4 Star Options:

• Dorint Sofitel An Der Messe Cologne
• Crowne Plaza Cologne City
• Atrium Rheinhotel Cologne
• Central Hotel am Dom Cologne
• Ramada Treff Hotel Huerth
• CityClass Hotel Caprice am Dom
• Four Points by Sheraton Cologne
• Euro Garden Hotel Cologne
• Jolly Hotel Media Park Cologne
• Mercure Severinshof Hotel
• Wasserturm Hotel
• Hotel Cristall Cologne

3 Star Options:

• Ramada Treff Hotel Bruehl
• Ibis Koeln Citey Messe
• Mercure Hotel Cologne West
• Flandrischer Hof Hotel
• Friends Hotel Cologne
• Artisthotel Monte Christo Cologne
• CityClass Hotel Europa
• Hotel Callas am Dom Cologne

Car Hire:

Please contact Kirsty or Stuart on 01903 832888 or email us with your requirements.  Click here to see rates online.

Entertainment:

Culture:

Cologne is the economic and cultural capital of the Rhineland and has one of Europe's most vibrant and thriving art scenes. Cologne counts over 30 museums and hundreds of galleries. Exhibitions range from local Ancient Roman archeological findings to contemporary graphics and sculpture. The city's Trade Fair Grounds are host to a number of trade shows such as the Art Cologne Fair, the International Furniture Fair (IMM) and the Photokina. Cologne is also well known for its celebration of Cologne Carnival and the Cologne Gay Pride events. 

Museums:

These are the main museums in Cologne:

• Wallraf-Richartz Museum - Martinstrasse 39 Painting and sculpture (13th to 20th century)
• Museum Ludwig - It has a large collection of twentieth century art, including PopArt, Abstract and Surrealism. It also has one of the largest Picasso collections in Europe.
• Chocolate Museum  (Imhoff-Stollwerck-Museum)
• Fragrance Museum - Farina House, the birthplace of Eau de Cologne. House 4711.
• Roman-Germanic Museum
• Rautenstrauch Joest Museum
• Museum of Applied Art
• Cologne City Museum
• Museum of East Asian Art
• German Sports and Olympic Museum - One of Cologne's newest museums offers pure sport. The Olympic Games from 1936 to 1972 are vividly documented, with individual objects donated by famous sportsmen and women such as Boris Becker and Zatopek.

Theatres:

The most famous Cologne theatre bears the name "Millowitsch" theatre. The folk theatre has been a Cologne institution since 1848 and Willy Millowitsch, who died in 1999, was considered and continues to be considered as the very personification of everything "Kölsch" or typical of Cologne. The city had already erected a monument to him during his lifetime and appointed him a freeman of the city.

In addition to "conventional" theatre performances in the "Der Keller" theatre, the "Theatre im Bauturm", the "Freie Kammerspiele" or the "Comedia", entertainment, cabaret and comedy are staged in the brash "Scala Theater" of Wally Bockmayer, the "Senftöpfchen" or the "Atelier Theatre". Urban repertoire theatre is performed at the Cologne theatre, the Schlosserei and the Halle Kalk.  

Shopping:

Hohe Strasse (High Street) is one of the main shopping areas and extends past the cathedral in an approximately southern direction. This street is particularly popular with tourists and contains many giftshops, clothing stores, (fast food) restaurants and electronic goods dealers. For mainstream shops, go to metro station Neumarkt or Heumarkt, and search for "Schildergasse".

Nightlife:

Cologne's nightlife is colourful and diverse. In addition to the many pubs in the Old Town, some of Cologne's quarters have emerged as part of the scene.

Cologne‘s "Old Town" is not really all that old. After it's destruction during World War II, the people of Cologne lovingly rebuilt it. Today its narrow lanes and many original pubs attract hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. Whether you want to relax in the park along the Rhine called Rheingarten or enjoy a Kölsch in one of the typical breweries - it is worth while to take a look.

The municipal theatres Oper and Schauspielhaus rank high in Cologne cultural scene. At the Offenbachplatz, you can watch opera, theatre and dance.

Food:

Cologne has a wide variety of restaurants, both German and otherwise. The city is one of Germany's leading gastronomic lights. Per head of population, no other city in the Federal Republic boasts so many public houses, and also so many top-class restaurants.

One can eat pretty well in most traditional-style Kolsch restaurants: the Brewer-pubs are particularly worth taking note of. If you are looking for a snack, you can either head for one of the Turkish, Arabic or Asian places, or you can make use of the traditional fast food places like Mc Donalds and Burger King.

Italian restaurants in Cologne seem to attempt to aim for a higher quality than in the UK, though it is debatable whether they achieve it, and whether their prices (often much higher than UK prices) are justified.

There are several Indian restaurants across the city, which serve a fair fare, though the visiting Brit may be slightly disappointed to find that German 'curry culture' is rather akin to that of the UK in the 1960s: menus are neither large and varied, nor regionalised and specialist, and although ingredients are fresh, the food without exception appears to be tamed-down for the conservative German palette.

Some suggested restaurants:

Graugans
Hyatt Regency Cologne,
Kennedy-Ufer 2a,
Tel: 221 8281 1771
Before the opening of the Hyatt Regency Cologne, a lot of thought went into the concept of Graugans, the gourmet restaurant at Hyatt Regency Cologne. It needed to incorporate modern German cuisine, yet be unique and set new trends. The result was a combination of Asian dishes with German cuisine, offering Chef de Cuisine Roland Brandtner the possibility of creating a variety of unusual dishes.

Brauhaus im Walfisch
Salzgasse 13
Tel: 221 257 7879
U-Bahn: Heumarkt
Brauhaus im Walfisch isn't easy to find, but it's a good choice for atmospheric dining. This step-gabled inn with a black-and-white timbered facade dates from 1626. More importantly, it serves excellent food. There are many German specialties, often influenced by French cuisine.

Bizim
Weidenstrasse 47
Tel: 221 131 581
This extraordinary restaurant is one of the best places in Germany for exotic Turkish cuisine. The celebrated chef, Enis Akisic, has created an exciting menu that features dishes such as quail grilled on a rosemary spit or veal with wild mushrooms. Expect the unexpected here. Order from the chef's four- to seven-course menu for a sampling of the best of the house. Reservations recommended.

Blue Marlin
Wolfstrasse 2-4
Tel: 221 257 0651
The Blue Marlin is not a regular style sushi bar. Located in the centre of Cologne, the quality of the sushi is excellent and is moderately priced. The service is also very good and very fast.

Hanse Stube
Excelsior Hotel Ernst,
Trankgrasse 1-5, Domplatz
Tel: 221 2701
U-Bahn: Hauptbahnhof
One of Cologne's best restaurants, Hanse Stube offers top-drawer service and food better than that served in the dining room of the Dom Hotel. Prodigious talent and imagination go into shaping the cuisine.

Börsen-Restaurant
Unter Sachsenhausen 10-26
Tel: 221 133 021
U-Bahn: Hauptbahnhof
This is the most comprehensive cluster of restaurants in downtown Cologne, with three distinctly different and well-recommended dining options within the same building. The most formal and expensive of the three is the Börsen Restaurant Maître, an upscale and very prestigious venue that focuses on continental and often intricate preparations of duck, venison, foie gras, and fish, all prepared with almost impeccable style.

Fischer's
Hohenstaufenring 53 
Tel: 221 310 8470
Tram: 12, 16, or 18
A 10-minute walk from the cathedral, Fischer's has a large, modern-looking, cream-colored dining room that's lined with wine racks and paintings celebrating grape harvesting, the production of wine, and its uncorking rituals. The chefs are proud of the restaurant's policy of combining culinary tenets from both Europe and Asia, often on the same platter. In terms of the energy invested in it by the staff, the wine served here is considered as important as the food itself. There are at least 40 kinds of wine available by the glass, and more than 700 vintages from around the world available in bottles.

Grande Milano Ristorante
Hohenstaufenring 29-37,
Tel: 221 242 121
Grande Milano is the place to go for wonderfully prepared and beautifully presented fine Italian cuisine. Most dishes receive the elegant touch of truffle shavings before they are served, and this simple gesture adds amazing flavor to simple yet already-flavourful meals. The list of Italian wines is unparalleled.

La Poele d'Or
Komodienstrasse 50-52,
Tel: 221 134 100
French cuisine prepared with a light, fine touch. The specialties of thew house are based on different kinds of top quality fish. be prepared for first-class prices also.

Le Moissonnier
Krefelderstrasse 25
Tel: 221 729 479
U-Bahn: Hansaring
This charming brasserie is steeped in the aesthetic and culinary traditions of the early 20th century, with mirrors, cove moldings, dark paneling against ocher-colored walls, bentwood chairs, and tiled floors. Here you'll enjoy the carefully crafted cuisine of the restaurant's namesake, Vincent Moissonnier.

La Bodega
Friesenstrasse 51
Tel: 221 257 3610
This tapas bar is located on the new and exciting restaurant row of the Friesenstrasse. The narrow entrance in the foyer may deceive you into thinking that this is a small place, but if you go down the long corridor into the back, there is a large dining room with plenty of space. A large deli case displays the tapas offerings. The sangria is a must, as is the tasty calamari prepared fresh and served with a garlic mayo sauce.

Maharani
Komodienstrasse 40
Tel: 221 13 76 52
A well known Indian restaurant which is situated near the cathedral. Tandoori specialties cooked in a real tandoori oven are served.

Ratskeller
Alter Markt 9, Altstadt
Tel: 221 257 6929
In the historic city hall building, this restaurant features three dining rooms serving up flavorful German cuisine. Traditional specialties include soups and goulash, fresh salads, herring in cream, and leg of pork or veal. Seafood and meat dishes are equally successful here. In summer months, enjoy the sunny courtyard. Extensive buffets are featured on the weekends.

Drink:

For traditional breweries, head to the Altstadt around the Dome, where the "Fruh Kölsch" brewery is the most authentic place, famous both with visitors and locals. You will find a younger crowd at "Hellers Brauhaus" on Roonstrasse, near metro station Zulpicher Platz.

Furthermore the "Paffgen", close to the Friesenplatz, is a rather traditional brewerie but less touristy than the "Fruh".
 
There are a lot of modern bars and lounges all around town. More mainstream ones are on Zulpicher Strasse. For something more independent and funky on this street, try Umbruch (funky) or Stiefel (punky). A lot of stylish places are in the so-called Belgian quarter, such as the famous M20 or the Hallmackenreuther.  

Sport:

Near the Stadium, one of the most modern indoor cycling tracks in Europe opened in 1996. Other important centres of sport in Cologne are the regatta courses on the Fuhlinger Lake. The Kolnarena has opened up new sporting dimensions: international events like world and European championships, boxing and tennis tournaments with the top money-earners, top basketball and ice hockey matches fill the huge oval arena and fascinate up to 18,000 fans in the hall and millions in front of their television sets.

Starting at the KolnArena, then crossing the Rhine and running through Cologne's city centre before finally crossing the finishing line at the Cathedral, Cologne's marathon has become a must for long-distance runners the world over. With some 15,000 participants, the Cologne Marathon is enthusiastically supported by over 600,000 visitors lining the route.

The city itself is home to six golf clubs alone, and on the outskirts of Cologne there are about 30 other courses. The region can thus proudly describe itself as the region of Germany with the highest concentration of greens. The facilities extend from expensive and exclusive top clubs through to public golf courses and pure driving ranges. The golf highlights include the international Linde German Masters, which is held each autumn on the Larchenhof estate, attracting golf enthusiasts from all over the world to the Cologne region.

Stadium:

RheinEnergieStadion:

The stadium was built on the site of the two previous Mungersdorfer Stadiums. It is the home of the local Bundesliga team, 1.FC Koln, and of the local NFL Europe team, the Cologne Centurions. The stadium is one of the 12 that will host the 2006 World Cup. The Stadium's name comes from a contract with Rhine energy AG that will run out in 2009.

Following the completion of the stadium the city began to gain prominence. Many major football matches were held at the stadium in front of massive crowds. The first international match was held on the 20th November, 1927. The result was a 2-2 draw against Holland. Since German National Team has played 19 times at the stadium and only one of those matches resulted in a loss. Another notable match was the first postwar game which saw 1.FC Nuernberg beat 1.FC Kaiserslautern 2-1, in front of a crowd of 75,000.

The most recent renovation was completed in 2003. With the news of the prospect of bringing the World Cup back to Germany the city reacted. Building what is there today, the RheinEnergie Stadion. Unlike the stadiums that came before it, there are no track and field facilities. This allows the spectators to be much closer to the pitch then they can be in a traditional multi-use stadium.

In 2005 it was a venue for three first round games of the FIFA Confederations Cup including the opening match between Argentina and Tunisia.The game was won by Argentina 2-1.

The Mungersdorfer has been host to many important UEFA Cup matches.In the 1988 UEFA Cup, Bayer Leverkusen played FC Barcelona and Galatasaray played AS Monaco in the 1989 UEFA Cup.Borussia Moenchengladbach played both Arsenal and AS Monaco in the 1996 UEFA Cup.

In July of 2004 the RheinEnergie Stadion was given the Bronze medal for distinguished sporting and leisure facilities by the International Olympic Committee.

Stadium World Cup Match Schedule:

• 11th June 2006 Group D: Angola - Portugal 9pm
• 17th June 2006 Group E: Czech Republic - Ghana 6pm
• 20th June 2006 Group B: Sweden - England 9pm
• 23rd June 2006 Group G: Togo - france 9pm
• 26th June 2006 Final sixteen: Winner Group G - Runner-up Group H 9pm

Tourist Tips:

Cologne is a beautiful and diverse city, surrounded by equally attractive and varied countryside. Nestling between the foothills of the Eifel and the Bergisches Land, the narrow Middle Rhine valley and the Lower Rhine plain, Cologne is the ideal starting point for both short and prolonged excursions in one of the most breath-taking cultural landscapes in Germany.

The centre of Cologne was completely destroyed during World War II. The reconstruction of the city, while respecting the old layout and naming of the streets, followed the style of the 1950s. Thus, the city today is characterised by simple and modest post-war buildings, with few interspersed pre-war buildings which were reconstructed due to their historical importance. Some buildings of the era of reconstruction such as the opera house by Wilhelm Riphahn are nowadays regarded as classics in modern architecture.

Cologne Cathedral:

Cologne Cathedral (Kolner Dom) is one of the best-known architectural monuments in Germany and has been Cologne's most famous landmark for centuries. The cathedral is under the administration of the Roman Catholic Church and is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne.

From 1880, when its spires were completed, until 1884 it was the world's tallest structure, losing its title on the completion of the Washington Monument in Washington DC. Cologne Cathedral remains the tallest Gothic structure in the world, only the steeple of the Ulm Munster is higher.

Construction of the gothic church began in 1248 and took, with interruptions, more than 600 years to complete - it was finally finished in 1880. The two towers are 157m tall, the cathedral is 144m long and 86m wide. The cathedral is dedicated to Saints Peter and Mary.

The most celebrated work of art in the cathedral is the Sarcophagus of the Magi, a large gilded sarcophagus dating from the 13th century, and the largest reliquary in the Western world. It is thought to hold the remains of the Three Wise Men, whose bones and 2000 years old clothes were discovered at the opening of the shrine in 1864.

Other suggested sightseeing options:

• Romanesque Churches (the 12 buildings are outstanding examples of medieval sacral architecture)
• Kolnturm - Cologne Tower is 150 metres high, the second tallest building in the city.
  Exhibition Tower
• Cologne Philharmonic Orchestra building
• The Synagogue
• Alter Markt
• Prussian Fortress
• Cologne Zoo
• Rhine Cruises
• Brewery tour
• Roman route
• Mediaeval route
• Botanical garden
• Augustburg Castle
• Japanese Gardens
• Michaelsberg Abbey

History:

Cologne became a Roman city in 50 A.D. In 310 Constantine built a bridge over the Rhine at Cologne. Cologne had a bishop as early as 313, and, in 785, became the seat of an archbishop. Cologne's location at the intersection of the river Rhine with one of the major trade routes between East and West was the basis of Cologne's growth. Cologne was a member of the Hanseatic League, but became a Imperial Free City officially in 1475. 

Cologne lost its status as a free city during the French period. According to the Peace Treaty of Luneville (1801) all the territories of the Holy Roman Empire on the left bank of the Rhine were officially incorporated into the French Republic (which already had occupied Cologne in 1798). Thus, this region later became part of Napoleon's Empire. Cologne was part of the French Departement Roer (named after the River Roer, German: Rur) with Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) as its capital. The French modernised public life by introducing the Code Napoleon as civil code and removing the old elites from power, to cite two examples. The Code Napoleon was in use in the German territories on the left bank of the Rhine until the year 1900, when for the first time the German Empire passed a nationwide unique civil code ("Burgerliches Gesetzbuch"). In 1815, at the Congress of Vienna, Cologne was made part of the kingdom of Prussia.

After WWI, during which several minor air raids had targeted the city, Cologne was occupied by British Forces under the terms of the armistice and the subsequent Versailles Peace Treaty. The occupation lasted until 1926. In contrast to the harsh measures of French occupation troops in the Rhineland the British acted much more tactfully towards the local population. The mayor of Cologne (the future West German chancellor) Konrad Adenauer paid them respect for their political significance, as the British withstood the French ambitions for a permanent Allied occupation of the Rhineland.

In 1919 the University of Cologne (which had been closed by the French in 1798) was refounded. It was meant as a substitute for the German University of Strasbourg which had become French in 1918/19. The era of the Weimar Republic (1919 - 1933) rendered very prolific for Cologne.

Many improvements were made under the guidance of mayor Konrad Adenauer, especially as far as public governance, housing, planning and social affairs are concerned.

In World War II, Cologne endured exactly 262 air raids by the Western Allies, which caused approximately 20,000 civilian casualties and completely wiped out the centre of the city. During the night of May 31, 1942, Cologne was the site of "Operation Millennium", the first 1,000 bomber raid by the Royal Air Force in World War II. 1,046 heavy bombers attacked their target with 1,455 tons of explosive. This raid lasted about 75 minutes, destroyed 600 acres of built-up area, killed 486 civilians and made 59,000 people homeless. By the end of the war, the population of Cologne was reduced by 95%.

The synagogue, originally built between 1895 and 1899 by architects Wilhelm Schreiterer and Bernhard Below, was destroyed during Allied air raids between 1943 and 1945. It was reconstructed in the 1950s. The Cologne synagogue was the stage of a historic event in 2005, when the German-born pope Benedict XVI was the second pope ever to visit a synagogue.

In 1945 Cologne was the "world's greatest heap of debris" as German architect and urban planner Rudolf Schwarz put it. Schwarz designed the masterplan of reconstruction in 1947, which called for the construction of several new thoroughfares through the downtown area, especially the 'Nord-Sud-Fahrt' (North-South-Drive).

In the 1980s and 1990s Cologne's economy prospered from two factors: First, the steady growth in the number of media companies, pertaining to both the private and the public sector. Second, a permanent improvement of the diverse traffic infrastructure, which makes Cologne one of the most easily accessible metropolitan areas in Central Europe.

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