Cologne Travel Forum

We'll be in Cologne for 2 days and looking to drink a lot while we're there. We're hoping to find good food and beer in the same place. We also would like a change to drink rum vodka or gin. Any good options that won't cost us our life savings? We're cheap!

Get completely drunk in Cologne is OK. Germans drink a lot without regard to anything and never take special care about themself (like taking time, eating and prefering quality to quantity).

Two more tips for your successful European trip:

1) Coffee shops in nearby Amsterdam are great fun and Dutch people can't get enough of drunkards going from one coffee shop to an other.

2) Unique experience in Europe you should not miss is Western Balkans. I highly suggest cities like Prizren, Ohrid, Kraljevo, Veliko T'rnovo, Edirne, Doboj. The booze is indeed very cheap there. It's a good idea for ladies to drink a lot and stroll up and down a small, romantic town in Western Balkans while completely drunk. The locals highly appreciate it, even more than Dutch people the coffee-shop visitors. It is considered "OK" to mix rum with vodka, esp. for ladies all over Continental Europe, but esp. Prizren shouldn't be missed for "get drunk in public and locals will praise your high morale" experience.

In a nutshell: God created weed, man created the booze. You can drink and drive or smoke and fly. Best is to do the both, of course, that's why Europe is there for you. :-[

In case you didn't quite get Gyuri's sarcasm... ;)

While having some beer and enjoying yourself is encouraged in Germany, public drunkenness is not.

That said, consider a very nice Koelsch beer pub right IN the train station, called the Koelsch Treff. It's not horribly expensive and offers above-average brew (sorry, the exact brand escapes me at the moment), either in the traditional 0.2 liter cylindrical glass (hint,hint) or the tourist-oriented 0.4 liter vessel.

Pretty good stuff is "Radler": a mix of lemon juice and beer. It may sound scary, but it is tasty, became popular and is not particularly strong (ca. 2%). Often a glass or two of "Radler" is all what is consumed. It is of course cheap. Best German beer is often VERY local. For instance many Bavarians would prefer Ayinger to Löwenbräu. I was rather more often in the (former) GDR and Bavaria, so not too familiar with the very local "Kölsch" speciality, so follow Travelfrosch advice.

Except some oddball islands and northern territories ;) Europe is much more about quality than quantity. In most of it including Germany to be drunk in public esp. for ladies is a huge no-no. My example with Prizren was somewhat extreme, but in the fact, Germany could be worse. Albos will be merely shocked and get an infarct looking at you, but Germans will sue the heck out of anyone who is disturbing the public peace. And it can be serious. One "Strafanzeige" and you are firmly out of Europe for several years, with one ugly stamp. Good luck getting, say, a Chinese or Indian visa in a passport with an ugly German stamp: "deported due disturbing public peace"

Radler is not scary because it is not beer with lemon juice but half and half beer and lemonade, so it is a little sweetish. People use to drink it if they do not want to get as drunk as tourists.

A Radler is what they'd call a shandy in UK.
As of last year, coffeeshops in The Netherlands cannot sell alcohol anymore. But you'll find coffeeshops all over the country, not just Amsterdam. You could simply pop over the border. Although I suppose Germany will have its share of coffeeshops too. Kakapo?

oops hi, OP here...I didn't mean to give the impression that I want to get drunk or wasted. Just that we DO want to enjoy the beer because of the fact that it's GERMANY! and we've heard nice things about it. We've also heard that it isn't strong (like Belgian beer) so are hoping that it will go over well. We also heard that we can get the best meals in brew pubs as opposed to restaurants.

One of the largest brewery/restaurants is Früh, next to the cathedral. It is extremely busy and finding a table can be a challenge, but it's not a tourist trap. Read the Cologne tips here on VT for more information.

There are no coffeeshops in Germany, at least not in the Dutch variety, that's why so many schools get asked by the students to do class trips to Amsterdam.

In 1982 our university organized a trip to Eindhoven. It was unusual because we were behind the Iron Curtain. It was of course no coffee shop experience, we did not even know, they do exist!

But I cannot say it was without different kind of (REAL) fun... and after the trip we had few international couples, at least one became permanent. That is considered VERY-VERY OK ;-)

Ok, ok... If you do not want to get completely drunken you have to look carefully what kind of beer you are drinking. You cannot say in general that German beer is not strong. There are many different varieties, so check the alcohol content before you order several litres ;-) I remember visits of our French pen pals (school exchange), at the time when they sold beer in litre bottles in France, and all the Frenchies lost their footing at our parties after a litre of normal blond German beer. This was always a source of great amusement. And on the exchange trip I found it funny that I could drink half a litre without falling under the table (you see, not a heavy beer drinker LOL).

In Cologne BTW I found the pubs of Martinswinkel very nice. This is very close to the railway station.

Check out the "Gaffelhaus am Alter Markt". It's in the Old Town of Cologne and has great Food. It's a Brew house and the beer is good. If the weather is nice you can seat outside as well as it's on a nice market square.

You will also find great beer and food in "Die Malzmuehle" which is just 5min. away from the "Gaffelhaus" and situated close to the tram station "Heumarkt", but you can't seat outside there. It's not the prettiest brew house, but as I said food and beer is good.

For a bit of fun you could go to the "Haxenhaus", also in the Old town (it's all pretty close to each other, so maybe have a "brew house crawl")which is not a brew house as such and maybe a little bit touristy,but it's fun to order "einen meter wurst" (a meter of sausage),"einen meter Koelsch" (a long wooden stick containing 10 glasses of the local beer)or "einen meter schnaps"(same thing with schnapps).

The brew house "Frueh" is propably the best known, not bad, but in my opinion not as good as the first two mentioned. The brew house "Paeffgen" has apparently rude waiters...

I'm sure you will enjoy your time there! The best thing in the brew houses is (in the good ones mentioned at least) that you don't need to make your way to the bar for every beer they will keep bringing you a new one as soon as you are running low till you put your coaster on top of your glass!!And keep your coaster save, the koebes (beer waiter)will write everything he serves you on it, lose it and you are in trouble...

You could also order a "Hustensaft" which is translated cough syrup, but don't worry you will be served coke with a kind of german brandy ("Asbach Uralt") and is especially, or actually only then,popular during the carnivals season.

For going out outside the oldtown (which is better during the daytime, especially because it's at the river)check out the area around "zuelpicher str."(tram station "zuelpicher platz") for bars, cafes,...that's were all the students go. Let me know if you need more help!