Cologne

Slunk

Heading to Cologne for a weekend in May.Anybody recommend something to do, places to eat, drink & party?

biko

Head down to Altstadt (old city) and check out Biermuseum (it's a bar, not museum) and Brauhaus Frueh am Dom.

Weather should nice too.

Stky10

Visit the Dom, pay a quick visit to Bonn, drink as much Kolsch as you can get your hands on.

I must go back sometime soon. Its been too long.

unclebill98

Very strange was going to post about this place and here ya go!! Heading there sunday for a break....

anything to do other than drink beer? Are other major citys worth heading to etc?

Slunk

Well, I will be in Dortmund for a concert, and was there before. Dont bother with it to be honest. Dusseldorf is pretty close though, although Ive never actually been in the city, just the airport. Would it be worth going back ealry to dusseldorf and spend the day there before my flight home at night??

kayos

Deffo go to the Dom but be warned if you are going to the top it is a LONG slog, take a break on the level with the bell and then go on again. The one stairway up and down can make it a bit of a hassle if you go up at a peak time.

There is loads of brilliant shopping around the place with everything from big name shops to huge department stores.

As for places to eat there is a steak house, I forget the name right now, on one of the main shopping streets if your heading away from the Dom toward neumarkt its on your right up stairs so it has a very small frontage but oh my do they do a good steak. Between size and quality and being cooked to perfection its well worth a trip. If you find yourself in a Steak house with little pigs on grass as a centre piece you’ve got the right place. Will try dig up the name for you again. Lets put it this way I’d go again just for the steak.

FriesenStr has a few pubs and places to eat. The Irish bar down there, Jamesons, is about the only place you will get Kolch in a pint… yummy.

Slunk

Regarding the shopping, are the clothes any cheaper over there ??

uiscebeatha

Koblenz is a lovely but much smaller city about an hour away if you wanted to visit that.

Clothes aren't cheaper to be honest.... shoes are, for some reason I don't understand!

Go to the Altstadt in Cologne, some good Irish pubs are the Corkonian and Flanagan's.

The cathedral is the biggest attraction, you should climb the tower, I've heard it's the highest church tower in the world but I'm open to correction. It's right beside the trainstation

There is also a chocolate museam, which I personally find a bit boring, but my friend loved, it depends what your into.

I used to live in Cologne, I live in Koblenz now, both are lovely cities, though I personally prefer Koblenz.

unclebill98

Thanks for the info.

Stupid question, but I've not a clue in speaking German. Is going to cause any problems or is it like most citys and English is a 2nd tounge!!! Of course I know how to thank in German, but I'm not one for learning to much!

uiscebeatha

not speaking german shouldn't be a problem. I speak near fluent german and people still speak english to me. All the tourist places, restaurants and pubs and trainstations will have people who speak english. In the odd shop there mightn't be someone but generally there is. You'll find you won't be able to use the excuse of not being able to speak german if you get caught on the tram without a ticket because they all speak english!!

Victor

Cologne (Köln in German or Koeln in internet speak) is much nicer that Dusseldorf, but people from Dusseldorf will deny that.

There is a zoo, and a cable car that is suspended over the Rhine (its OK, when it makes a "clunk" sound its meant to do that).

uiscebeatha wrote: »

not speaking german shouldn't be a problem. I speak near fluent german and people still speak english to me. All the tourist places, restaurants and pubs and trainstations will have people who speak english. In the odd shop there mightn't be someone but generally there is.

My shoe lace (Schuh-Spitze) broke so I went wandering on Ihren Str. for shoe shops. In broken German, I asked for "Schuh-Spitze, 80cm". The assistant was unsure, but his boss nearly kicked me out of the place because it was a shoe "boutique"

You'll find you won't be able to use the excuse of not being able to speak german if you get caught on the tram without a ticket because they all speak english!!

I have basic German and got caught having not validated my train ticket to the airport in Dusseldorf (the station was being refurbished and slightly chaotic and I didn't realise there were validators). Its one thing to be worried about not understanding, another when you don't understand why they are angry at you. I was just about allowed to proceed when I was able to demonstrate I was leaving the country almost immediately and so wouldn't be abusing the ticket.