Question about going to Hamm, Germany.

Maybe you could define "better" in order to receive more helpful replies - in terms of what? Night life? Culture? Currywurst availability?

As to your other question, Wikipedia has this to say:

Hamm is situated in the middle of a triangle of three smaller International Airports, in the north the Münster Osnabrück International Airport (FMO) in the south-west Dortmund Airport and in the east Paderborn Lippstadt Airport. The nearest greater International Airport is Düsseldorf International Airport.

Use Hamm (Westfalen) as destination when looking up train connections on the Bahn website.

Dortmund is closest airport, FMÖ (Muenster/Osnabrück) not far too, or Dùsselsorf international, depending on where you´re flying from.

Hotel choice: nothing wrong with Hamm but ...
your friend is going there for some days/months ? for work/holiday?

Thanks for replying Reisling. I think they meant better as far as finding reasonably priced places to stay, getting around the city and maybe things to do.

Thanks for replying Arizona. The friend is flying from the US. The friend is just going there for a few days. A reptile show in town.

Edited by: Cassius_Clay

Less of "a reptile show" and more like the largest reptile expo in Europe--according to the folks at reptile forums UK. Your friend better start making plans and quickly.

Dusseldorf may be the closest international airport, but a hub like Amsterdam is less than 200 km away and might be a lot cheaper. Of course, your friend would then have to consider the cost of getting between Amsterdam and Hamm to determine what's best in their situation.

To look for hotels, your friend could use the hrs.de and booking.com websites. To find out about cheaper alternatives within Hamm (or elsewhere), it would be a good idea to contact the local tourist office (use the name of the town and "tourist office" as search terms to find their contact details; the staff should be able to speak English, even if they have very little English content on their website).

Generally speaking though, Hamm hotels will likely be cheaper than comparable ones in Düsseldorf, for instance. The Ibis hotel in the Düsseldorf main train station (Hauptbahnhof) might be handy, though, both in terms of getting to Hamm (takes 1:22 hours, however), and doing a pub crawl through Düsseldorf's old town ("the longest bar in the world"). With a population of 180,000, Hamm can't be completely deserted in the evening, though. And they have local transport system which, again, the tourist will be able to advise you on (I know I'm not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition, but hey...)

I admit I know little about Hamm, yet so far it hasn't achieved to allure me, even though I've been living 'close by' for quite some time. in case the show is the one and only reason to go, indeed best check what booking.com has to offer. however from a touristical perspective, I'd rather pick a place like Münster (30mins by rail), which is a picturesque and vibrant university city.

there are direct flights from the US to DUS, yet I've no idea whether these will be convenient or budget friendly. in case your friend opts for other German airports, e.g. Frankfurt, he could benefit from the very decent Rail & Fly offer by DB German Railways.

for further ideas, drop a line.

I second Münster if your friend doesn't mind the commute - excellent idea Nautiker!

Mind the spelling (with u-umlaut or ue), Cassius - there's also a Munster (without umlaut) in northern Germany (best known for its military training area, and not much else).

I recommend flying to FRA (Frankfurt am Main). Go by train from Frankfurt(M)Flughafen to Hamm(Westf) . There is a train station directly beside FRA airport and Hamm is well integrated in the German railway system. To find out more have a look at the German railway website www.db.de
You could stay either in Hamm or in Dortmund. Dortmund is bigger than Hamm, just 40 km away and easy to go to by train.To find hotels in Germany I recommend www.hrs.de or www.hotel.de