Advantages: Great to visit at Christmas, Lots to do
Disadvantages: Gets very cold in autumn/winter so take warm clothing

...Having relatives who live in Germany, I visit at least once a year and my favourite time of the year is Christmas. There is something about arriving in a city like Cologne or Koln, as it is referred to in German, and visiting their Christmas Markets. They have about eight markets in operation between the end of November up until Christmas day. They are an absolute delight and a must for anyone visiting Cologne, all brimming full of continental delights from hand crafted Christmas decorations and toys to enticing chocolate truffles. There are a number of stalls selling Gluwein, which is the local equivalent of Hot Mulled Wine, the perfect antidote to the cold that seems to creep into every part of your body. As others have noted the Cathedral is the main attraction and very beautiful, but if you have a visual impairment be aware... Read review

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Advantages: Good public transport, plenty to see and do
Disadvantages:

...Cologne is a great city, with a great deal to see and do, and plenty of bars and restaurants at relatively cheap prices. Although the airport is a bit out of the centre, it is easily reachable and the public transport network is very good, serving all of the surrounding area. For the young there are a lot of thigns to do, whilst for older people there are lots of shops to satiate the appetite. The cathedral is obviously the main attraction, and it towers over the city. From Cologne it is possible to travel extensively, into France and down to Southern Germany and Switzerland. Although it is probably not big enough to make the main focus of a holiday, it is certainly a good base for four or five days to expolore the surrounding areas, and accommodation is fairly easy to find and relatively inexpensive.... Read review

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Advantages: siehe text
Disadvantages: siehe text

...Hey there. I am new here; active at ciao-germany though. I am expressing my experiences at ciao.uk, cos i just wanna keep my english up to date. I used to live in America. Speaking German all the times makes me forgetting the english language. So I hope it didnt get so bad. Well, Cologne is the city where i live at. I dont know why they put this picture for that "product", because the most important and popular part is the center of cologne. In the middle of the center, there is the hugest cathedral all over the world - the cologne cathedral. They started to build it in 1248 and it lasted more than 600 years to finish building it up. It is impressive when you look up the cathedral. Imagine how many Japanese people are running around there and taking pictures. That really cracks me up. Inside the cathedral there are the corpses... Read review

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Advantages: A stunning example of culture and history
Disadvantages: Towers may be inaccessible to some

...Background: Cologne Cathedral is a masterpiece of high Gothic architecture. Construction began in 1248, but due to a lack of funds and various disagreements concerning the work, the cathedral was only completed in 1880. The cathedral is renowned as one of Germany's prinicpal landmarks and has long been Colognes number 1 tourist attraction, featuring heavily in the city's unofficial logo. The Cathedral is the second largest Gothic structure in the world and is beloved by architects and artists alike- the scale is so vast that standing beneath the towers is breathtaking, particularly considering the realitively backward technology utilised for the construction. The monument is even more impressive due to recent history- the city of Cologne was almost completely flattened by Allied air raids during the Second World War, but the cathedral... Read review

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Advantages: Excellent breakfast, great location, very friendly staff, very clean
Disadvantages: Small shower, main entrance obscurely placed

...In a very pleasant old style part of Cologne lies the Hotel Caprice. Although the entrance is in an odd place to get to from the main road from the Railway station (by the Catheadral) it does not take a great deal of genious to find it when following the intructions given when we booked. Our purpose in Cologne was simply to relax with the scenery and enjoy a sample of German-style life. The hotel on first site was moderately pleasing from the outside, and we were received by a most gentlemanly character who chose, after greeting us in German that English would probably sort formalities out more quickly. (We only encountered one member of the reception staff unable to speak fluent English - appropriately he worked through the night !). The lobby was extremaly alluring - don't forget that free coffee is available to guests throughout... Read review

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Advantages: nice people, beautiful city
Disadvantages: can't think of any

...yourself. If you want to go out in Cologne, the best places to eat and relax are in the old town, not far from the main train station. You'll find a lot of restaurants and you have a great view on the river Rhein. To have a drink you can go to one of the many cocktailbars on Heumarkt or Zuelpicher Platz. This is a very trendy and young region with some Studentbars, so the drinks and entries are quite cheap here. If you want to go to a club which is very "in" you could go on the "Ringe". But make sure you don't wear trainers! What you have to drink here is Koelsch! Of course there are other things to see and do other then drinking and partying at night. I mentioned the river Rhine before and you can make boattrips to places like Bonn (which was the capital of Germany before Berlin). Cologne is famous for it Cathedral, which is just next... Read review

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Advantages: Beautiful city, cheap chocolate, good shops
Disadvantages: None!

...The obvious thing to 'do' when you are in Cologne is to go and see the cathedral - and this is indeed probably where your visit to the city should start, as it's right in the centre and fairly close to the tourist office. The building itself is enormous and easily findable, as the spires rise above the city well! Climbing the tower is cheap and, if you can manage the 500-odd steps, affords great views of the city. Cologne has some good shopping too - make sure you go on a weekday though as shops shut at lunchtime on Saturdays - and whatever you do, try to get to the Imhoff-Stollwerck museum on the banks of the river, about 25 minutes' walk from the cathedral. This is an extremely modern, very interesting, chocolate museum, and some free samples are included in the very reasonable £3 entry price. There is also, within the foyer, a shop... Read review

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Advantages: a different way of christmas
Disadvantages: the crowds

...I have never visted Germany before but took a trip to see the Colocgne and Koblenz christmas markets. We went with a tour company which as it happens will be another story and spent only 4 hours in Cologne but it did leave its mark on me. They have 4 christmas markets 2 near the cathedral and 2 just a few minutes walk away.We went to the largest which was a battle to get to as we had to go through the shoppers but when we got to it we were not disappointed. It was not as I imagined but it was brillant, small stalls all around selling christmas things and many many food stalls. On the christmas stalls you could buy many wooden things nativity sets and the wooden displays like windmalls which you put candles in and the heat makes them turn,I got the most brillant handpainted balls and different sorts of baubles for the tree all at good... Read review

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Advantages: Close to Cologne Cathedral and shopping areas
Disadvantages: Breakfast expensive 14 euros per person per day

...We booked this hotel throuigh accorhotels.com and it certainly wasn't expensive for the class of hotel. We drove through France to Cologne and found the hotel easily, because it is on a main road. There is a public car park under the hotel which costs 10 euros per day or 1.50 euros per hour, so it could work out expensive if you took the car in and out. We found no reason to take the car anywhere, becauae verything we wanted was within a short walk. Upon arrival we were greeted by a very friendly receptionist who spoke extremely good english. She gave us the choice of a smoking or non smoking room, offered us a tourist map and asked if we needed any information about Cologne. The room was very nice, with air conditioning , internet connection, min bar, room service, television, a supply of shampoo etc, towels and a view over... Read review

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Advantages: History. Scale. Drama. Art. Views. Free Admission.
Disadvantages: Crowds. Luggage.

...I will refer throughout to the subject of this review as Cologne Cathedral, that being the familiar English term for it. If you wish to carry out further research you will also need to know the German title: "Kolner Dom". Two of my great interests in life are architecture and history; seldom do they merge better and in more spectacular style than in the great churches and cathedrals. Over the years I have enjoyed visiting virtually all of the cathedrals in England - many in Poland during the last seven years too. Since my late teens there had been one cathedral above all others that I had wanted to visit - Cologne. However well one may, or may not, know Cologne, Germany, or even in a much wider sense church architecture, the iconic silhouette of Cologne Cathedral, with its truly colossal twin towers, will probably be familiar to many... Read review

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