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Cologne
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Hello...Basically me and the lads are looking for somewhere to go for a few days away for your usual lads night out.
However, we've had enough of the local towns and cities, and even the ones a little further away, however anything beyond that like Liverpool, London etc... for the cost we might as well jump on a plane and go some where more exciting.
We've done Dublin, Prague and Amsterdam so the typical "stag do" places have been done, so looking around for some where a little different and Cologne has taken our fancy.
So i've just a few questions that hopefully some of you guys (perhaps Briggi
since i read in another topic during my search, that you used to live there) could help out with...Due to keeping costs down and due to the time of flight arrivals we are initially looking at flying out there on a Sunday arriving a little after lunch, and flying back Tuesday night
Leaving us with ample time for drinking sessions Sunday, Monday then time for a look around what seems to be a fantastic city Tuesday.
Question One: Is there much of a nightlife on a Sunday/Monday? most major cities still seem fairly busy regardless of what day it is, but thought I'd better check!
Question Two: Which area/district would be best to search for accommodation? we don't mind it being reasonably noisey, providing its not surrounded by crack dens! No need for anything too fancy, just a clean comfortable hotel with private showers, more importantly it'd be great if it was just a 10 minute walk or so from the centre where a good range of pubs/bars would be?
My main problem is I cant seem to find out any names of streets or districts where all the nightlife would be, as such when im searching for hotels even finding ones that match our budget and requirements i've no idea if they would be in a good location or a 30 minute taxi trip away! so any help would be greatly appreciated
Post edited by JustV on
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I'm not sure how good the night life would be on a monday night though but it was certainly very jolly over the weekend.
However I would advise that you double check the dates your going becasue if there is a big event on at the Koln Messe then the price of accomodation soars and it can be pretty hard to get a room anywhere.
The Jugendherberge youth hostel at Köln-Deutz (that's the name of the S-Bahn stop and the general area) is also very cheap and I don't think you need a hostelling card to stay there, but even if you did then you can buy one. It's just over the river from the main train station and the rest of town, takes about ten minutes to walk from the Cathedral which is central. That's where the Trade Fairs (Messe) takes place, so more difficult to book in during those times. It doesn't really affect the Meininger Hostel as much, though, I think you'd get rooms there no problem.
It's never necessary to get taxis anywhere in Cologne. Most places you'd want to be are walkable if necessary, but generally accessible by the S-Bahn or bus system which runs very late and starts very early. Most people stay out until they start up again in the morning in Germany (far more hardcore than your average British clubber - and no scraps at the kebab stand - but then they do generally start later), so there are no awful taxi queues. The other thing is to hire bikes, I used to ride my bike to the clubs when I lived there... I'm amazed I didn't die in a horrific accident, the state I used to be in on the way home.
As for nightlife, there are loads of clubs in Cologne and even more late bars that stay open 'til 5-6am even on weeknights. I used to work at the Voodoo late bar and lounge on Friesenstraße (where they served Brown Ale on tap, which I found very bizarre) and we would find ourselves there until 10am some Monday and Tuesday mornings. Kicking out time is when people stop buying drinks basically... What kind of music/atmosphere are you looking for?
Best thing about Cologne is undoubtedly their Kölsch beer which can't be manufactured outside of Cologne (like with Champagne). The Früh pub at the right side of the cathedral (you can't miss it) is a good place to start evenings. Despite the location and seemingly tourist-y credentials it's always packed full of young locals. There's a dining hall with long wooden benches inside where they sell typical German fare really cheaply (meaning sausages, sausages and more sausages. Hope you like sausages!)
My personal favourite though was the Pfäffgen pub in the Belgisches Viertel (Belgian quarter - Rudolfplatz stop) which had the more "hip" nightlife including the Blue Note which is a club on Brusseler Strasse that mostly plays D&B. I'm not the biggest D&B fan but it is a class night out, always busy. Another studenty/club-filled area is Zülpicher Straße (it's one of the S-Bahn stops, so very easy to locate) which has the cheapest pubs and the more generic clubs and also a venue called Filmdose which has a cabaret (very like the one in the film Cabaret and has a great atmosphere). H90 on the Hohenzollering (on the Kolner Ring - central) is a techno venue, and there is a lot of jazz and acoustic music most nights in the Altstadt. I have to mention Papa Joe's Klimperkasten which is immense, but always packed to the rafters. The Altstadt is amazing at around 6am when the clubs empty and everyone converges on it for coffee and fresh rolls. It's right on the Rhein, which is just fantastic in the summer.
The Friesen Quarter (Friesenplatz S-Bahn stop) is the more polished area for bars and restaurants, still not particularly expensive though. If I tell you there is an All Bar One there then that will tell you all you need to know about this area :thumb: It is, however, just a hop, skip and a jump down a side street to the pub I worked in which was very off-beat and interesting (despite being beside an Irish pub - The Jameson). Side streets are a good bet for more underground, less expensive pubs.
I recommend you climb up the tower of the Dom, but don't do it hungover because it is the most unsafe winding staircase you can imagine and people go up and down the same stairs. I was convinced I was going to fall to my death.
When are you going? Nearer the time you should check out this website which is the German equivalent of that ents24.com website we have. It's in German but basically you want to look for "Party" and "Musik"... that's not too hard, is it :razz: There are a lot of outdoor festivals in August, and the weather is gorgeous in July and August too. The best way to find out what's going on in the city is to hostel, and befriend the people on the front desk. They'll know exactly what's going on. The Südstadt is good for nightlife, and it has the beautiful park Volksgarten which is great for chilling in during the day. Buy a couple of 0.58 cent beers and just laze about, I spent a lot of time doing just that.
For food Zülpicher Straße is your best bet. Cheap traditional German, Italian, Indian, Thai food for a couple of euros. Plenty of cheap as hell cocktail bars around there too, and cheap regular "pubs".
Cologne gets a bad review from a lot of people, but I can understand that. The first couple of weeks I was there I thought it was total shite because I didn't know where to go and didn't want to ask anyone. Once you know where you're going it is class (and not overrun by tourists - except the Irish pubs which are stag night central).
We're aiming to go at the start of August, just before any events listed on that Koln Messe website luckily.
As for accommodation, i think we'd be willing to spend about £30/£35 per room per night, so should be able to get a tidy hotel room.
As for what sort of atmosphere we're looking for, bit difficult to say really, when we go out here we start off in a few cheap places like wetherspoons, then spend a few hours going through some of the more upmarket, nicer bars, before going to a studenty full dive before ending up in a club, none of us are really into dance music any more, so anything fairly commercial and easy going would be easiest
Is the cathedral pretty central to everything then? would it be a safe idea to find a hotel a reasonable distance to that?
Many thanks again