Things to do in or near Cologne (other than Phantasialand)

[Kentmumof4]

Hi

We've got 4 days in Cologne - I think we'll only need 1 day at Phantasialand, so what can people suggest to do in Cologne and further afield? We won't have a car but happy to travel by train.

Thanks.

I haven't been to Cologne, but you could have a day trip to Aachen easily by train, which is well worth a visit.
By bus from Aachen you can get to the Dutch town of Vaals, home to the Vaalserberg, the highest point in the Netherlands, and also to the Drielandenpunt, the three-country point where the borders of the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany all meet.
Have a great trip, whatever you choose to do.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuppertal_Schwebebahn

we went on a German exchange to Koln. (90’s as school exchange!)

we did the cathedral, phantasialand and the monorail linked above.

It’s just under an hour away by public transport.

went two summers ago for a similar amount of time. Boat trip up the Rhine
https://www.claudius-therme.de/. Lovely thermal spa

https://www.schokoladenmuseum.de/ Lindt chocolate museum

the cable car is fun.

https://www.frueh-am-dom.de/brauhaus.html was a really big touristy but authentic beer hall. Very central song you aim for here you’ll find lots of bars and restaurants

the city of Bonn isn’t far away and the botanical gardens were lovely

will have a think. Went to Frankfurt Bonn and Cologne all on the same trip and it sort of merges into one.

I haven’t been to it for 25 years but the chocolate museum was excellent.

Visit the Cathedral.

Dusseldorf is worth a day trip.

Lindt museum is really good - I was pleasantly surprised and the cathedral is incredible. Plenty of shopping, it was incredibly busy when we went in November.

Cologne is lovely. Go up the Dom - if you're OK with a lot of steps. If you like crazy modern art - Picasso but also Lichtenstein - go to the Ludwig Musee. It's a quite laid back city (for Germany) and walkable. Yu can just enjoy the summer evening in one of the many biergartens - kiosks set up in parks where you can get cheap food (echt Deutsch stuff like frikadellen and kartoffeln salat) and bier or wine.

Düsseldorf is also not far on the train - the big radio tower (Turm) has great views and a nice cafe - kids seem to love leaning against the glass and looking down ... Düss also has great modern art galleries which are very accessible and child-friendly.

Germany in the summer is lovely. Best ice cream outside of Italy - most of the Eiskaffees are run by Italians and you can get some amazing concoctions - my favourite is the Pellkartoffeln.

Koenigwinter is close & has a sea life centre & railway up the Drachenfels (you can walk down).

Im interested in this

Cathedral
Cable car over the Rhein.
Boat trip
Chocolate Museum
Roman Museum
Lunch by the river
Mini Train to the Zoo.
Great high street for shops. Massive Primark.
Dusseldorf is one of those places which sounds grim but is surprisingly nice.
Get the train to Boppard (chairlift) or for a longer boat trip on the pretty bit of the Rhein.

Dusseldorf surprised me how interesting it was.
The modern art gallery is excellent. DH and I don't normally have much tolerance for modern art but it was a trip highlight.

I love Phantasialand (but we always do 2 days there as the rides are so good! ).

Cologne is lovely, cathedral a must (especially climbing the spire). I didn't know but it was built to house the remains of the Magi (the three wise men). You can see the casket they are supposedly in. Also the allies didn't bomb the cathedral during WW2 as they used it as a navigational tool. It's all very fascinating!

There's a lovely botanical garden which is same metro stop as the zoo.
Museum of Applied Arts (Museum für Angewandte Kunst) is good if you like modern art and design. There's a great brunch restaurant a few metres away called Funkhaus.