Your guide to the Cologne Christmas Market:
Thinking about adding Cologne to your list of Christmas markets to visit in Germany this year?! Look no further because today I am going to be giving you all of the details on our two day trip to Cologne to visit Germany’s largest Christmas Market!
Where to stay:
While we were originally set to visit the Cologne market the first weekend of December, we quickly changed our mind and decided to go one week earlier when we heard rumors of Christmas markets possibly closing. So we booked a hotel right outside of the city center and made the 2 hour drive from Spangdahlem Air Base to Cologne!
We checked into our room at Nikii City Hotel for around 80 euro for the night plus additional fees for our two doggos and parking. This hotel is a great choice if you’re looking for something low budget but still stylish and modern and are okay with making the 20-25 minute drive into the city center.
The Markets:
The Cologne Christmas market is made up of 7 total markets and we visited 3 of them! The first being. Heinzel’s Winter Fairytale to go ice skating at the truly winter wonderland rink that they have there. Ice skating is 7 euro for adults and 5.50 euro for children. To rent skates you will also need 10 euro in cash as a deposit. The line can be long but it is absolutely worth it to feel like you’re truly in the center of a Hallmark Christmas movie!
At this market we also grabbed some Gluhwein in a cute red mug with a gnome on it and the potato pancakes with apple sauce but quickly left and had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe (could we be more American? HAHA) due to it being overly crowded at the market. I would definitely recommend visiting during the day and possibly even during the week if you’re able to in order to avoid the shoulder to shoulder crowding.
From there, we decided to end the night and return to the market the next day, Sunday, in hopes for less of a crowd. We began our Sunday at a delicious Thai restaurant in the city that offers vegetarian options, specifically I had the veggie green curry and it was amazing!! They also have mango sticky rice which I’ve found hard to find in Europe. (Also, yes, I am vegetarian!)
We then headed off to the Angel’s Market in search for the best mug at the Cologne markets of 2021 (in my personal opinion of course,) the white mug with the Cologne Cathedral in a pretty blue color on it! On the way stopped at the Weihnachtsmarkt which is the one that is right in front of the Cathedral. This specific market had a stage where bands play throughout the day, tons of stalls to shop at, and of course amazing food. They even had a photo booth that you could get a photo printed out at for just 2 euro!
We ended our time in Cologne at the Angel’s Market indulging in more Potato Pancakes, chocolates, Christmas gifts, a hand painted souvenir ornament, and of course the gorgeous Gluhwein mug with the Cathedral on it. On Sunday in the early afternoon the market was much less overpopulated and more enjoyable because of it! Overall, I cannot recommend visiting Cologne’s Christmas markets enough!! You could easily visit all of them in one day if you don’t mind walking and being in the cold for a long period of time and each one has so much to offer! It is definitely worth a trip.
