This year Ryan and I are excited to check out the Christmas Markets in Cologne. When you google the most famous and best Christmas markets in Europe, Cologne is always on the list! This trip snuck up on us a little bit since we honestly didn’t think it would happen. Several cities in Germany canceled their Christmas markets, but we were lucky that Cologne’s still was able to happen with precautions in place (masks on even outside and having an EU vaccine certificate). I was also eager to check it out since I was able to see the Vienna and Brussels Christmas markets in 2019.
Here is us eager to arrive! Little did we know how many train problems we would have coming home….
Overall, there are 7 main Christmas markets in Cologne. I was surprised that there really are only 7 since in Vienna they have many many small markets randomly around the city that are more for the locals. You can see a map below that shows all of the locations throughout the city. We stayed at the Ruby Ella hotel booked through Booking.com and we were quite impressed with how nice it was a being in a central location to all of the markets.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/embed?mid=1-jEtJe3Httwu-boTHBpozuwJMRDE9EfH&ehbc=2E312F
Cathedral Market:
This is the most famous market, and as expected was one of my least favorites overall. It was just way too crowded. The buildings around the market were under construction and there was a giant crane over the market which really got in the way of my pictures 😉 I will say that this market had the cutest mugs of all of the ones that we visited. This market also was the only one to have a Christmas bulb ornament that said Cologne (Koln) on it.
Great St. Martin Church
Not a market, but a beautiful and classic spot in cologne for a few photos!
Heinzels Market:
This was one of the cutest markets as it is gnome themed and they really go all out! They are have ice skating and a curling type game here. I loved looking at all of the decorations here. I would say this is probably the second most popular market so it was also very busy. As a disclaimer for how busy it was, we went to most of these markets on a Saturday night so one of the most popular times to visit.
Neumarkt:
This is also called the angels market. This was beautiful as they had lights hanging all through the trees in the square and there was a carousal in the middle too.
Heavenue Market:
This is a very small market that is known for being the gay market with bright festive colors at the stands. They have a performance which was fun to listen to the singers. They have stages at most of the markets with carolers and people performing Christmas songs. The highlight of this market for me is that they have a Viennese sausage that is my absolute favorite. I will have more about the food below, but if you see a Kasekrainer at a sausage stand you totally should get it. It is a sausage filled with cheese so you really can’t go wrong.
Rudolfplatz Market:
This was my favorite market and the last one that we went to on Saturday night. It is absolutely beautiful as there is a castle in the back of the market so it feels very festive. It wasn’t *as* busy and we were able to get a spot relatively easy to stand and have our drinks.
The next day we checked out two more markets after having a nice breakfast. We covered so many markets on Saturday is was nice to sleep in and have a relaxing morning before seeing more markets!
Hafen (Harbor) Market:
This market is on the water and next to the chocolate museum. Maybe is was becuase it was Sunday afternoon, but it was quieter which was nice. I also met up with a friend from college that I hadn’t seen in over 5 years! She studied in Cologne and came to MN for a semester exchange in 2016. I was busy chatting so I didn’t take as many pictures- whoops.
Stadgarten Market:
This was the last market we visited! It is apparently a “private market” so it was a little more local. It was also further from the other markets and didn’t have festive mugs so I don’t think it would be as large of a draw for tourists. I liked the forest atmosphere and this market also had more coverings which was perfect since it rained all day on Sunday.
Foods to try!
- glühwein(obviously)
- Sausages
- Potato cakes
- Other hot drinks
The (long) Journey Home
We had a fabulous trip….. until we tried to get home. In theory, this trip should have been relatively easy. Colonge is only 3 hours away from Amsterdam by train. In the end, we got home 14 hours later than expected. We spent the night in a hotel to get about 4 hours of sleep and had 4 trains canceled on us after our original train had a 5+ hour delay. Makes me a little nervous for our 7 flights home and back for Christmas- fingers crossed!
❤️Melanie
Smiles from Miles Away 