Welkenraedt-Aachen 24 km and back by train

This varied hike takes you from the station in Welkenraedt to the center and then the station in Aachen, where you can take a direct train back to the starting point (trains go once an hour and take 15 minutes). The hike takes you through pasture, wetland, villages, forests, parks and the center of Aachen with its world heritage Dom cathedral. I ended up at the Aachener Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market) which yearly takes place during the four weeks before Christmas. Parking at the station in Welkenraedt is free. You will find something to eat and drink in Welkenraedt, Gut Entenpfuhl in the Aachener Wald, and in the center of Aachen. Most of this hike is through quiet countryside and forests, and you walk through parks until hitting the city streets only about 1.5 km before the Dom.
You start out on the parking lot at Welkenraedt station. You walk out of town via the old Herbesthal station, with among others some commemorative information boards. Shortly after, you enter a path through pasture and swing gates to the Rottdriescherstraße. You walk along the road until it turns into a path taking you through a valley to Lontzen, a small village on the Lontzenerbach. Directly after the stream, you walk up some stairs, and continue on the partly paved Maria-Theresia Straße. At the end of the road you follow the Königsweg a short while, and turn right towards a house. Via a swing gate you enter a path through pasture, across the Lontzenerbach, towards the Katharinenstift, a retirement home with chapel. You pass by the home and continue on another path through pasture back to the Lontzenerbach. Just past the bridge you follow a small path through a swamp-like forest to the Rue Haute. You follow this road a short stretch and then cross it for a path through pasture and along a small stream in a wooded valley. This path with bridges and swing gates brings you to the Geul (Göhl, Gueule) river valley. You follow this valley upstream beneath the Hammerbrücke, a railway viaduct (which you later pass in the train back to Welkenraedt). You climb to the Presterstraße and descend to a bridge across the Geul, only to climb a hill through the forest to other pasture. You follow paths and unpaved roads past a house to the edge of the woods. Here you enter the Brenhaag forest, part of the larger Aachener Wald. You cross the Brand forest and walk into Germany. They were cutting trees here during my hike, hindering the climb of the Klausberg a bit. Once up you continue on a straight lane past some tumuli, one of which is indicated with a sign (Hügelgrab). Soon after you descend the Klausberg via small paths to Gut Entenpfuhl, a popular traditional German restaurant on the edge of the woods, with a miniature golf and a duck pool. You continue towards the Lütticher Strasse, cross a rail tunnel, pass a Meilenstein, and cross the busy B264. A very small path takes you from the road a few meters into the woods on the other side, before continuing climbing on larger tracks and forest roads to the Karlshöher Hochweg. You descend back to the B264, cross it again and climb the Scherpenberg on the other side. You descend on the edge of the wood to Aachen. In Aachen you soon get to the Kaiser Friedrich Park. At the Tritonenbrunnen, the little Pau brook meanders through a green zone towards a waterfall and a larger pond in the Park below. You walk along the brook and the pond and then on a footpath to Nelson Mandela Park. After the park you have to walk through unexciting city streets for 1.2 km until you get to the Marita-Loersch-Weg, a nice pedestrian zone with some monuments. Soon after you arrive to the Aachener Dom via the Münsterplatz. After a visit you continue to the Markt with the famous Rathaus. Via among others the Katschhof, the fountain ‘Kreislauf des Geldes’, the Elisenbrunnen with warm sulpuric water, and the theatre you slowly walk to the main station, Hauptbahnhof. The Christmas market (in season) is on the Münsterplatz, Markt and Katschhof.