A weekend getaway in Cologne during the month before Christmas. On the 18th of November 2024 Cologne is transforming into a real Christmas City. There are many different markets where you can submerge into Christmas with various lights, Christmas trees, wooden-, leather- and other handmade crafts, enjoy a nice cup of Choco, Gluhwein or White Gluhwein also very nice. Go iceskating, visit the Chocolatmuseum, Cologne Cathedral, do some Christmas shopping.
Stroll along the markets and enjoy every bit.
In my head I’m back again, I really love the Christmas Market atmosphere.
How to get there?
Depending how far away you are from Cologne. Close to the Cathedral is the trainstation of Cologne. Many international trains arrive here.
Cologne Bonn Airport is the closest airport to the city and can be reached by train, bus or car. If you go by car don’t forget the ‘unwelt zone’. Your car requires an emissions sticker in the city.
Where to stay?
Last visit I’ve stayed in the Lindner hotel City Plaza. A really nice hotel with good breakfast and a Sauna, if you are up for it after a long day of walking through the city. It’s only a 15 minutes’ walk from the station.
Two years before we stayed in the NH Köln Altstadt hotel close to the harbour market and Chocolate Museum. The hotel is easy to acces by car.
What to do?
Visit the many Christmas Markets.
- Cologne Christmas Cathedral Market
- Old Town Market ‘Altstadt’
- Heumarket – Wintermarket
- The ‘Nicolas Village’ at Rudolfplatz
- Angel’s Market – Neumarket
- Harbour Christmas Market
- The Christmas Market in Stadtgarten
See most of them below marked on the map with a star. The most famous one with a large Tree in the middle is very close to the trainstation, Cathedral Market. From there you can walk towards the next one at the Old Town Market which merge into the Heumarket. These three are the largest ones. Up for some iceskating at the Heumarket? Or view the handmade crafts being made right in front of you at the Old town market. Almost every Market has its own cups for Gluhwein. You need to pay a deposit for it and can return them again or keep it as a souvenir.
Our last stay was close to the Rudolfplatz and Neumarket which you should visit and can be combined with some good Christmas shopping. When you stroll from the Wintermarket towards the water you see many rivercruiseships. You can make some nice rivercruises and have some sightseeing at the city from the water. From there you can walk towards the Harbour Christmas Market (Hafen Weihnachtsmarkt).
Lindt Chocolate Museum
When you get to the Harbour Christmas Market you can’t leave before you’ve visited the Chocolate Museum, It’s from Lindt, I love Lindt Chocolate. It brings me back to my childhood when we went to go skiing. We always brought a huge chocolatbar wrapped in Golden paper from Switzerland for family. This museum really gives you the feeling of a chocolat factory. Surrounded by the smell and look of chocolat it’s mouth-watering.
Where to eat and drink?
During the day you can eat and drink on the Christmas markets, but you can go for a nice breakfast to Café Extrablatt Köln (Alter Markt 28, 50667 Cologne). For some good typical German food, go to Gilden im Zims (Heumarkt 77, 50667 Cologne). Have a nice drink at Papa Joe’s (Alter Markt 50-52, 50667 Cologne) or go for a Kölsch beer tasting.