Ibis Koeln Centrum

We've stayed here twice whilst visiting the Xmas markets. A bit out of the city centre but easily walkable or there's a convenient tram stop outside.
Staff very friendly and helpful. On site covered parking good and secure if a tad expensive.
Rooms a reasonable size and everything worked as it should. Typical Ibis style and, like most if not all Ibis hotels, there were smoking roms available. :-)
Breakfast not terribly good value for money but plenty of alternatives elsewhere.

We two male seniors spent one night in the Ibis hotel at Barbarossaplatz en route by Easyjet to Cologne then train to Switzerland. We took the tram from the Hauptbahnhof with no problems, getting tickets from a machine. The street approaching the hotel is not smart and the foyer, crowded with drinkers at the bar on a Friday evening, was small. Some cheeky youths were fooling about outside. However, the staff were friendly and had our reservation to hand. They gave us a quiet room on the 7th floor, facing the rear (important — the street, with howling emergency vehicles passing, can be noisy). It was between 9 and 10 in the evening, so no food. One of us went out for a pizza a short distance away. The fairly compact room and bathroom were immaculate and we slept well. Next morning, the breakfast room was smart. The breakfast had, I think, no cooked food apart from boiled eggs, but otherwise there was a good choice.

The only point to note, which other tourists have remarked on, is that this hotel is short on genuine twin beds. We had to share what was nominally a double bed, although we could keep in our own spaces. Same-sex companions who might be embarrassed by this beware!

To be recommended, unless the slightly scruffy district and the bed situation deter. Not for those who expect a spacious room and spacious downstairs foyer bar and dinner restaurant as, for example, at Ibis in The Hague (Den Haag). We paid 59.46 Euros.

Unique Quality: Not outstanding. Just good value and friendly, with few drawbacks when we were there. But not for honeymooners or seekers of a dream experience.

Directions: Tram to Barbarossaplatz. (By car this square is well signposted.)