Known for the original Eau de Cologne (a fragrance brand that eventually became a generic term), and home to one of the largest Gothic Cathedrals in Northern Europe, Cologne (Koln) is the 4th largest city in Germany, but still has that small feel and is very walkable. It is also known as a cultural center and hosts it’s own style of beer called Kolsch that we really enjoyed! This was our first stop on a week-long trip to Europe, working our way West to Belgium, Luxembourg, and then to the UK.
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Here is a sample 1-day itinerary for Cologne, Germany based on our spring break trip with teens in March:
DAY 0: TRAVEL DAY
To get to Cologne, we flew in to Cologne Bonn Airport (CGN) via London Heathrow on British Airways. We arrived just before dinner time, so after grabbing some Euros at the airport ATM and taking a 15 minute Uber, we arrived at our hotel that was ready for check-in! We stayed at the Hilton Cologne right in the city center, just a 10 minute walk from the Cologne Cathedral. The hotel had spacious rooms, a nice hotel bar, and really delicious breakfast buffet in the mornings. I always recommend staying in the city center, especially if it’s a short visit.
We were starving by this point and in the mood for some really authentic German food, so we asked the front desk at the hotel for a recommendation (this is a great tip!) and she was spot on. The restaurant is called Gaststatte Lommerzheim (cash only!), which is about a 20 minute walk from the Hilton. The walk was super scenic, taking us right by the Cathedral and across the Rhine River. Everything was lit up and so beautiful! The restaurant was packed and super lively! We grabbed a standing table while we waited to be seated and we were served glasses of Kolsch beer immediately.
Kolsch is only made in Cologne and all Kolsch Breweries must have line of sight to the Cathedral. It’s a light, refreshing beer served in these tall, slim glasses (just under 7 oz) called “stanges”. They are served in these smaller glasses to keep the beer cool and bubbly…so smart! The servers walk around with flight holders filled with full glasses and keep dropping them off at the table until you put the coaster on top of the glass to signal that you are done. They cost around 3 Euro each. It’s a completely different beer experience than you’ll find in the Bavaria region of Germany.
We were seated in this underground cellar area that was packed with tables and people having a great time. We tried various meats, sausages, and potatoes, but by far the best dish was the pork cutlet – a must try! After dinner we made the brisk walk back to the hotel and crashed after a long travel day.
DAY 1: HISTORICAL BIKE TOUR AND KOLSCH BEER TOUR
If you’ve read my itineraries, you know how much I love a good city tour, especially when you’re just visiting for a short time. I also recommend doing these tours at the beginning of your stay, because you can get a lot of good ideas for restaurants and other activities from the guides, plus you get a nice lay of the land before exploring on your own. We had booked a guided small group bike tour of Cologne through Trip Advisor that started at 10:30 and ran for about 3 hours. It was a 10 minute walk from the Hilton to the meeting point at Colonia Tours where we met up with our guide and got fitted for our bikes.
We had a group of about 10 people, and our guide did a fabulous job of telling us all about the history and culture of the Old Town and the New Town, while riding around at an easy pace and stopping at various places of interest along the way. About halfway through, we stopped along the Rhine River for a short restroom and refreshment break before heading over the Hohenzollern Bridge (covered with love locks!) and then finishing outside the Cologne Cathedral.
After the tour we were pretty hungry for lunch, so we grabbed some sandwiches across from the Colonia Tour office at Jlocklich Cafe, a super cute little cafe with an assortment of drinks, sandwiches, and pastries. From there, we walked back to the Cologne Cathedral for the third time…but this time we were going in! We paid for tickets to tour the small museum and to climb the 533 steps up the tower. The stairs are spiral and narrow and no joke, but the views at the top are totally worth it! We were also able to walk through the main cathedral. It’s really an amazing site to see and definitely a must-do in Cologne (it’s really the main reason we selected this city to visit)!
We made our way back to the hotel and had a happy hour drink at the Pigeon Post bar in our hotel, and then headed back out for dinner in Heumarkt Square, which is surrounded by beautiful architecture, statues, and lots of restaurants and breweries to choose from. It hosts a really great Christmas Market during the holiday season as well. It was a beautiful spring day, so everyone was eating outside in the square. We chose an outside table at Hanneschen und die Pfeffermuhle, where we enjoyed some more Kolsch and a really tasty meal!
After dinner it was time for another tour…this time an official Kolsch Beer Tour with the Kolsch Crew. We stopped at 4 different breweries, learning even more about the history of Cologne, especially about the beer culture. We ended up being the only group that signed up so it was a private tour!
That rounded out our quick tour of Cologne. Another half-day would’ve been nice, but we really did get to see and do a lot in our short time there. It’s location within Germany makes it a nice addition to a multi-country trip to Belgium, Luxembourg, or the Netherlands as well. From Cologne, our next stop was Brussels, Belgium…check out my next post for the full itinerary for that location!