Trip Review: Christmas in Cologne
Because it was Thanksgiving day, we obviously went to Christmas in Cologne! Rather than play tourist for the day, we went to all the legendary Christmas markets!
Koln Dom
After a very lazy morning, we first went to the oldest and largest Christmas market in Cologne - Koln Dom. Based outside the famous cathedral, the market is full of great craftsmans and artisans. Most importantly, it has many food and drink stalls because I missed breakfast!
Framed within a canopy of starlights, the most popular market dazzles visitors in front of the historic backdrop of Cologne Cathedral. There are over 150 stalls underneath a giant 25 meter high Christmas tree. This market is one of the best!
The MF Method
As I consider MF to be the Christmas market professional, I will describe how she approaches the market. First, she gets really excited once she sees the famous lights and stalls. She will want her picture taken as soon as the crowds leave just in case she doesn’t get it later!
Next, we will do a tour or lap around the market. Whilst she says this is to determine the best gifts, I think she just enjoys walking around the markets and getting into the Christmas spirit! After 20-30 minutes, I get bored so I then tell her if she wants something, then she needs to start buying because we can’t go in circles forever.
After a few laps, I will get hungry and give into the delicious sweets, foods, and drinks! This time, we both had red gluhwein and spaetzle. Both very tasty! Finally, MF will buying her gifts. In this market, we bought a white snowflake, a snowman candleholder, and nativity scenes - including a few gifts!
Heinzels Market
Within 200 yards of the main Dom market lies the Heinzels market! Decked in greenery and Christmas lights, the stalls are fantastic! Hundreds of elves transform Cologne’s Old Town with a wonderful Christmas market! They also have an unique ice skating rink complete with a curling spot! This is by far the largest and most traditional market in Cologne and has many unique theme alleys, such as sweets, toys, and jewelry.
The little village is great and I definitely preferred this decoration and layout to other markets. We wandered through the markets and we purchased more food. For me, I ate the famous cinnamon sugar bread thing that is my favorite! For MF, we ate a delicious German bratwurst!
In this market, in addition to the craft and food stalls, there was a very unique ice rink that included curling!! It looked so cool and definitely one of a kind! We definitely enjoyed this village!
Harbour Market
Last but not least, our morning concluded in the Harbor market. Known for the nautical theme, the market sits on the mighty Rhine river and even the stalls look like sails! We even stumbled upon a pirate ship bar and a lighthouse bar! Definitely an unique Christmas market!
Pirates!
Compared to the first two markets, it was very quiet and secluded! At points, I thought we had the entire market to ourselves. Once it started raining, we decided to walk back to the town center to get some food.
Fruh Dom
Because it was Thanksgiving, we wanted to feast similar to our families back home. During my quick google research, I found a biergarden, Fruh Dom, with over 9,500 4 star reviews! Unfortunately, it meant a longer walk in the rain but we just really wanted some schnitzel.
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Schnitzel
Once inside the beirgarden, we just ordered a schnitzel between the two of us. After all, we still had a full day of Christmas market eats and a dinner reservation. The schnitzel was really good and tasty, despite not including cranberry sauce which I like with my schnitzel! Now thinking about it, I think MF and I have had schnitzel for Thanksgiving for the past 3 years! How funny!
Food coma or just wet?
After we left the restaurant, the rain still hadn’t stopped so we kept getting even more wet. More importantly, my socks were starting to get wet too! Thus, we went back to the hotel to relax whilst in a food coma. Unsurprisingly, for one of us, this turned into a Thanksgiving nap!
Neumarket - Market of Angels
After sleeping beauty woke up, we bundled up in our winter’s finest and use Cologne’s fine metro system to quickly get to next Christmas market at Newmarket. While the German metro is wonderfully efficient, it is inherently reliant on the operators… And we took the wrong metro in the wrong direction because we were in a hurry!! Then, we surprisingly could not exit the metro because MF could not find the button next to her hand… Whoops!
Once we finally made it to the right metro, we arrived at Neumarket - the market of angels. Scattered through the trees, there are beautiful stars lighting up the market. Lovely little stalls were decorated with greenery and full of light! Each stall was decorated by the vendor and we could tell this was their handiwork!
At this market, there was an outstanding selection of food, such as beer, pretzels, sweets, and bratwurst, and then obviously gluhwein. Unlike the other markets, people were also drinking the famous German beer. The rest of the shopping stalls also had lots of variety of goods, although MF was not tempted by much here. Except, one store… The mighty Katie Wolfhart store! MF was heaven.
Founded in Rothenberg de Tober, Katie Wolfhart is MF’s favorite Christmas store. Thus, any time we find the store (and there is always a store in Germany) , MF is enthralled and must shop there! This time, we just purchased a few new additions as well as Christmas presents for the family.
Rudolf's Village
Despite the cute small Christmas market, Rudolf's village was close to winning the best themed market! With the entrance next to the old city walls, the entire market was constructed from wood and even had reindeer on the roofs! More importantly, it had a live band that played English Christmas carols.
While we wandered through Rudolf's village, I really enjoyed the vibe and atmosphere. Everyone was jolly, filled with gluhwein and beer, and the stalls provided cheap market food. I was hungry and I was extremely tempted but I knew MF would not be pleased if I missed her specially reserved dinner location.
So cool!
The Bird - Thanksgiving Feast
Thanks to MF’s hard research, she found an awesome steakhouse and burger bar called the Bird. Inspired by Americans, obviously, the Bird organically sourced all of it’s meat and claimed to have only the finest meats. After seeing a few plates from the kitchen, they also had massive portion sizes!
For our Thanksgiving feast, I ordered the dirty BBQ cheeseburger with triple cooked fries and MF had the normal cheeseburger with sweet potato fries. Both were exceptionally tasty! The grilled burger was definitely one of the best burgers we had and we somehow finished the full burger!
A Christmas Stroll
After our Thanksgiving feast, we strolled through the city’s Christmas markets to see them at night. Combined with the lights, smells, and joyful spirit, the markets turn magically at night. Plus, we could hardly tell it was rainy at this point! From the Bird, we stopped by Ruldolf, Neumarket, Heinzels market, and the Dom market!
Heinkels
Curling!
Throughout the markets, there were now live bands. We enjoyed singing Christmas carols in both German and English! I enjoyed some Gluhwein and sweets while MF made last minute purchases before we went back to the hotel. While the Heinzels market wins the most scenic and best themed, the Dom market cannot be topped as the lights, giant Christmas tree, and music is fantastic!
Dom!
Koln Dom
The UnChartered Summary
- Cologne's Christmas markets are well worth the hype! Each has their own theme, plus terrific goodies!
- The Bird is a fantastic restaurant if you need some good food!
- Whilst I think I prefer the Heinkels, the Christmas lights and background of the cathedral are inspiring!