Top 3 things to do in Cologne (or Köln)
In March 2018, I went to Amsterdam, The Hague, Cologne, and Dublin. If you haven’t read my post about the insanity of trying to get to my group, read that here. Once you’ve done that, you’ll have a better understanding why I only spent 24 hours in Cologne and Dublin.
Cologne gets a bad rep for being dirty, ugly, and boring. While I was there, I probably would’ve agreed with you. However, now that I’ve had some distance, I love Cologne. It has grit (just like Memphis), has a tough history, and managed to keep its main and incredible site (The Cologne Cathedral) mostly unharmed during World War 2. It was bombed nearly 14 times but was never destroyed and became a landmark for the Allied forces. I highly suggest watching Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown about Cologne and Dusseldorf to get a better understanding of this city.
We came from Amsterdam and took the train, so I highly suggest doing that. It’s about 2 and a half hours and you don’t have any stopovers. One of the great things about trains is that you can bring your own food and alcohol on it! So feel free to grab some Dutch treats and head to Cologne for a day or 2.
There isn’t a ton to do in Cologne, and I was with a group, so we didn’t do too much. What we did get to do though was amazing. I highly suggest either a long day trip or a full day (leave the next morning) to Cologne if you visit Amsterdam and have free time. We didn’t have great food, so I won’t be writing about any food. I will be sharing the 3 best things Cologne has to offer in my opinion.
Cologne Cathedral - absolutely breathtaking. It is MASSIVE in person and is one of the most dramatic and beautiful churches I have ever seen. We had to walk about 2 blocks away just to get ourselves in a picture with the majority of the church. The train station is right next to the cathedral. So if you take the train, you literally cannot miss the Cathedral when you walk out. When you walk inside, it is so quiet. They have beautiful stained glass all around, and it is so dramatic because it is pretty dark inside. We walked around inside the church for about 20-30 minutes. It was a great introduction to the city.
El-De Haus (Appellhofpl. 23-25, 50667 Köln, Germany) - This is a former Nazi Interrogation and Documentation Center. I told my friend, Dylan, and her mom about this and we went together. This is one of the most impactful experiences of my travels. It is not advertised really and it is in a very nondescript building. You walk through a massive museum and learn about the rise of the Nazi party, the capture of the Jewish people, and the atrocities that went on in this building. Then you walk to the actual prison part of the building. The cells are tiny…. and they would frequently have 20-35 people in these cells at any given time. We spent around 4-4.5 hours here and I could’ve spent even longer. It’s €4.50 to visit, so I highly recommend visiting.
Schokoladenmusem (Chocolate Museum) - Man… what a pick-me-up after the El-De Haus. This museum takes you through the entire process of making chocolate and the social and economic impacts of chocolate throughout history. At the very end, you see some chocolate art and even get to make your own chocolate bar!
Cologne has some great sights to see and is an easy day-trip from Amsterdam that I highly recommend! If you have any other tips for Cologne, drop them in the comments below!