March 2026. Cologne. Germany.
Cologne wouldn’t quite be in my Top 5 German cities*, yet, but I’ve enjoyed getting to grips with the wider city on two recent trips.
And our hotel (Inception, £67 a night) is just far enough out of the Old Town to give a glimpse of a real city beyond the schnitzel and Japanese tour groups.
From Lommies, we cross the Rhine and walk the pedestrianised shopping mile,
where you can buy anything you need.
You just won’t be able to get it under your seat on the Ryanair flight home.
Our hotel is on the inner ring road, in the shiny Gereonshof quarter, yards from Paffgen.
It’s very quiet, and very safe, unlike the area near the Ibis where the boys are staying.
Cologne hasn’t been rebuilt as faithfully after the war as Nuremburg, but it has pockets of real beauty,
and some glorious modern housing.
But it’s pubs you’re here for,
and the next morning we’re up bright and early for a trip to one of the world’s great pub cities. No, not Duisburg.
*Nuremberg, Berlin, Bamberg, Dusseldorf, Hamburg
retiredmartin 