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Germany City Travel Guide: Cologne

Cologne (Köln)

• Germany's oldest city
• In the middle of Germany in north-south terms, about 65km east of the border with the Netherlands
• Biggest city in Germany until the 19th century
• Prime engine of the German economy
• Center of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany
• A center of radio, TV, music and art (about 120 galleries), and Germany’s carnival city
• World famous for its spectacular cathedral
• Population: 1,012,000 (2004)

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It was the ancient Romans who said 'If you haven't seen Cologne, you haven't seen Germany'. In 50BC the Roman empire's northern outpost, founded as Ara Ubiorum, 'Altar of the Ubians', was elevated to the status of a colony: Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, or plain 'CCAA' - in large part because it was the birthplace of Agrippina, wife of the Emperor Claudius. Today only the 'colony' part of its ancient name survives as 'Cologne'. Cologne is Germany's oldest city and, until the 19th century, the grandest - a status still reflected in the scores of spires that serrate its skyline, and its massive cathedral, or Dom.

It's mercantile success began with the city's traders in London gaining special trading concessions from England's Henry II in 1157. Cologne thereby became the founding city of the mighty Hanseatic League that dominated trade in Northern Europe for several centuries. Even today it is fourth biggest city in the nation. Almost 20 percent of Cologne's one million-plus population is foreign born, meaning it is still the cosmopolitan hub it started life as. Half the households in the city are single, perhaps partly explaining why the place has such a rocking party reputation.

As a lead up to the somber Catholic season of Lent, the 40 days of fasting before Easter, Cologne goes through its so-called 'fifth season': an approximately 3-month-long carnival starting on November 11 and ending in February on Shrove Tuesday (AKA 'Mardi Gras', literally 'Fat Tuesday'), the day before Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. It moves outside on Weiberfestnacht, the Thursday before Lent, in a climax of festivity.

Cologne's reputation as Germany's party city is backed up solidly by its famous thirst for the beer that shares its name with the local dialect: Kölsch. As for places to drink it: Cologne, with its more than 4000 pubs, restaurants and ale houses, is reputed to have more drinking spots per head of population than any other town in Germany.

Also, until the 1990s it had more breweries than any other city in the country. Cologne is also famous for its dedication to music and the arts, and a wealth of both are there for the taking all year round.

June-July, the time of the 2006 World Cup, should be about 22 degrees Celsius (72 degrees F) during the day, and around 12 degrees (54 degrees F) at night.

The center of Cologne is Altstadt (dating from the Roman days). Three ring roads splay out from it:
-Ring: following the medieval city wall.
-Gürtel: from the 19th century.
-Kölner Ring: a six-lane autobahn.

Cologne's public transport network is made up of buses, trams and an S-Bahn and U-Bahn train system operated by Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Sieg. For short visits, the best train deal is probably a 3-day ticket or a strip ticket with a maximum of 4 separate journeys, depending on the distance.

Before embarking on an exploration of Cologne, cross the Hohenzollern Brücke bridge, or take one of the ferries that ply the Rhine to Deutz on the right bank of the river to get a better idea of the city's overall look and layout.

Starting from the Dom we're going to follow the city clockwise in a rough circle, first going down south alongside the Rhine.

Altstadt Nord
Aldstadt: rows of tall gable-roofed pastel-colored burgher houses line the river, the spires of the city's churches, not least those of the massive Dom, forming the backdrop. Even if half the size, the Dom (Cologne Cathedral St Peter and St Mary) would probably beggar the word 'grand'. Its imposing presence dominates not only Aldstadt, but the whole city, making navigating Cologne a breeze. It sits between the main railway station, the Hauptbahnhof, just to its north, and the main pedestrianized shopping street Hohe-strasse, just to its SW. On the eastern side of the Hauptbahnhof is the central bus station, the Busbahnhof. Hohe-strasse and the left bank of the Rhine, running north-south in parallel, define Aldstadt from the Dom and Hohenzollernbrücke Bridge at the north end, down south to Heumarkt and Deutzer Brücke Bridge.

Aldstadt’s main shopping streets of Hohe-strasse and Schildergasse form a back-to-front L with Hohe-strasse starting from the SW corner of the Dom plaza, meeting Schildergasse, with its major department stores, about 400m down.

•Please note that Aldstadt is a tourist trap, albeit an attractive one. If you want cheaper - and perhaps better - food and drinks, go somewhere else. Not really the place to be after nightfall.
•Take care that you don't get ripped off, especially in taxis.
•Any big railway station is home to pickpockets and purse snatchers. Be alert, especially when gazing up at all those towers and spires in the vicinity! This goes for inside the Dom as well.

The Dom (daily, 10am-4pm) demands by its sheer size that any tour of the city start there. Construction began in 1248 in the French Gothic style, but was put on hold in 1560 when the money ran out. The original plans were rediscovered in 1820 and Kaiser Friedrich Wilhelm IV dug deep enough for it to be completed by 1880. It survived WWII and has been a UN World Heritage Site since 1996. The Dom was built to house its main treasure, the Shrine of the Three Magi, purportedly containing the Three Wise Men’s bones, removed from Milan in 1164 as part of the spoils of war.

Possession of it turned the Dom into a focus of Christian pilgrimage and was used to legitimate the Hohenzollern unification of Germany. You can climb the 95m, 509-step south tower (daily, 9am-4pm, till 5pm in summer) for magnificent views of Cologne and, on a good day, well beyond. The world’s largest working bell, the 24-tonne Peter Bell, is housed in its tower.

Approaching the Dom from the station and entering the cathedral square you can see a single arch of a surviving side-gate of the ancient gate of the city, duly inscribed with ‘CCAA’. The main gate arch is displayed inside the Roman Germanic Museum (see below).

Right across from the entrance to the Dom is the Cologne Tourist Office. Stop off here first for information. It also has last-minute hotel room deals that can save you a fortune. (See below for more info.)

Just to the south of the Dom, between it and the Rhine, is the huge modern complex housing the:
Museum Ludwig (Tue 10am-8pm; Wed-Fri 10am-6pm; Sat/Sun 11am-6pm) Tel:+49-221-221-26165. If postmodernism were to allow it, this would be the last word on its art. Includes Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Paul Klee, Marc Chagall, Margritte, Dali, and others.
Philharmonie: This 2000-seat concert hall lies underground between the Dom and the Rhine in the Dom-knoll and was opened jointly with the neighboring Museum Ludwig in 1986. With about 400 concerts a year, it hosts everything from the classics to jazz to musicals.

Beside it, to the west, is the Römisch-Germanisches Museum (Roman Germanic Museum) (Tue-Sun 10am-5pm) with an excellent display of the city’s Roman roots. It was built around the huge intricate Dionysus mosaic discovered near the Dom in 1941 during the building of an air raid shelter, and contains over three million archeological finds, among them the elegant accoutrements of daily Roman life. Good museum shop.

In a bold glass building just SW of the Tourist Center is Westdeutsche Rundfunk (WDR), Europe’s biggest broadcaster, producing about a quarter of Germany’s TV content. It boasts the world’s first electronic music recording studio, built in the early 1950s, where the pioneer of the electronic genre Karlheinz Stockhausen began his career. WDR is also a favorite of hoax buffs when in 1993 its radio station announced a city regulation requiring joggers through the city’s parks to run no faster than 6km/h so as not to disturb the mating squirrels.

Next south is Minoriten Kirche (Church of the Minor Friars). Served by the Conventual Franciscans, this is one of the city’s most famous gothic churches (along with St Andreas and Antoniterkirche). Buried in it is the great thinker of the High Middle Ages, John Duns Scotus, who died there in 1308. Renaissance scholars scorned his latter day followers for their dogged adherence to his extraordinarily dry and subtle form of sophistry, unfairly spawning the word ‘dunce’ from his name. He was canonized in 1993.

Just south across Minoriten Strasse is St Kolumba Kirche (daily 11am- 6pm except Thu; free entry) first mentioned in written sources in 988AD. Since WWII it is also known as "Maria in Trümmern" (St. Mary in Ruins) as, after its almost total destruction by bombing in 1945, only its statue of Mary was left intact.

Just two streets east on Am Altermarkt is the Rathaus (Town Hall) dating from 1330 and which is worth visiting to see:
-the Mikwe or ritual bath of the medieval city’s Jewish community dating from 1150 and now housed under a glass pyramid in front of the Hall. The porter of the Rathaus has the key for those interested.
-the foundations of the Praetorium, or residence of the Roman governor of Germania Inferior (1st-4th centuries) discovered underneath the Rathaus and on display in its basement. You can also see what Roman engineers were capable of at the time by viewing, and actually walking along, a rare section of a Roman municipal sewage system (long long out of use!)

Walk towards the river from here and you come to the traditional focus of Aldstadt: its Romanesque church Gross St Martin Kirche (Mon-Fri 10.15am-6pm; Sat 10am-12.30pm then 1.30pm-6pm; Sun 2pm-4pm) exactly half way between the two bridges. It is separated from the bank of the Rhine only by the small Rheingarten park, in the middle of which is the Fischmarkt. Founded around 960 it was built on what was then an island in the Rhein. Until the 19th century its tower, along with that of the unfinished Dom, was the symbol of Cologne.

The Dom was originally built to replace Gross St Martin's as the city's main church. Gross St Martin Kirche, by the way, marks the center of Aldstadt's nightlife, mainly for tourists and businessmen. By day the surrounding area's romantic narrow streets invite the wanderer.

(Note: the word 'Romanesque' used to describe much of the architecture in Cologne is a term coined in the nineteenth century to describe the style of 11th and 12th century building design - primarily church design - that took as its model the monumental style of classical Rome. Typically Romanesque churches are laid out in the form of the cross with the altar at the eastern end, and with something of a fortress-like character, especially on the western facade.)

Just to the south of Gross St Martin Kirche is the puppet theater Haenneschen at Eisenmarkt 2-4, Tel. (0221) 258 1201 (10am-2pm). Founded in 1802, it features puppet humor in the local Kölsch dialect.

And just to the south of the Haenneschen is Heumarkt, home to one of the city’s famous brew-pubs, the Brauerei zur Malzmühler (Mon-Sat 10am-midnight; Sun 11am-11pm) on Heumarkt 6. It sells its own brand of Kölsch: Mühlen-kölsch. It can be rather difficult to navigate one’s way to on foot thanks to the numerous pedestrian crossings and a tramline, but worth the effort. For gay travelers, the restaurant Quo Vadis at Vor St Martin 8-10 is highly recommended.

A little east and just south of the Rathaus is Wallraf-Richartz Museum-Fondation Corboud on Martin-strasse 39 (Tue 10am-8pm; Wed-Fri 10am-6pm; Sat/Sun 11am-6pm): a stunningly modern space for Cologne’s oldest museum. Its core collection is of medieval and early modern paintings from 1250 to 1550, but it also houses a significant collection of Baroque, Romantic, Realist, Impressionist and Symbolist works, including some sculpture, making it one of the top museums in the world for 13th -19th century art. Its scope was significantly enhanced in 2001 with the addition of the Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist paintings of the Fondation Corboud collection.

Nearby on Gürzenich-strasse is the old banquet and festival hall of Gürzenich inaugurated in 1447 and since renovated to make it the one of the most modern conference and event venues in the city, and still the site of annual Carnival feasts. The Hard Rock Café (Sun–Thu 12pm–1am; Fri/Sat 12pm–2am. Tel (0)221-2726 880) is just across the street at Gürzenich-strasse 8.

Altstadt Süd (Rhine side)
Let’s now venture south of the line marked by Deutzer Brücke bridge, crossing the next streets to the south: Augustiner-strasser leading directly off Deutzer-brücke bridge, or, a bit further west, Caecilien-strasse that Augustiner-strasser and the roughly parallel Pipin-strasse converge onto.

Just south of where they converge, at Marienplatz 19, is the largest of the twelve Romanesque churches: St Maria im Kapitol (Mon-Sun 9.30am-6pm), built in 690AD on the foundations of a Roman temple that had been there since about 50AD and was dedicated to the Capitoline triad (i.e. the three major Roman deities: Jupiter – god of the sky and chief of the gods, Juno – his wife, and mother of Mars, and Minerva – goddess of crafts, trade guilds and war). It houses many art treasures, amongst them a plague crucifix from the 14th century.

For a look at something Romanesque but non-religious, walk a little east and check out the Overstolzenhaus on nearby Rheingasse 8 built in 1220: Cologne’s only extant patrician house from that period. Worth it for the almost mesmerizing effect of its stacked arches. Now home to the Cologne Media College.

Just south: St Maria in Lys Kirchen (Mon-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 10am-4pm; Sun noon-4 pm) on An Lyskirchen 12 is the only one of the Romanesque churches to have escaped serious damage during WWII. A small church that features a well-preserved vault and well-restored murals.

You may want to check out Trinitatas Kirche, just west on Filzengraben 4, where there always seems to be something interesting, and often slightly alternative, in the way of art or music going on.

But from St Maria in Lyskirchen be sure to make your way east to the Imhoff-Stollwerck Museum (Chocolate Museum) (Tue-Fri 10am-6pm; Sat/Sun/pub.hols 11am-7pm; closed Mondays. Tel: (0)221 931 888-0) at Rheinauhafen 1a, built out over the Rhine. This is the only museum in the world about chocolate that properly addresses the science and technology of the manufacturing process and that is built over a (tiny but) real chocolate factory. At the end you even get to taste from the famous chocolate fountain!

Next door, with an activity deck on the roof if you need to burn off any chocolate calories, is the Deutsches Sport und Olympia Museum (The German Sport and Olympic Museum) (Mon-Fri 10am-6pm; Sat/Sun/hols11am-7pm; closed Mon) Rheinauhafen 1,Tel (0)221 33 6090. This is a modern museum in a historical castle-like warehouse on the Rhine documenting the history of the Olympic Games and Germany’s participation in them. It comes complete with exhibits of sporting equipment and interactive areas where visitors can prove their own physical prowess – or confirm their lack of it!

Südstadt
Back west down Grosse Witschgasse and, after the intersection, Georg-strasse, you come to Georg-platz and another of the Romanesque churches, the 11th century St Georg Kirche, 'the only remaining pillared basilica in the Rhineland'. Walk half a kilometer south, cross the Severinsbrücke Bridge road, and you're heading into the colorful and cosmopolitan heart of Südstadt. A kilometer down the street and you arrive at another of the Romanesque churches, St Severin Kirche (Mon-Sat 9am-6pm; Sun 9am-noon) at Severinskirchplatz. This is Cologne's oldest church site, the first one on it being built in the 4th century over a Roman cemetery, and the beginnings of the present one in the 9th century to house the remains of St Severin, the 5th century German saint, probably educated in Rome, who became the saint of winemakers. Guided tour through the excavations, Mon & Fri 4pm.

A little further down and you're at Severins Tor (Severin's Gate), one of the three remaining gates of the old 8km medieval city wall, and the center of Südstadt. Gross St Martin Kirche stands prominently in the background.

About 600m east is Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum für Völkerkunde (Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum of Ethnography) (Tue-Fri10am–4pm; Sat/Sun11am–4pm) Ubierring 45. This museum, founded in 1906, serves to heighten awareness of and respect for non-European cultures, in particular those of Oceania, Indonesia, Africa, the Near East, Northern America, as well as, on a smaller scale, Egypt, Mesoamerica, Cambodia and Thailand. Amongst the thousands of exhibits are a complete gamelan orchestra from central Java, and a textile and photograph collection.

Towards the Rhine and 350m north up Agrippina Ufer is the Bayenturm (Bayen Tower), the SE corner bastion of the medieval city fortifications. Built in the 11th century it was restored after damage to its top floor from WWII and now houses the Women's Archive and Documentation Center.

500m down Severinswall (i.e. the road directly across from it) and just past the bow in the road, is a touch of historical pathos: Bottmühle. A crumbling, abandoned, ivy-clad tower - one of four mills built on the medieval city wall - it is now, according to one source, no more than a home to falcons.

Neustadt-Süd
NW up Kartaeuserwall will take you past Kartäuser Kirche – a comparatively plain little church apparently built more for the bowing of the head than the craning of it – onto the street called Ulrichgasse and the nearby Ulrepforte: a preserved section of the medieval wall featuring a rather phallic tower, and once an area for the city’s potters, their kiln fires making central locations too dangerous.

From here you can head 400m south to the Volksgarten park with its pedal boats on the lake and beer garden.

Altstadt-Süd (western side)
It is also worth going north up Ulrichgasse then first left up Vor den Siebenburgen to see St. Maria vom Frieden Kirche, a Carmelite convent begun in 1643 and completed only in 1716 with a magnificent façade in the Belgian baroque style. Inside is rather plain but gets its mystique from the image of the Black Mother of God on the high altar, a gift of Maria de' Medici in 1642 and purported to work miracles. The church’s most recent significance is as the place where Edith Stein, the Jewish-born nun, lived from 1933 to 1938 before being deported to Auschwitz and dying there in 1942. She was raised to sainthood in 2000.

For one of Cologne’s finest examples of ecclesiastical beauty, full of breathtaking works of devotional art, not to be missed even by those not normally into visiting churches: St Pantaleon Kirche (Mon-Sat 8.15 am-6pm; Sun 9am-6pm) on Am Pantaleonsberg 2, about 350m NW of St. Maria vom Frieden Kirche. Work started on it in 866AD on the site of a Roman villa, and the Benedictine monastery church was consecrated in 980AD.

Going about 800m NW to Mauritiuskirche-platz, you may be interested in calling in on the neo-Gothic St Mauritius Kirche - the oldest of the city's churches until it was, due to dilapidation, rebuilt in the 1860s - and the nearby Wolkenburg, an old baroque monastery that is now an elegant bistro, bar and lounge with a garden restaurant (6pm-11pm).

Just 400m north of here is Neumarkt, right in the heart of the city with three very popular shopping malls: Olivandenhof, Neumarkt-Passage, and Neumarkt-Galerie. With quality bookshops, boutiques, shoe shops, galleries, fine restaurants and more, you’ll find something to see and do here – being covered – whatever the weather.

A little to the west of the center of Neumarkt, around Rudolfs-platz: Schaafenstrasse just to the south, Friesenwall to the north and up to Friesen-strasse, is one of the city’s nightlife hubs. (Friesenwall is well known to discerning shoppers, too.) It attracts a mixed crowd of students, yuppies and tourists. It is also a gay nightlife area. The gay bars, cafes, restaurants and bistros in this area cater more to the younger, ‘party’ gay crowd. Most famous of them, open virtually all hours, is Ex-Corner on Schaafen-strasse 57-59.

Just west of this area, across Hohenzollern-ring, is the Belgische Viertel (Belgian Quarter) with lots of small bars hidden away – mainly for students.

Keep going west along Friesen-strasse and continue along Venloer-strasse and on your right, no.40, you will see the Stadtgarten (accessible from U-Bahn Friesenplatz or Hans-Böckler-Platz, or the train station Westbahnhof). Comprising a concert hall, recording studio, restaurant and beer garden, this is Cologne’s main jazz venue, but also plays host to other genres like hip-hop and mojo.

From Mauritiuskirche-platz a few streets east is Cologne’s main synagogue, the Synagogen-Gemeinde Köln (Tel. 221-921 5600) on Roonstrasse 50 between Mozart-strasse and Beethoven-strasse near Rathenau-platz, the only synagogue in Cologne to have survived the Nazis. It also serves as the Jewish community center and incorporates Koscheres, a kosher restaurant.

To the SW of the synagogue on Albertus Magnus-platz is the University of Cologne, Germany’s largest. Check out the student radio station Kölncampus here.

Back in Neumarkt, and you can find yet another Romanesque church, St Caecilien Kirche on Caecilien-strasse 29. Rather than the church itself, its main point of interest is the Shnütgen Museum (Tue-Fri 10am-5pm; Sat/Sun 11am-5pm; every 1st Wed of the month 10am-8pm) that it houses: one of Europe’s top museums of medieval art. It features a thousand years of ecclesiastical art and sculpture, and is unrivalled in its textile and painted glass collections.

Altstadt-Nord (western side)
About 500m north on Offenbach-platz is the Kölner Opernhaus (Cologne Opera House) (box office open Mon-Fri 9am-6pm; Sat 9am-2pm. Tel (0)221 221 8248) also incorporating the Schauspielhaus (drama theater), the Yakult-Halle, and the West-End Theater. It stages a wide range of opera and theater, as well as ballet, and is recognized as one of the best opera houses in Germany.

Running along the north of Offenbach-platz is Glockengasse, made world famous by its premises at no.4711. Here is the home of the world's oldest, longest-produced fragrance, being the original shop of the perfumer Wilhelm Mülhens. In 1792 Mülhens bought the recipe for what had became known as 'eau de Cologne' from a descendent of its Italian immigrant inventor Gian Paolo Feminis, where it has been produced ever since.

St Maria in der Kupfergasse Kirche (Mon-Fri 9.15am-12.15pm then 2:45pm-5:45pm) on Neven-Dumont-strasse 7, just a few minutes walk north, is notable for being built in the Dutch Baroque style, reflecting the roots of the Carmelite nuns who made their home in Cologne after being driven from Holland by Calvinists in 1630.

Across from it and a little west on the corner of Zeughaus-strasse and St. Apern-strasse is the Römerturm (Roman tower): all that remains of massive 2.5m wide, 8m high, 4km long Roman wall that was built around the city in about 50AD, of which the tower formed the NW corner. It is in excellent condition and the original colored mosaics on it are still clearly visible.

A little north and we’ve almost come full circle, being back level with the Dom. The Kölnisches Stadtmuseum (Museum of the City of Cologne) on Zeughaus-straße 1-3 (Tue 10am-8pm; Wed-Sun 10am-5pm) is housed in the Zeughaus: the city’s old imperial arsenal (1594 - 1606). It offers a wide-ranging portrait of the city’s history, with exhibits about everything from its carnivals to its battles, including its 20 years under Napoleon. Free audio guides in English are available.

NW of here is another Romanesque church, St Gereon Kirche (Mon-Sat 9am-12.30pm, Mon-Fri 1.30-6pm, Sun 1.30-6pm) on Gereonsdriesch 2-4. It was dedicated in the 4th century, and the present structure dates from 1227AD. It is famous for its intricate floor mosaic of David and Goliath and its ten-sided dome described as ‘a gem of medieval architectural genius’. Among the dignitaries buried there is the city’s first archbishop, Hildebold.

Neustadt-Nord
The huge 243.3m (798ft) telecommunications tower out to the east is the Colonius. Unfortunately it is no longer open to the public.

About 450m NW of St Gereon Kirche is Cologne’s biggest cinema complex, Cinedom, located in Media Park, accessible from Christoph-strasse station on subway lines 6, 15, 17 and 19. In spite of its size, plushness and huge array of films shown to technical perfection, it doesn’t really cater for the English-speaking visitor. However there are all sorts of restaurants on offer, including a Pizza Hut, and it is a great place simply to stroll around and take in.

Just SE of Cinedom, near the corner of Hansaring and Amkümpchenshof, is a sizeable remnant of the city’s medieval wall.

Keep walking NE up Hansaring and after about 450m you come to the intersection with Lübecker-strasse. Turn right here and you can see the Eigelstein Tor: one of the city’s three remaining gates in the old medieval wall. Eigelstein Tor forms the center of the lively pedestrianized entertainment district of Agnesviertel, full of bars and sidewalk cafés.

From there about 400m SE, beside the Rhine at Kunibertsklostergasse 6, we come to the last of the Romanesque churches on our tour: St Kunibert Kirche (daily 9am-noon then 3pm-6pm). This is also the last of Cologne’s Romanesque churches to be consecrated, in 1247. It is named after Kunibert, the bishop of Cologne, who in 663 chose the site as his burial place. Architecturally this is the most integrated of the Romanesque churches. Its particular points of interest are its stained glass windows showing the lineage of Jesus, and the (now covered) pre-Christian well, whose water was said to increase women’s fertility.

From there take the Theodor Heuss Ring east to the Rhine and there at Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer 80 is the Bastei (0)221-925-8990, a famous and elegant restaurant overlooking the river. It was built in 1924 on the site of a medieval bastion in the city’s fortifications, was destroyed in WWII, and rebuilt in 1954.

About 500m further north up Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer and around the U-bahn Zoo is the 19.5 hectare (48 acre) Zoologischer Garten Köln (Cologne Zoo) (daily: summer 9am-6pm; winter 9am-5pm) at Riehler-strasse 173. It includes an aquarium-cum-reptile house-cum-insectarium (daily 9am-6pm) which can be visited separately if you want. The zoo, amongst its 7000 animals, features many apes, some of them quite rare. Across from the zoo are the Botanical Gardens (daily: summer 8am-9pm; winter 8am-dusk. Greenhouse: daily: summer 10am-6pm; winter 10 am-4pm).

Skulpturenpark Köln (Cologne Sculpture Park) (daily Mar-Oct 10.30am-6pm; Nov-Feb 10.30am-4.30pm; free entry) is just south of the Zoo Brücke Bridge. Stroll through and see what sculpture means in the 21st century, scratching your head, shaking your head . . . or out of your head.

Deutzer
From the zoo, take the famous Kölner Seibahn (Rhine cable car) (Apr-Oct daily 10am-6pm) from Riehler-strase 180 (near Zoo station) on a kilometer-long ride east over the river to the Rheinpark for unequaled views of the city. (This may be something you want to do as soon as you get to Cologne, offering as it does an excellent bird's eye view of Altstadt.)

Next to the cable railway is one of Cologne’s famous spas, Claudius Therme, at Sachsenbergstrasse 1 (daily 9am-midnight) with a huge range of services centered around spas, mud baths and saunas.

Rheinpark itself is the city’s biggest green belt and brings out crowds of roller bladders and joggers, and children enjoying its playground.

South of the Rheinpark is the huge Kölnmesse complex which forms the heart of Cologne’s massive trade fair industry. Every year it holds about 40 trade fairs covering 90 percent of the world’s exportable goods, attracting 1.4 million visitors from around the world.

South-east of the Kölnmesse, about 700m directly west of Deutze Brücke Bridge is the distinctive Köln Arena at Willy-Brandt-Platz, a huge multi-purpose 18,000-capacity hall.

Cologne Tourist Office

Unter Fettenhennen 19 (across from the Dom)
D-50667 Köln
Tel +49(0)221 221 233 29
Fax +49(0)221 221 233 20
Mail: koelntourismus[at]stadt-koeln.de
Open daily 9am-10pm
www.koelntourismus.de
All images courtesy of KölnTourismus GmbH

Getting to Cologne

Air

There are two international airports nearby:
-the Cologne/Bonn Konrad Adenauer Airport (CGN): connects to 87 airports, mainly in Europe, but with a few North African and Middle Eastern destinations too.
Airport bus no.170 runs regularly between the airport and Cologne, taking only 20 minutes. Buses leave from Terminal 1 Gateway A, and Terminal 2 Gateway D.
For bus timetable information, click here and:
(1) in the top line type or paste in koeln
(2) in line 2 flughafen k/b term. 1 or flughafen k/b term. 2 depending which terminal you are leaving from: 1 or 2
(3) in line 3 koeln
(4) line 4 hauptbahnhof (i.e. central railway station), then click ‘Submit’.
For train timetable information, first select and copy: Koeln/Bonn Flughafen, then click here and paste it in the box. Click 'Show'. It will come up with the airport name in a dropdown menu. Click ‘Show’ again.
The station is next to Terminal 2. A suburban train (S-Bahn line S13) leaves every 20 minutes for Cologne central station (Hauptbahnhof). The train journey takes 17 minutes. A taxi ride into Cologne is about 17km and will cost you about 25 euros.

-Dusseldorf Airport (DUS): 55 km to the north of Cologne. Serves 90 airlines connecting to 172 destinations, the vast majority of them in Europe, but a few in America and Africa, and two in Asia (2002 statistics).
For train timetable information, click here and
(1) in the top line type or paste in duesseldorf
(2) in line 2 flughafen
(3) in line 3 koeln
(4) in line 4 hauptbahnhof (i.e. central railway station), then click 'Submit' for the transport alternatives.
The ride south to Cologne generally takes 40-50 minutes, depending on the kind of train.

Train

Cologne is linked with London, Paris, Amsterdam, Hamburg and Berlin by the following high speed trains: ICE, Thalys/Eurostar, Metropolitan and City Night Express. The Hauptbahnhof (Central Station) (adjacent to the cathedral) connects to any German city; the two smaller stations Köln Süd and Köln West serve mostly regional trains.
Cologne has an integrated U/S-Bahn, tram and bus network linked to nearby Bonn to the south. Day travel cards are available. The Köln Welcome Card - available for 1, 2 or 3 days - offers a public transport pass and various discounts at the city's attractions, restaurants and shops.

Bus/Road

Connexions to all parts of Germany via the autobahn. However, be warned: Cologne is a driver’s nightmare with its one-way streets, lack of signs with street names, cyclists, pedestrians who are likely to walk on the street, and expensive parking garages.

Car Hire

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Accommodation

Featured Hotels

Hotel Lyskirchen - downtown 4 Star Hotel 1km from Cologne railway station
Filzengraben 26-32
Cologne 50676

Hotel Mado - centrally located, modern 4 Star Hotel
Moselstrasse 36
Cologne 50674

Book Accommodation in Cologne

Hotels in Germany - Accommodation Online
Hotels in Germany - Bookings - hotels throughout Germany.
Hotels in Germany - Hotel.de - hotels throughout Germany.
Hostels in Germany - Hostelworld.com - cheap accommodation throughout Germany
Hotels in Germany - HotelsGermany - hotels in all locations.
Hotels in Germany - Agoda - hotels in all locations.
Hotels in Germany - Marriott - city breaks, special deals
Hotels in Germany - Expedia USA - US Travel specialists.

Eating

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Drinking

Cologne is the eating and drinking center of Germany with more bars per head of population than any other German city. Choose from historic pubs in the Altstadt, or more modern locales in the Innenstadt.

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Beer Tours of Germany from Bier Mania!

Internet Cafes

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Local football teams

FC Cologne and Fortuna Cologne both formed in 1948 are the city's major clubs. FC Cologne were German champions in 1964 and 1978 whereas Fortuna have spent only one season in the top flight in 1973-74. Cologne's World Cup stadium is the 45,000 capacity Stadion Köln which is being completely renewed for the World Cup.

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