Cologne – Tips & Suggestions

Cologne Way of Summer Life

If you come to Cologne in summer take your friends out to the parks and beer gardens in the evening and get a taste of Cologne summer lifestyle. You could for instance go to the beer garden of the Rheinterrassen restaurant between 8 and 10 p.m. and enjoy the sunset behind the Cathedral at the left bank – as you can see on the right pic (click on the pic to enlarge). They also have some of those old-style roofed beach chairs on the terrace – if you are lucky to find a vacant chair you could have a very funny and romantic time there with your lover.

Aachener Weiher is a big park not far from the city center (1-2 tram stops from Rudolfplatz). Coming from Aachener Str./Richard-Wagner-Str. you got a beer garden next to the small lake. Up the hill there are plenty of people sunbathing in the afternoon or chilling with their friends in the evenings (left pic). In mild summer nights there are hundreds of people, barbecues and candles until late in the night. There is also some gay cruising behind the trees at night, but don't get confused by the straight guys just releasing their beer there.)

Other popular parks with beer gardens are the Stadtgarten and the Volksgarten.

Carnival in winter and summer

The world-famous Cologne carnival takes place from ›Weiberfastnacht‹ (the Thursday before Ash Wednesday) to Shrove Tuesday. Everything centers around ›Rosenmontag‹ (Carnival Monday or Shrove Monday) with the big parade watched by 1.5 million people along the streets. Don't imagine a colourful, crazy carnival parade. It's neither Brazilian style nor mystical-religiously. Actually it's mainly (for historic reasons) unsexy Prussian uniforms. You will either love it and the ›beer-enhanced‹ atmosphere around it or you will hate and escape it. As millions of people visit Cologne for the Carnival, also the gay pubs, bars and clubs are packed with guys drinking, singing, dancing and ›schunkeln‹.

The other big event is the Gay Pride weekend, usually at the 1st weekend in July and officially called CSD (Christopher Street Day). What makes the CSD parade in Cologne unique, is the mixture of gay and straight people. In 1995 the parade was still a small demonstration with some hundred people and a few trucks. But by 2000 it had already become a family event with nearly a million straight people enjoying the parade as a Carnival in summer with lots of sun and naked flesh. And little boys tell their parents they had seen Batman when they spotted a Leather queen in the parade... Curious for some Pictures?