for something simpler. K-Town.
K-Town may not have too many claims to fame but 60 years after the end of the war, it is still home to 50,000 servicemen and women from the USA - the highest concentration outside the States, or so somebody in one of the bars told me.
Despite the large US presence K-Town is very much German, although perhaps as a result english is pretty widely spoken.
I wasn't setting my hopes too high on going there. After all, a leaflet detailing five of the town's highlights included one being the 1970s Town Hall with 25 storeys, and another the football stadium. For tourists, Paris it is not.
Welcome to K-Town: The town centre, with the town hall in the distance.
And true, there's not lots to see. However, it's a lively town - particularly for a Friday night match as I can testify - and it's certainly worth a one-night stopover for that reason alone.
The chances are you'll arrive at the Hauptbahnhof (main station). Virtually all the town (except the stadium) is to the north of that, ie in front of you as you wander out of the main entrance.
The shops, bars and restaurants are largely centred on the pedestrianised area of town, around ten minutes walk away from the station. It's the oldest part of town, pleasant enough but no Prague. You can take your pick of beer halls and cafes and apparently there's an irish bar too although I didn't make it there.
The gateway to this part of the old city is St Martin's Square, or Martinsplatz, a chilled out and shady square surrounded by cafes.
Chill out: And the Brauhaus here shows live Bundesliga football.
Slightly further north of this is the aforementioned Town Hall (Rathaus), tall and blocky, shooting up into the skyline. If you're so include take the lift to the 23rd floor for a panoramic view over a coffee or beer.
Next door you'll find the Imperial Palace, first began in 1152, and the Casimir Building,
A little further north again and you'll stumble across the Japanese Garden, opened in 2000 and a little corner of the city devoted to the gardens and atmoosphere of the Far East.
If you're looking for somewhere to stay - and want somewhere completely different - i'd definitely recommend checking out the Alcatraz Hotel next to the garden - also known as the first German prison hotel.
Yep, they've converted an old clink into a luxury place to stay. But they've kept the old character of the place so yes, you can opt to sleep in one of the cells - pictured here.
I checked one out and it's well worth it. Each one has a tolielt (no slopping out) and flat screen TV, with showers at the end of the corridor.
It's beautifully decked out in modern style throughout, with a top breakfast to boot and it won't break the bank, with singles from 49 euros and doubles from 69 euros It even has a bar. Behind bars.
If you really don't fancy spending your first night in a cell then there are new rooms to choose from too.
Getting there and around
The good news is that Kaiserslautern is right in the heart of Europe giving you a sackful of choices in getting there by plane. The bad news that none of them are right on the doorstep.
The airports closest by are Frankfurt, Hahn and Zweibrücken.
Frankfurt's busy airport hub has links to Heathow and Manchester with the major carriers and the airport station makes the journey to Kaiserslautern, via one change, in two hours.
There's also a link via Ryanair from Stansted to the small airport at Zweibrucken. From there it's a bus connection and train, getting you to Kaiserslautern in under two hours.
Frankfurt Hahn airport is on the no-frills airlines map and this is further, getting on for three hours including a bus link.
If you're in the south of England a better option is Eurostar from London via Paris. Kaiserslautern is on the main route between Paris Est and southern Germany. The whole journey, including crossover in Paris, can be done in a little over five and a half hours.
Expect to pay around £60-£100 each way - there are occasional special deals on this route on the official German rail site (in English) - www.bahn.de
It does get busier than this, honest: Kaiserslautern main train station.
The chances are you'll arrive at Kaiserslautern's smart DB Hauptbahnhof rail station. Everything of note is north of the station, ahead of you out of the main entrance - with the exception of the stadium which is just to the south, a ten or 15 minute walk.
The town centre, stadium and station are all in walking distance of each other so you may well not need public transport in town - but if your hotel means you do, the main bus station is right outside the train station. There's also a taxi rank there.