Visit The Church
by Octourist
Though I was groggy and feverish, I had to get out to see the beautiful and imposing church. The October air was crisp and the hint of rain in the air created an atmosphere ripe for exploring.
In the presence of the Church, however, I was in awe of all the detail and craft so finely packed together, like an expansive 3-D jigsaw puzzle. I didn't explore with much more than my eyes, and that was enough for a first visit. Amazing place!
Romanesque churches
by Maidstoneman
The city has many Romanesque churches and there is a great guidebook to them in many languages from the Tourist office. Most are open daily and you can easily walk between them. Although many were damaged in the war they were rebuilt in their original form. War damage also menat that most lost their nineteenth century glass, so there is plenty of mind blowing 20th century glass. It`s a rather different form of church-crawling but kept me occupied for hours.
Germanwings
by Carino
From over 20 different cities in Europe you can reach Cologne with Germanwings.
This Low-Cost-Carrier has really low fares, for those how book well in advance.
e.g.: Zürich - Cologne starting at 19 EUR one way including taxes!
Heaven & Earth
by richiecdisc about Malzmühle
This is yet another great old pub with lots of dark wood and a great dose of local atmosphere to boot. It's a lot less touristy though evidently Bill Clinton made it here! We again opted for some soup and tried the local dish Himmel und Ad (Heaven & Earth). It consisted of fried blood sausage, deep fried onions, mashed potatoes, and apple sauce. It sounds disgusting perhaps but was actually quite tasty. It was rich so we were glad we were splitting it. It's great mixture that anyone that is not adverse to trying different things should try. The Malzmühle Kölsch is unfortunately one of the more bland, quite malty and a bit too sweet for my tastes. The bill was around 15 Euros.
The big cathedral
by benidormone
The cathedral is really the landmark of Cologne. You can see it from almost everywhere in Cologne. Just when you walk out of the trainstation you're infront of the cathedral. Its also possible to climb the stairs to the top to have a magnifent view over the city of Cologne.