How to spend 2 days in Cologne Germany

If you like beer, Cologne is your city. We spent our time going from Brauhaus to Brauhaus while enjoying the uniqueness of the city. From the love lock bridge to the Cologne Cathedral, there is so much you can do on your visit. Cologne is known for its Kolsch Beer, and it is absolutely worth the hype. On busy days back home, I often wish to go back to Cologne and be sitting on the street in the Old Town, enjoying a beer while people-watching. 

Day 1: Afternoon

We arrived in Cologne in the early afternoon and took the train into the city - the literal first thing we saw when we stepped outside of the train station was the Cologne Cathedral. It really stunned us both because it was the most impressive church I’ve ever seen in my entire life. We checked into our hotel and then immediately went to lunch at Fruh Am Dom. The food was delicious, but it was the Kolsch that made the meal memorable. I’ve never had beer that tasted so pure in my life. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Old Town and scoping out dinner and lunch places for the next few days. 

Day 1: Evening

We started our evening with a boat cruise on the Rhine River. Although the scenery on this cruise wasn’t nearly as beautiful as the Heidelberg cruise, it was nice to be able to learn the history behind the city and figure out which neighborhoods to check out. After the cruise we started a mini Brauhaus crawl around the Old Town. We started off at Augustiner, which had the best beer I've ever had in my life. I told Patrick after I had one sip that we were coming back the next night! We sat out on the patio which is located in a small courtyard and were able to people-watch in the bustling city that is Cologne. After we left Augustiner, we made a last minute decision to check out Peter’s Brauhaus since I had heard lots of good things online. They had delicious Kolsch, but if I went back I would definitely want to sit outside instead of inside. 

Day 2: Morning 

We woke up in the morning and went to LINT No 7 for breakfast. I would definitely recommend it to anybody going to Cologne. The waitress brought us out some complementary pastries and one of them tasted like an old recipe my Grandma used to make. It was a very unassuming, but special place. After this, we purchased our love locks and got it engraved with our names and the date. We took the lock to the bridge and found the perfect place to place our lock. 

Day 2: Afternoon 

In the afternoon, we made our way to the Belgisches Viertel Neighborhood for some shopping. As we walked there we were able to casually stop in stores and eventually made our way back - but we had to make a stop at the House of 4711 to learn the history of Cologne (the scent). After an afternoon of shopping, we went to Gilden im Zims for lunch. Here I tried “Black Pudding”, which I found out afterwards is also known as “Blood Sausage”. It was honestly really good, but if I knew what it was before I probably would have only tried a bite. 

Day 2 Evening: 

As the day came to a close, we decided to walk alongside the river and go up to the Rheinauhafen Neighborhood, which is best known for the three L-shaped buildings that are all in a row. I really liked this area of the city because it had a super young energy and the shops/restaurants were all a bit trendy. We stopped at a coffee shop, and if we had more time I would have gotten a drink or some apps in the area. Later on, we did end up stopping at Augustiner again since the beer was absolutely phenomenal.