Back in August we were lucky enough to have a whirlwind 24 hours in Cologne and it definitely made it onto my list of places to visit again. But if you only have 24 hours like we did, here’s what you definitely need to do…
Our first stop was the Chocolate Museum down on the riverfront. After a quick TripAdvisor search of what attractions we could see on our first afternoon we decided an hour or two spent here sounded good.
While the first half of the museum with the history and technical information about the production of chocolate wasn’t too interesting to us, the second half was dreamy.
On display is a fully working Lindt chocolate production line where you can see the ingredients being churned and smell chocolate in the air. There’s even a spot where you can press a button and be delivered a chocolate straight from the moving production line. If that’s not an afternoon well spent, I don’t know what is.
Oh and did I mention the huge chocolate fountain with an assistant waiting to dunk in a wafer for you to sample the delicious river of cocoa?
After sampling heaven, we headed along the waterfront which was bustling with people drinking, chatting and enjoying the sunshine. It honestly had the most chilled out vibe and made me wish we had more time to just sit there and enjoy the glorious 28 degree weather.
But we had to press on and see the beautiful old buildings along the river. If only all roads could have such a technicolour wonder of architecture.
It was around this point when wandering around the beautiful little back streets that we decided we would 100% have to come back for the Christmas markets one year. After loving Berlin so much a few years ago, Cologne is now firmly on our list of German cities to visit in the festive season.
As the cathedral is open later on into the night we popped inside on the evening of our first day to catch a glimpse of the incredible architecture.
I can now see why this cathedral is such an iconic landmark. The design is insane.
The following morning before we had to leave we headed back to the cathedral because we couldn’t leave without witnessing the views from the top. It closes in the evening so we weren’t able to do this the previous day and instead chose to make it our first port of call the next morning.
I will admit, I’m not the fittest of people (read: I am beyond unfit) but even Luke found the stairs tough going. You will be pooped by the time you get to the top but the view will be well worth the climb.
As we went early in the day it was pretty quiet up there too so we weren’t rushed at all and had plenty of time to just drink in the views.
The perfect final few hours before we had to leave Cologne.
A whistlestop tour but we will definitely be back.
