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10 of the best hotels in Cologne
The Rhine divides Cologne, with its key visitor attractions on its west bank, around the historic Altstadt (old town), which roughly extends from the railway station to the Rheinauhafen (river port). The east bank is more focused on business, particularly trade fairs, for which Cologne has long been well known. Most of the city's buildings are post-war, although the magnificent cathedral, right by the station, miraculously survived Allied bombing raids.
Among German cities, Cologne is freewheeling and unorthodox, particularly in its annual carnival, when processions and parties take priority over a whole week's work. When I first visited, many years ago, I took a bicycle tour with a guide who had just been given a ticket. 'What's the point of riding a bike,' he muttered, grumpily, 'if you have to obey red lights?' It's an attitude you wouldn't find elsewhere in Germany.
Most hotels are located in the wider downtown area, the Innenstadt, which includes the Altstadt and extends as far as the ring road. The Innenstadt's main thoroughfares — Hohe Strasse and Schildergasse — are pedestrianised, with nightlife focused on the likes of Heumarkt square, for visitors, and the Belgian Quarter, more for locals and for Cologne's large gay community.
Also dotted through the Innenstadt are a handful of traditional restaurants famous for the brauhaus experience, serving Kölsch beer (pale and fresh in tall, thin glasses) and traditional cuisine such as Kölscher Kaviar (Cologne caviar), made from blood sausage and onions, and Himmel un Ääd, (heaven and earth), from mashed potatoes and apples. Try them both at the wood-panelled and chandeliered Peters Brauhaus, which dates back to 1544.
After that, you'll need a lovely place to lay your head, preferably within walking distance. These are some of the best hotels in Cologne.
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££ | Best for traditionalists
If you like a bellhop in uniform, gold-plated chandeliers, marble bathrooms and pillow menus, plus a location right opposite the cathedral, the Excelsior Hotel Ernst will warm the cockles of your heart. More than 150 years old, it's part of the Leading Hotels of the World collection and is properly grand, with a big emphasis on decorous service. The hotel's restaurant, taku, has been awarded a Michelin star for its minimalist pan-Asian cuisine, while the likes of scallop ceviche can be found in the wood-panelled, gourmet French restaurant Hanse Stube. For tea and petit fours head to the Wintergarten, drenched in light from its stained-glass ceiling. £ | Best for design groupies
This eye-catching, neo-gothic building, which feels like a film set, is home to an impressive collection of international design, art, and photography — and 34 rooms, each one unique. It's almost hidden in a square called the Gereonskloster, accessible via two small alleyways, in the shadow of the Romanesque St Gereon's Basilica. The hotel building was opened as the city archive in 1897, but these days it is owned by the publisher of the Qvest design and fashion magazine, so its rooms are furnished with the likes of Eames chairs and armchairs by Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus school. The overall effect is both eclectic and monastic, with reverential guests coming back for the attention to detail.
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£ | SPA | Best for repurposed architecture
Much of the furniture in this unique hotel has been tailor-made to fit with the curvature of the walls of what was, 150 years ago, a city water tower — as its name suggests. Significant architectural details include the brick-arched lobby and unique circular interior, complete with portholes and arched windows. The tower's other big feature is its view; it looms over downtown and is just a few minutes' walk from the centre. That 360-degree vista also makes its rooftop terrace, Bar Botanik, a magnet for residents. Some of the neutral-toned, wooden-floored rooms are split-level for extra space, and in many the bed faces the window so that you can look out over the city. There's a small spa and gym and Bar Botanik serves the likes of Philly steak and wasabi shrimps.£ | Best for cool kids
A little upstream but still within walking distance of the city centre, the Rheinauhafen is Cologne's former river port. It has been given a fancy docklands makeover, and now hosts the popular Chocolate Museum and signature modernist buildings housing digital firms such as Microsoft — and an outpost of the trendy art'otel collection. It's a new-build on the waterside, with bright rooms bearing designer furniture and artwork by Berlin-based artist SEO, whose giant paintings also enliven the public spaces. There's a rooftop Rhine-view terrace, a compact fitness centre and a sauna for soothing post-sightseeing muscles. £ | Best for showbiz
The Germany-based Ruby chain has a relaxed, 'lean luxury' concept, which means that some services (such as room service and minibars) have been deemed unnecessary; but luxury touches like oversized beds remain and there's plenty of personality, with Marshall amps and bulb-surrounded Hollywood-style mirrors in the rooms. Cologne is the headquarters of TV broadcasters RTL and WDR, and Ella occupies the former site of a studio that hosted late-night shows, so it was a no-brainer to give the property a glitzy, Nineties TV feel with details such as neon signs, microphones and musical instruments. Rooms are compact havens of calm, with fluffy duvets, and they're heavily soundproofed, so you can hire a guitar at the bar and let rip without having to worry about your neighbours.
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££ | SPA | Best for divas
Unlike its genteel namesake in London, the Cologne Savoy (no relation) belongs to a world of carnival kings and queens. From the outside it looks like just another staid office building, but inside is all kitsch chic, with plush velvets and drapes, bead curtains and chrome mirrors, done with humour and flair and with splashes of intense colour. The spa is Turkish-inspired, with a steam room and ayurvedic treatments, and the hotel is popular with media folk. It's located a convenient three-minute walk from the train station and well-placed for the ancient Eigelstein Torburg gate, which is in an area that's lively in the evenings and has a particularly traditional Cologne brauhaus, the Em Kölsche Boor.£ | Best for retro futurists
What do you do with an obsolete, listed, rotunda building, originally built for an insurance company? One that is outside the centre, albeit within walking distance of the trendy Belgian Quarter? Turn it into a hotel. But one that incorporates several imaginative, utopian worlds, and functions as a community in itself, with an armful of concerts, readings, yoga sessions and more. Lavish, whimsical, playful and hip, the Circle attracts a younger, co-worker crowd. Rooms are colourful and futuristic, with concrete ceilings and freestanding bathtubs. Bicycles for hire, an in-house record library and a restaurant serving Lebanese-influenced cuisine help complete the picture. ££ | SPA | POOL Best for river and rail fans
This showpiece property is a postmodern palace of concrete and glass situated next to TV broadcaster RTL's red-brick headquarters. Rhine-view rooms are stylish, spacious and modern and have views of the river, with its stately flow of freight and passenger traffic, and across to the cathedral. It sits at one end of the Hohenzollern Bridge, the busiest railway crossing in Germany, which provides convenient pedestrian access to the centre. As befits a big, five-star property there's a substantial gym and a four-lane pool — and the riverside is a spectacular jogging track. The hotel's Glashaus restaurant, in a conservatory setting with a view across the river, serves an excellent grilled tuna steak. £ | Best for automotive enthusiasts
This hotel, 23 minutes northwest of downtown on U-Bahn line 5, is on the premises of the historic Butzweilerhof airport, whose old hangars house car collections and event spaces. V8 is Motorworld Köln Rheinland, a hub for car enthusiasts and for automotive sales and service. Accordingly, the hotel is lavish with themed detailing: classic Mercedes bedsteads, car seats for armchairs, themed rooms with names such as Carwash, Garage and Henry Ford. There are even car suites, where your own beloved vehicle is parked on the other side of a glass wall so that it is the first thing you see in the morning. There's a huge Ikea across the road, and while the hotel itself serves only breakfast, there are other restaurants nearby, notably Ahoi, which serves inexpensive fresh salads and sushi bowls.££ | SPA | POOL | Best for out-of-town relaxation
This baroque Schloss hotel, on a hilltop with a view westwards over the city, dates back to the early 18th century, when Elector Palatine Johann Wilhelm II had it built as a hunting lodge. Today there are 111 capacious and elegant rooms and suites in impeccably classic style, with marbled bathrooms and polished hardwood tables. Of the hotel's five restaurants and bars, one — Vendôme — has two Michelin stars. There's a spa for ordinary wellness, as well as a discreet medical institute offering cosmetic surgery. Downtown Cologne is 40 minutes away on the S-Bahn from Bensberg station, but you can also walk out from the hotel directly into the peace and calm of the wooded hills, largely unchanged since the Elector's days.
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