So many cathedrals! Which one would you pick?

Strasbourg may be the most impressive cathedral I've ever seen. It may be the coloring which sets it apart, but it is the only cathedral I've been to so far that I've wanted to visit twice. Cologne is huge and impressive, but I didn't find the interior all that interesting. A tour may have helped.

I am sure Notre Dame in Paris is well worth a visit. I have seen the one Cologne, Strasbourg and Paris (before the fire).
Cologne is not my favorite. It has the twin spires that were completed in more modern times, not medieval. I would rate it the lowest.
Strasbourg was special.

If you visit the UK, I there are several worth visiting:
St. Paul's in London, also. Westminister Abbey
Winchester Cathedral, Salisbury Cathedral, York Minster Cathedral, Durham Cathedral, Canterbury Cathedral.

Strasbourg, for sure.

Another vote for Strasbourg. It is gorgeous both inside & outside. We didn’t do a tour - just enjoyed the beauty of it.

If you’re visiting those cities anyway, it would be a shame to not visit each of their famous cathedrals— except perhaps Paris, not because the newly restored Notre Dame isn’t worthwhile, it certainly is, but because there is so much else to see in Paris competing for your limited time. So if I had to skip one it would be that one. A cathedral visit doesn’t need to take much time —- you certainly don’t need to take a tour — and each of them is centrally located in their cities. Actually the best one in Europe, in my opinion, is Chartres near Paris, because of its magnificent stained glass, but that would need at least a half day trip out of the city to see.

I agree that you don't need to take tours, and since they are all central, popping in for a few minutes should not be a problem. It would be a shame to miss any of them, and they are right there. I would, however, add a different church to your list--St. Ursula in Cologne (about a 10 minute walk from the main cathedral) for its bone chapel. Fascinating.

Slate and HowlinMad are correct, that you really don't need to take a tour for the cathedrals. You can spend an hour or less at each one, unless you are a detail-oriented architecture fan. Except for a few cathedrals (St. Peter's e.g.) a one-hour walk around is enough for me. Of course, to each his own. I wouldn't skip Notre Dame in Paris. And if you must choose from the others, Strasbourg. One point, however, is that the cathedral in Reims is the site of the crowning of nearly every French king going back many centuries. I believe you can check them all out without cathedral overload. (And I know how that can happen!)

Thanks, everyone, for your input! I expect we'll pop in at all the cathedrals but focus on Strasbourg for an actual tour. There appears to be a good audio tour.

If you do visit the Strasbourg cathedral, you may want to consider scheduling your visit to see the astronomical clock in action. Once daily operation, I found it fascinating.

Many cathedrals--probably virtually all cathedrals with an entry fee--have either a simple, take-away folder describing key elements of the building or a laminated handout you can borrow and carry around during your visit. The most important churches are likely to rent an audio guide also or instead.

I'll be traveling in June too. Outside of Paris and seeing Notre Dame I would recommend Strasbourg.

If you want to include Germany, I would suggest Ulm, Magdeburg, and Naumburg an der Saale for cultural, historical (! !) and architectural reasons.

When I was in Cologne on a river cruise my Cathedral tour was cancelled. I found an audio tour I could download for around $5. It was pretty good. Don't know if we can share but it was called Tourific. Rather than wandering aimlessly without context, it did give me a better insight. Probably not as good as a tour guide, but for $5... good investment, and I like the self-paced approach. Many of the go-to tour suppliers like Viator, etc., also have audio guides for various places....like a RS audio walk but with a deeper library. I'll probably grab Reims for my October trip.

Since this thread was bumped up and since your original plan was to travel in June, I’ll just say I did one of the free tours of Notre Dame last week provided by cathedral volunteers. It was excellent, ran about an hour and mine was given by a volunteer from Baltimore, lol.

No need to sign up ahead of time. The meeting place is at the base of the left tower and they will be holding a sign.

https://guidecasa.com/calendrier-notre-dame/

While I can’t speak to all, I can say how intriguing Strasbourg’s Cathedral was. Inside it, there was signage - in French which I only partially understood. One word that I only learned later in the day was chantier. Under construction, or work in progress.

The church is just over 1,000 years old. It evolved and grew architecturally - from Romanesque to Gothic. It was Catholic, then Protestant, then Catholic again. To celebrate its millennial anniversary, a huge window of Jesus was created, with his face being composed of 150 faces of other people.

We only saw the astronomical clock; we did not see it in action.

Notre Dame, of course, is clean and light as a result of the post-fire clean-up. Did they add some additional new lighting, too?

The Rose windows and many others are intact and clean. Some stained glass windows, to me, looked new. Remarkably, much of the artwork and statuary on the inside, and the carvings around the choir, are all in glorious condition. The Treasury was interesting and, to me, worth the modest additional fee.

Unfortunately, security now prevents you from lingering near the front entrance - on the outside. So security prevents you from taking in the statuary at the entrance, the saints and biblical figures, including St. Denis holding his severed head in his hand.

In France I would also include Amiens. In Germany other that those suggested also Marburg and Lüneburg

Among the cities you listed I suggest Notre Dame de Paris and Strasbourg Cathedral. Reims next. One can go crazy trying to see all the beautiful churches everywhere in Europe. After a time many of them can blend together in memories. A shame, but overload of anything can happen.....churches, art museums, castles, gardens, quaint medieval villages and towns.....(sigh!)
What a fortunate and joyful problem to have!

In Paris I would go anyway to “Baselique Cathédrale” Saint-Denis. Once the burial place of French Royalty, it’s an amazing place with so much history packed in one building. It was also where the Gothic style started.

Think my visit dates back some twenty years ago and still can remember as special. The more steward Dominique showed me around crossing the rope barrier and walking between the tombs explaining the details.

Felt a bit anonymous last March in Notre-Dame, a bit too sterile if you ask me. But that's my feeling.

The only cathedral I have taken a tour in was in Chartres when I happened across Malcolm Miller and joined his then tip-only tour.

I have seen all three you mention but saw them on my own. At my age I am not interested in learning facts about most places. I just enjoy the view.

I'm sure many of us could produce lists of cathedrals as long as our arms. See them all. You are looking at some of the world's most spectacular architectural achievements.

Notre Dame de Paris is a homage to the thousands of workers who reconstructed it. It's a privilege to see their finished product.

Strasbourg has a magnificent exterior, a style called Gothic Rayonnante. The Office of Tourism has a one-hour audio guide of the outside and inside. I was in Strasbourg last week and decided I didn't have time to see the clock because we needed to get in line for tickets two hours before. I had seen it twenty years ago. You might have more time than we did. The tower is open for climbing.

Cologne is massive, the largest columns I've ever seen. I visited a few hours at a time three days in a row because there was so much to absorb. Some of the treasory is in the cathedral.

I haven't seen Reims in forty years, but certainly it's a lovely old cathedral and nothing has changed.

During our latest visit to Notre Dame it was too crowded to be enjoyable. Wall to wall people, often shuffling because there wasn't. enough room to take a full stride. You might want to try to find a time that it isn't too busy. We went in the early afternoon. Reportedly very early or late are better.

We had visited Saint Denis earlier in the day and it was much nicer to visit.

This thread is inspiring me to see Strasbourg.

For lighter crowds, recommend going to Notre Dame when or very soon after it opens in the morning.

Rouen, St Stephens in Mainz, Eichstatt. And I've been to way more than I care to think about. These are the three I go back to when I'm in those cities.

I really like the cathedral in Strasbourg about the best, followed by the ones in Spain, which is not on your travel plans.

Aachen is beautiful. I like the Dom in Mainz better than then the one in Speyer or Worms. St. Stephens in Mainz is a must see, but it is not a cathedral. There are other churches that are worth seeing, but again, not cathedrals. The Union church in Idstein and the Justinus Church in Frankfurt Höchst.

I agree with another poster that we could each make a very long list of favorite churches across Europe, we rarely see more than one a day and even then they tend to run together!

Although you specifically asked about cathedrals, I found the St Chapelle stunning, it's a 9-minute walk from Notre Dam. You do need tickets, and try to see it during the daytime when the amazing stained glass windows will shine, you don't need a tour, it's quite a small chapel... https://www.sainte-chapelle.fr/.

Worth to name is the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp, Belgium, for the interior and to my opinion having one of the most beautiful towers of all Gothic cathedrals.

From the ourside, nothing struck me like the Dom in Cologne, but the inside of the Notre Dame in Strasbourg is just amazing. Were going again Friday.