North Rhine-Westphalia · Germany
Where to stay in Cologne
Cologne is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, home to about 1,026,000 people. This guide covers 11 hotels and 2 aparthotels in Cologne, with about 975 rooms between them. 4 of them carry a published guest score, and the list below is ordered by it.
- Places to stay in this guide
- 13
- Best months
- May, June and September
- Nearest airport
- CGN16 km · Cologne Bonn Airport
- Currency
- EUReuro
- Time zone
- Europe/Berlin
- Language
- German
About
About Cologne
Cologne is the fourth-most populous city of Germany and the largest city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia with over 1.0 million inhabitants in the city proper and over 3.1 million people in the Cologne Bonn urban region. Cologne is also part of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region, the second biggest metropolitan region by GDP in the European Union.
Cologne lies on both sides of the river Rhine, which flows through it in a northerly direction. The left hand, or western side, is Cologne proper with the Old Town (Altstadt), the famous cathedral and most landmarks and museums. The right side, or eastern side, used to be a separate town called Deutz, now it is a neighbourhood and a train station. Cologne is divided into 9 districts (Stadtbezirke), numbered from 1 to 9. Stadtbezirk 1, called Innenstadt ("inner city"), is probably the one most tourists will spend all of their time in, as it contains most of the city's points of interest.
Wikipedia and Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Things to do
What to see and do in Cologne
See
- Kölner Dom
- Basilica of St. Cunibert
- Basilica of St. Severin
- St. Maria Lyskirchen
- St. Andrew's Church
- Basilica of the Holy Apostles
- St. Gereon's Basilica
- Basilica of St. Ursula
- St. Pantaleon's Church
- St. Maria im Kapitol
- Groß-St. Martin
- St. George's Church
Do
Cologne's strong side is its cultural life. For latest information on what is happening around in town, get the StadtRevue for €2, Kölner for €2 or Live for free.
- Kölner Philharmonie
- Oper Köln
- Stadtgarten
- Metropolis Cinema
- Kölner Seilbahn
- Kölner Zoo
- Aqualand
- 1. FC Köln
- KD Rhine River Cruise
- Stattreisen e.V.
- Rickshaws: environmentally friendly city tours
- Claudius Therme
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Where to stay
The best-rated places to stay in Cologne
Ordered by guest score as each operator publishes it, weighted by the number of reviews so a handful of perfect scores does not outrank thousands of very good ones. Scores are shown on their own scale.
| # | Place to stay | Rooms | Guest score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leonardo Royal Hotel Cologne Bonn Airport hotel | 250 | 92/100 8,391 reviews |
| 2 | Leonardo Hotel Köln Bonn Airport hotel | 177 | 87/100 3,775 reviews |
| 3 | Leonardo Royal Hotel Köln Am Stadtwald hotel | 150 | 84/100 5,284 reviews |
| 4 | Leonardo Hotel Köln hotel | 165 | 83/100 1,933 reviews |
9 more places to stay, without a published guest score
| Place to stay | Rooms |
|---|---|
| Adina Apartment Hotel Cologne aparthotel | |
| Cologne Friesenplatz aparthotel | 24 |
| Garner Hotel Cologne - Engelbertz hotel | |
| Garner Hotel Cologne East hotel | |
| Garner Hotel Cologne Porz - Airport hotel | |
| Holiday Inn - the niu, Mill Cologne Muelheim hotel | |
| Hotel Ahl Meerkatzen hotel | |
| Hotel Leonet hotel | |
| MEININGER Hotel Köln West hotel | 209 |
Schematic: the city centre in orange, each place to stay as a dot, distance rings in kilometres.
Where to stay
Which part of Cologne to stay in
Cologne is an internationally important trade fair city, with expansive fairgrounds in Deutz. The hotel rates rise multi-fold during important fairs. If you do not have to, try not to stay in Cologne during those. Alternatively, you can try finding accommodation in Düsseldorf or Bonn, which are a short train ride away and are usually not affected by the rate hikes (but Düsseldorf has its own trade fair calendar, so mind it as well). For accommodation services the city of Cologne charges an extra 5%-levy (Kulturförderabgabe), which is included in your bills. Non-tourists, i.e. those who did not voluntarily choose to head for Cologne, can get the taxes reimbursed.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Where to stay
More hotels in Cologne
75 hotels within 25 km of the centre, as recorded in Wikidata; the 40 best known are shown, by the number of Wikipedia editions that cover them. Each name links to its encyclopedia article where there is one.
| Hotel | Opened | From centre |
|---|---|---|
| Brauerei zur Malzmühle | 1858 | 0.9 km |
| Excelsior Hotel Ernst | 1863 | 0.1 km |
| Dom-Hotel | 1857 | 0.2 km |
| Bier-Esel | 0.9 km | |
| Bierhaus en d’r Salzgass | 0.6 km | |
| Brauhaus Schreckenskammer | 0.5 km | |
| Brauhaus Sion | 0.3 km | |
| Deutz-Kalker Bad | 1913 | 1.9 km |
| Em Kölsche Boor | 0.7 km | |
| Früh em Veedel | 2.3 km | |
| Haxenhaus zum Rheingarten | 0.6 km | |
| Hotel im Wasserturm | 1.3 km | |
| Puszta-Hütte | 1.0 km | |
| Sünner im Walfisch | 0.6 km | |
| Em Golde Kappes | 2.6 km | |
| Gasthof Em ahle Kohberg Köln-Merheim | 6.5 km | |
| Habsburgerring 9–13, Köln | 1.5 km | |
| Hotel du Nord | 0.2 km | |
| Hyatt Regency Cologne Hyatt Hotels Corporation | 0.8 km | |
| Maritim Hotel Köln Maritim Hotelgesellschaft | 0.8 km | |
| Mercure Hotel Severinshof Köln City | 1.4 km | |
| 18Arts Hotel | 1.0 km | |
| 1st Floor Köln 2 | 2.6 km | |
| 25hours Hotel The Circle | 1.0 km | |
| Ameron Köln Hotel Regent | 3.4 km | |
| Aparthotel Adagio Köln City | 1.1 km | |
| art'otel Cologne | 1.3 km | |
| Astor & Aparthotel | 1.2 km | |
| Atrium Rheinhotel | 5.8 km | |
| Azimut Hotel Cologne | 0.9 km | |
| Black Hotels Cologne | 3.9 km | |
| Burns Art Cologne | 2.4 km | |
| CityClass Hotel Europa am Dom | 0.3 km | |
| CityClass Hotel Residence am Dom | 0.4 km | |
| Cologne Marriott Hotel | 0.4 km | |
| Courtyard by Marriott Cologne | 0.7 km | |
| Dorint An der Messe Köln | 1.7 km | |
| Dorint Hotel am Heumarkt Köln | 0.8 km | |
| Excelsior Hotel Ernst am Dom | 0.1 km | |
| Hilton Cologne | 2001 | 0.2 km |
When to go
The best time to visit Cologne
The most comfortable months for a city stay in Cologne are May, June and September. July is the warmest month, with average highs of 24 °C; July is the wettest, with about 90 mm of rain.
Comfortable means average daytime high between 18 °C and 29 °C and under 80 mm of rain in the month. Averages for 1991–2020 over the surrounding area, a grid square about 50 km across, so a coast or a nearby mountain can make the town itself warmer or cooler. Data: CRU TS v4.10, Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia (Open Database License).
Getting there
Getting to Cologne: airports and arrival
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Cologne Bonn Airport (CGN), about 16 km from the city centre in a straight line; Düsseldorf Airport (DUS, 41 km) and Dortmund Airport (DTM, 79 km) are also within reach.
Getting around
Cologne has an excellent public transport network consisting of trams, local trains and buses. Bicycles are also available for hire on the northern side of the Hauptbahnhof. Local transport systems rarely provide announcements in English, but network maps are commonly available to assist with your journey. Those wishing to explore areas away from the central city should plan their journey and potential connections before leaving. The KVB (Kölner Verkehrs-Betriebe) website is a good source of public transport information.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
CGN · Cologne Bonn Airport
DUS · Düsseldorf Airport
DTM · Dortmund Airport
Local knowledge
Eating, drinking and staying safe in Cologne
Eat
Cologne has a wide variety of restaurants, German and otherwise. One can eat pretty well in most traditional-style Kölsch restaurants, and in fact as a visitor, you should try some of the local food, which is quite rustic, but tasty, hearty fare. The brewery taps (Früh, Sion, Pfaffen, Malzmühle, etc., in the old town south of the Dom) are worth taking note of to that respect, although they tend to be expensive for what you get.
Drink
There are so many bars and pubs to choose from that you could spend most of the night going from one bar to the next. For traditional breweries, head to the Altstadt around the Dom, where the Früh Kölsch brewery is the most famous with visitors and locals. You will find a younger crowd at Hellers Brauhaus on Roonstraße, near metro station Zülpicher Platz or Brauhaus Pütz on Engelbertstraße close to Rudolfplatz. Furthermore the Päffgen, on the all-bar street Friesenstraße close to the Friesenplatz, and the Mühlen near Heumarkt are traditional brewery pubs but less touristy than the "Früh".
Stay safe
Cologne's safety levels are historically average by German standards, but since the mid-2010s, the city has been plagued with significant waves of crime and decay. Tourists should take normal safety precautions, particularly in the city centre, where pickpockets are known to be active. Also, be careful on the Ring, which is full of clubs and night-time crowds in the streets. Day and night be careful in outlying neighbourhoods like Chorweiler, Porz, Seeberg, Ostheim, Bocklemünd, Ossendorf, and Vingst. In general, stay away from drunk people. At street crossings, watch the trams.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Good to know
Accessibility, parking and families in Cologne
How many places to stay in this guide offer each, in their operators' own words.
of 13 places
of 13 places
of 13 places
of 13 places
of 13 places
of 13 places
of 13 places
Questions
Cologne: questions travellers ask
What are the best-rated hotels in Cologne?
By published guest score: Leonardo Royal Hotel Cologne Bonn Airport (92 / 100 · 8,391 reviews · www.leonardo-hotels.com (operator's own guest score)); Leonardo Hotel Köln Bonn Airport (87 / 100 · 3,775 reviews · www.leonardo-hotels.com (operator's own guest score)); Leonardo Royal Hotel Köln Am Stadtwald (84 / 100 · 5,284 reviews · www.leonardo-hotels.com (operator's own guest score)).
When is the best time to visit Cologne?
The most comfortable months for a city stay in Cologne are May, June and September. July is the warmest month, with average highs of 24 °C; July is the wettest, with about 90 mm of rain.
Which airport is closest to Cologne?
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Cologne Bonn Airport (CGN), about 16 km from the city centre in a straight line; Düsseldorf Airport (DUS, 41 km) and Dortmund Airport (DTM, 79 km) are also within reach.
Are there accessible hotels in Cologne?
3 places in this guide list accessible rooms.
What currency is used in Cologne?
euro (EUR).
Nearby
Destinations near Cologne
Sources: city facts from Wikidata and Wikipedia; airports from OurAirports; climate from CRU TS v4.10 (University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit), 1991–2020 monthly means, 0.5° grid; places to stay, guest scores and amenities from each operator's own public pages. How this guide is made.