Unlike an exhibitors who usually drop direct into Essen on Tue (or Wed) for setup day, as an attendee we have a bit more leeway. Our usual plan is to land somewhere in Europe, do our holidays first and then move over to Essen on Wednesday – usually arriving in the evening. The only snag in this plan is that I tend to miss out on the Press Conference which is held in the late morning.

Salzburg: The Start

We transit from Vienna this year so our hop off point to Essen on Wed was Salzburg. Had a quick brekkie at the Costa Coffee in the Hbf, and then took the WestBahn train to Ulm where we were to change to an ICE into Essen.

As has been the case the past few years, Bahn – the German Bahn, not to be confused with WestBahn which is Austria-based – has been doing their best to throw “Surprises” down our path. This time, they announced the service from Ulm to Essen – which we’d booked as far back as April – will not run, and we need to perform the usual-try-to-find-another-alternative-route game.

There is a change for your journey from Salzburg Hbf to Essen Hbf on 21 October 2026: Your connection ICE 216 in Ulm Hbf cannot be reached. The reason for this is a timetable change.

Notes On Train Specific Travel
Because of the scheduling change, your original ticket is now valid on any route to your original destination with any of DB’s long-distance (ICE, IC, EC) or regional (RE, RB, IRE, S-Bahn) trains. You can choose a later connection, and you can also travel earlier in the day on your original travel date.

Well, at least they are now bothered to inform you via email. In the past, they… just…. dropped the service and let you discover that on-site. Surprise! Duh.

WESTBAHN, the Austria’s Western Railways

But let’s talk about WESTBAHN first. We’ve ridden most of Europe’s train services but this was the first time we got ourselves onto a WestBahn. I’ve heard good reviews about them on Tripadvisor, and lately they’ve expanded a bit into eastern Germany which is where the route Salzburg to Ulm (Stuttgart) route came into the picture.

Here are some pictures of the WestBahn train we were on, and my first impressions

• Very comfortable leg space
• Large, spacious pulldown tray; useful if you intend to use your laptop, and good enough to do some card games too!
• Double-storey; which likely means you don’t need to make seat reservation
• Self-service coffee machine tho they also have a restaurant coach
• More luggage storage space (given its original route was the long distance Vienna to Salzburg leg)

And importantly, the train comes on time and on schedule. No “Bahn” drama. Overall I’m impressed, and if there’s both Bahn and WestBahn for the same route, I know which one I’ll pick! Hah.

The ULM juggle

Thankfully this time, our Ulm-Essen leg was sorted out fairly easily. We managed to get on a Bahn ICE at Ulm that takes us to Wuppertal, and from there a regional S-Bahn straight into Essen. Would have prefer the direct Ulm-to-Essen option, and as we’d paid for seat reservation, that’s just “money lost” as the reservation does not transfer to the alternative train we’ll be taking.

When we got off at Wuppertal and were checking which platform for our next ride into Essen – the two fellas standing next to us just went “Oh hi, I think we saw you on the Bahn train from Ulm. You guys going to Essen?”

And that’s how we ended up chatting non-stop on the 45 min ride from Wuppertal to Essen. We talked mostly about board games, how the hobby has grown over the years, the magic of Essen, badminton, running – and as these fellas are from UK, we also talked about (what else?) football (they support Norwich City), UK Games Expo the equivalent of Spiel Essen for the UK market.

We exchanged numbers, and only later when WY told me they were from Naylor Games, did I realize I’d just chatted for close to an hour with someone I thought was a complete stranger but who turned out to be contacts we’ve been talking to for months (over some Kickstarter and purchases). Wow!

NH Essen

Our preferred stay in Essen would be FOUR (formerly Holiday Inn) or Premier Inn, but this year both of them were booked out earlier than usual. I’d to scout out new places and we settled on NH Essen. It’s part of the NH chain so I suppose it can’t be too shabby, and interestingly it seems to sit somewhere between the Hbf and Berliner Platz station.

We like to stay somewhere near the Berliner Platz station for two reasons; 1) the Limbecker Platz mall is nearby, and 2) Berliner Platz offers an easier get-on get-off experience during the Fair. We started our Spiel Essen journey donkey years ago in 2012 staying at (then) Movenpick and Intercity, and using Essen Hbf as our transit point. But since discovering Berliner Platz, we’ve not switched back to Essen Hbf. 🙂

Quick first impression of NH Essen is very positive. Hotel is indeed within walking distance from Essen Hbf with plenty of food options along the way.

A good rest, and tomorrow LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

#13yearsofSpiel
#LetTheGamesBegin

For more SPIEL Essen reports:
https://boardgamecafe.net/category/spiel-essen/