1

Consider (deep virtual breath)

Climbing the cathedral - entrance is on the corner of the cathedral, bizarrely you have to go down some steps first to be able to climb it. Warning: There is no lift, and this is not for the claustrophobic or seriously unfit, cos it's a seeming never ending sequence of spiral stairs, and up is the same tower as down.

Once you've done that and got your breath back, consider walking along the pedestrian area following everyone else round the cathedral and you'll see a roman museum (very very good).

After that you hit the train bridge (has pedestrian walkways) with several thousand padlocks attached. The idea is you get a padlock, engrave it with your names, attach it to the bridge, toss the key into the river. There are a truly insane amount of padlocks on that thing.

Double back to stay on the same side of the river and go for a nice stroll. There's several riverside bars, but you can't see the river, cos of the last ditch final set of flood defences which are mounds of earth. Still, a nice spot for a breather over a beer nevertheless.

Keep going along the river side - just after a white metal archway thing (only 200/300m or so from the railway bridge) if you look carefully on the raised embankment you'll see a small sign with several photos indicating just how fricking high the flood waters got in Jan 1993 and again in 1995. I always point it out to people that visit me, and they always get shocked when they see where they are under about 10 feet of water.

Keep going and you'll find a circular water clock. It doesn't tell the time, instead telling you the water depth. I've seen the water about 20cm below the elevated pathway you'll be on. If it's normal, it'll be about 6m below you.

Keep going under a road bridge and you'll see a small island ahead with a weird looking spaceage greenhouse on it. That's the Lindt chocolate museum. Go visit it and see how chocolate's made, or failing that simply visit the gift shop (no museum ticket required). They sell lots of stuff - my favourites are salty chocolate and cashew nut and curry powder chocolate, both of which taste a damn sight nicer than you'd think).

Double back all the way along the promenade and lose yourself in the old quarter (aldstadt) between the Lindt museum and the railway bridge. There's well over a hundred drinking establishments in this area; consider the Fruh beerhouse (which does very good food - try the pork knuckle if especially hungry) and the Gaffel beerhouse (which is across the plaza from the main train station.

It depends when "late November" is, but Cologne's Christmas markets open between 26th and 30th November, depending on which one of the 4 you wanna visit (the medieval and floating markets will not open this year).

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Fwoggie what about the 4711 house?

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Genuinely I had never heard of it before, just had to google it. A fair shout.

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From November 21 st ( I think) there is the traditional Christmas market , though it can be very crowded it is great fun. You find lots nicely decorated and illuminated stands there with ( often hand made) Christmas presents, Christmas decoration, food and of course, Glühwein, warm wine with spices ...very nice if it is cold. It is in several places in the town also in front of the cathedral so you wont miss it.

Edited by: theaver

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"What other sights should we prioritize?" Amusing. How about prioritizing things that you think will be of interest to YOU. Try reading a couple of guidebooks or using Google. I can't see me getting excited about a high water mark or pork knuckles. No offense Fwoggie.

As for "great bars and affordable restaurants with great food", what do you consider affordable or great? My crystal ball is broken right now.

Why is it that so many people post as if they think everyone has the same interests, tastes and budget as themselves?

Here's my restaurant choice for Cologne, La Vision on the top of the Hotel im Wasserturm. Michelin gives it 2 stars and the views of Cologne are not too shabby. http://www.hotel-im-wasserturm.de/en/aboutus.htm The rooms are quite reasonably priced as well for such a great location and unique architecture.

But then I'm interested in architecture, you might not be.

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#4 They kick off this year on the 26th - http://www.weihnachtsmarkt-deutschland.de/weihnachtsmarkt-koeln.html

#5 No offence taken. Seriously, pork knuckle, yum, but only if really hungry. :)

OP - also consider Osman30 bar (30 floors up) - great views at night, prebook to be safe. See http://www.osman-cologne.de .

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I'll also be heading to Cologne at the end of the month for a football match, but before hand we'll be touring the city--it's sights, sounds, and kolsch. One restruaunt that has been recommended to me is Max Stark's. It's about a half mile north of the Dom, but we're going to start our tour at the Chocolate Museum and work our way up the river and aldstadt. Who knows if we'll make it that far up, as the sights do seem pretty incredible. They serve Paffgen kolsch which is one of my favorites.

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If you go to Osman DEFINITELY pre-book. I recently bought a Osman's voucher as a present for a friend and they said be sure to reserve 3-4 weeks in advance!

Otherwise, there are various nice restaurants around the Eigelstein (see Google maps - about 15 minutes walk from the Breslauer Platz end of the main station). "Alte Feuerwache" in an old fire station building (http://www.lokal-koeln.de/index.php?id=12) has atmosphere and is very affordable. "Havanna" in the same area (http://www.havanakoeln.de/havana-abendkarte.html) also has very good food with an international rather than a Cuban menu.
Bar Orange (http://bar-orange.de/) in the same area is a nice cocktail bar (but things get going a bit later there)

Or for lots of studenty pubs and restaurants walk down Zülpicher Strasse (not my end of town though, can't give you any specific recommendations)

Enjoy!

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Taking about places to eat, I would reccomend Cafe Reichard. It serves the best desserts in the world!! You should definetely visit it.

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I can recommend Max Stark's, its is a very nice traditional restaurant, with really good local food and visited mostly by local people. If you want to go there you should make a reservation, because the restraunt is quite small.

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@5 - you can get 3star pork knuckles, too, alas in Travemünde ( La belle Epoque ) ;-)

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1 day in Cologne is too much... heheh