hogso Posted April 14, 2016 Share Posted April 14, 2016 As part of my 30th birthday (1st Aug) week long (???) celebration extravaganza, I'll be spending 2 or 3 days in Cologne. I have done some research, and have the following I want to do; Big **** off Cathedral Zoo garden Cable Car over the Rhino Choccy museum It is my understanding that we will find it quite easy to get the train straight from the airport in to the city. Is this the case? Any other tips, tricks, or places to see? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted April 14, 2016 Share Posted April 14, 2016 thinking of using it as base for a stag do early part of next year, probably trying to go to a dortmund game from there, let me know how you get on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sexbelowsound Posted April 14, 2016 Share Posted April 14, 2016 Koln is excellent, Dusseldorf is near by as well. We used Dortmund as a base and went to both of the above cities. Found that Dusseldorf had the better nightlife though. I think it was because everything was on one main strip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chappy Posted April 14, 2016 Share Posted April 14, 2016 Probably my favourite city in Europe (I lived on the outskirts of Düsseldorf a few years ago, spent most weekends in Köln.) Plenty of places to go out, would imagine most have changed hands now but you'll find no shortage of nightlife options. Wouldn't recommend the chocolate museum but having said that I went in 2003 on a German exchange so it may have improved since! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyp102 Posted April 14, 2016 Share Posted April 14, 2016 There are some really good bars in Cologne, easy to find off the main road. If you want something different there was a strip club called pascha... It was €30 entry all you can drink. You could suck squirty cream off the dancers Then above it is about 5 floors of whores, getting gradually more "extreme" as you go up. No idea how much they were as didn't try but if it suits you it's there.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogso Posted April 14, 2016 Author Share Posted April 14, 2016 14 minutes ago, mikeyp102 said: There are some really good bars in Cologne, easy to find off the main road. If you want something different there was a strip club called pascha... It was €30 entry all you can drink. You could suck squirty cream off the dancers Then above it is about 5 floors of whores, getting gradually more "extreme" as you go up. No idea how much they were as didn't try but if it suits you it's there.. Ah. I'm going with the girly so...well I'll ask her. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve1986 Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Just got back from Cologne, if you don't go to Sunner Im Walfisch and have a 3/5 litre beer and a schweinehaxe then you haven't done Cologne properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogso Posted April 18, 2016 Author Share Posted April 18, 2016 (edited) On 16/04/2016 at 20:58, steve1986 said: Just got back from Cologne, if you don't go to Sunner Im Walfisch and have a 3/5 litre beer and a schweinehaxe then you haven't done Cologne properly. How did you get on with transport? We're flying to Dusseldorf and getting the train from the airport in to Cologne now, which appears to be quite straight forward. I was looking at Bei Oma Kleinmann for dinner one of our two nights there. Edited April 18, 2016 by hogso Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve1986 Posted April 18, 2016 Share Posted April 18, 2016 It's dead easy, it's about 35-40 minutes from the airport, but all signposted, not too much in terms of euros either. Go round the town and sample as many Kolsch beers as you can from different breweries. Fruh am Dom is good, Peter's (both near the Dom), but my favourite for food was Sunner, cannot recommend it enough, we've been several times for football and always go there. Any other questions feel free to ask Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogso Posted April 22, 2016 Author Share Posted April 22, 2016 (edited) On 18/04/2016 at 20:16, steve1986 said: It's dead easy, it's about 35-40 minutes from the airport, but all signposted, not too much in terms of euros either. Go round the town and sample as many Kolsch beers as you can from different breweries. Fruh am Dom is good, Peter's (both near the Dom), but my favourite for food was Sunner, cannot recommend it enough, we've been several times for football and always go there. Any other questions feel free to ask I'm hoping there's some sort of terminal to buy tickets from, well I'm sure there is, but are they easy to operate for a non-German speaker? Is there an English language option? I can get by with French and Spanish, having formally learnt and been to those places in the past, but German is something I have a very flimsy grasp on. In conversation and when buying/ordering things I don't expect this to be an issue and we'll probably be fine, but something a bit more technical like buying train tickets...well, you don't want to buy one for the wrong place, or a single instead of a return, or reserve a seat when you don't need to, or something. Edited April 22, 2016 by hogso Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve1986 Posted April 24, 2016 Share Posted April 24, 2016 Yes, there is an English button, in Dusseldorf there will probably be a Chinese bloke who will ask you if you want to go with him to Cologne (no lie on our trip the other week we saw him every time we went to the train station to go to and from a match- its how he makes his living). There are huge yellow timetables on the walls too which tell you which platform to go to and they never change (unlike over here). It is very simple and easy you'll have a blast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted April 24, 2016 Share Posted April 24, 2016 watch out for that pack of rapists Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dAVe80 Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 Cologne is great. Go when the carnival is on, if you can. Mental! Really good local beer called Kölsch, which is served in small glasses to keep it cold and fresh. The local sausages (names excapes me) are fantastic too. Pretty much lived on Kölsch and sausage while I was there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogso Posted August 8, 2016 Author Share Posted August 8, 2016 (edited) Thoroughly enjoyed my few days there, would recommened. There were a few issues, however. Awful, terrible weather. Rain upon rain upon rain. Getting the sky train out of duf airport to the train station, the doors closed behind me before my girlfriend could get on. Was like a scene from a comedy, doors close in slow motion, she screams, I press button, door doesn't open, train moves, I wave, German lady next to me says "no, gone." Also nearly killed her going up the steps to the top of one of the Dom towers. She couldn't make it to the very top, vertigo kicked in. But the city itself was lovely, nice blend of the old and new, traditional and touristy, food and drink was excellent. Was tempted to nick on of those little Kolsch glasses, but didn't have the balls. So nicked a nice coaster from the brauhaus we went to one night. Boiled pork knuckle, mash and sauerkraut! Yummo. I think I would rate the Kolsch thusly - Gaffel > Fruh > Reissdorf. There is a lovely Lebanese restruarant called Beirut (that does almost definitely great takeaway kebabs too) on Buttermarkt near Neumarkt, close to the Rhine and the Deutzer bridge. Really really good and would suggest a visit if you fancy a night off the German grub. Museums all top notch too, although not sure about the Choccy one as only went in the shop. Bought some Lindt chocolcate called 'Spaghetti'. The packet led me to believe it was strawberry & spaghetti flavoured. Perhaps this was some Swiss joke, it was actually just very nice white chocolate and strawberry filling. Edited August 8, 2016 by hogso 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 99% sure im going for my stag do had it lined up for september next year, trying to do a dortmund game as well but the fixtures wont be out until august next year, found return flights from standstead in march for £41, hostel is £45 for 3 nights in 6 men dorms, dortmund are playing inglostadt so im thinking it'll be easy to get tickets... really twitching over it, tempted to press the button rather than wait 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve1986 Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 When is your stag do? Only thing to be careful/mindful of is the fact games can be moved a few weeks before the day. Check if there is a Pokal or champs league fixture the week before or after. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 Was there a couple of weeks ago. Cool city, very enjoyable. The place I recommend most is Claudius-Therme, which is the spa complex on the 'wrong side' of the river. Very relaxing, great food, great facilities, really nice. If interested, I would advise taking your own swimwear (I had to borrow the most comically tiny pair of speedos imaginable, and I'm a fat **** - looked an absolute plonker) and be aware that the sauna facilities are no-swimwear (ie, naturist or with a bathrobe). Great saunas though, they have the guys in there waving the wet towels around, absolutely brutal heat but very much an experience and getting in the pool after is brilliant. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 that sounds really nice, actually i really should do a bit of travel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 i smoked hashish with these kids from cologne back in 1992, in greece. funny group, really cool, it was 3 guys and a chick. the next day a friend of theirs turned up with a little mini keg from their local brewery. we smoked hash and drank beer under the july greek sun, then we rode our scooters to the other side of the island where the surf was up. we didn't surf or anything, we just laughed and relaxed on the smooth rocks the waves were crashing on. good memory. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts