Hotel Recommendations near Cologne Railway Station?

Dinarius

Can anyone recommend a budget hotel near Cologne railway station?

I would like to stay near the cathedral if possible.

Many thanks.

D.

kindalen

the ibis hotel is right in the train station, cheap and very near cathedral.

Living Off The Splash

We got a great deal at the Marriott on the other side of the tracks from the Cathedral. Lovely hotel.

Dinarius

In the end we stayed in http://www.hotel-drei-kronen.de/en/index.html on the banks of the Rhine.

It's only two minutes walk from the cathedral and about 5 from the station.

Ask for a room with a view overlooking the river - no extra charge.

Breakfast was typical German - all-you-can-eat buffet.

Nothing grand, but couldn't fault it at the price.

D.

Living Off The Splash

Ryanair flights are cheap to Cologne. Now that I have been there I need to explore nearby towns with easy public transport access. Any thoughts?

munchkin_utd

Living Off The Splash wrote: »

Ryanair flights are cheap to Cologne. Now that I have been there I need to explore nearby towns with easy public transport access. Any thoughts?

south of Cologne is the Rhine Valley which is lovely.
Then you have the Mosel valley farther down the way (which conveniently is near "Frankfurt" Hahn)

If you just want city breaks, then next on the list should be Dusseldorf which has a street a kilometre long with nothing but pubs and restaurants. Its also got the most Japanese living in Europe so theres japanese bars restaurants (and shops selling random japanese stuff like the toilets that squirt water up your rear end and play music to you)
Aachen (and Maastricht and where the 3 countries meet) are also no distance from Cologne, but Dusseldorf would be way livelier to be honest.

As for accommodation in Cologne (to answer the actual original question), I stayed in an A+O hostel in aachen recently enough and had no complaints. Clean but a fairly sterile atmosphere there. Theres one near the station in Cologne so most likely it'd also do the trick if you only need a clean reliable roof over the head.

otnomart

Living Off The Splash wrote: »

Ryanair flights are cheap to Cologne. Now that I have been there I need to explore nearby towns with easy public transport access. Any thoughts?

I definitely recommend Koblenz for a week-end, an easy train trip from Cologne.

Living Off The Splash

Thanks. We are off to Dusseldorf in September. We try to visit Germany every year. Also been to Maastricht and Aachen. We will look at Koblenz also for a future trip.

Maastricht was really good.