Best German experience near Cologne? Traveling from Antwerp

Lynn,

what do you mean by authentic? How much more authentic than an ancient city (as old as the first century AD) with a million Germans living there? A neat old town, world class architecture in the Dom, typically German shopping streets, and Dusseldorf and Aachen just down the road. The Rhine river runs through the middle. And it has a good chocolate museum, too.

Is Amsterdam not authentically Dutch because it is the biggest city in the Netherlands? Amsterdam is 3/4 of the size of Cologne.

Hmm, residents of the most populous state of Germany might be a bit surprised that their region isn't "authentic"...

But I digress... Please explain a little better what you're looking for. If you meant something that has a higher proportion of pre-war architecture, perhaps consider Aachen. This entire region was hit particularly hard during the war, so the post-war and modern rebuilding are more pronounced here. The center of Aachen, though, did a little better than most of the surrounding cities to rebuild their historic core. You may also want to check out the small nearby town of Stolberg, which has a very well preserved district, including a castle. A little further south, the former capital of West Germany, Bonn, managed to escape the worst destruction of the war. It still maintains much of it's turn of the century elegance.

All of the major cities in the lower Rhine-Ruhr region suffered a disproportionate amount of damage during the war. Cologne probably did the best job at rebuilding it's most important historical buildings, but it probably won't win any German beauty contests. Still, it's quite a fun town, particularly during Fasching. If that's not "authentic", then I don't know what the word means. Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen, Duisberg, Mönchengladbach, Gelsenkirchen, Wuppertal and Bochum all have little bits and pieces that precede the war, but are mostly modern.

EDIT: Please excuse us for beating you up on the use of the word "authentic". When I lived in Germany, I was once very embarrassed by a friend of a friend, who kept insisting to my (otherwise) very polite neighbors that the village where we lived was not "authentic"... apparently it didn't have enough gingerbread houses and magical fairies to meet her expectations of what a German village should look like.

Oooops. Sorry. Didn't mean to offend and I obviously chose the wrong word. I meant less city like. The pictures I have seen of Cologne looks somewhat industrial. I may be totally wrong (which is why I'm asking). If Cologne is great, we'll definitely stay there. Any suggestions for good neighborhoods to stay?

-Lynn

Hi,

I would suggest as day trip to a smaller city/town from Cologne to a less visited tourist place Bonn, Bod Godesberg, or Aachen, if you are looking for cultural aspects of German. Cologne is worth a trip, at least once.

Now, if you want to track down historical sites, historical museums, etc, there are located in that area: Düsseldorf, Kaiserswerth, Duisburg, Mönchengladbach, Essen, Bonn, Ratingen, Bad Godesberg, the greater Dortmund area, Wesel am Rhein,

We just returned from 4 nights in Cologne after a Rhine Christmas Market River Cruise. And, for us, if it weren't for the Christmas Markets in Cologne, 1-2 days there would have been MORE than enough. The whole city was flattened by WW2, except the Cathedral. We did pay for the guided English tour of the Cathedral (8Euros for 50minutes, and then a great 20min movie after) . . . that was TOTALLY worth it. We also spent a couple hours at the Chocolate Museum (great hot chocolate in the cafe and perfect gifts for people in their shop). But the town of Cologne wasn't the quaint European town like we saw along the Rhine on our Xmas Market Cruise . . . it is big, with all the stores you can find in big USA cities. Outside of the amazing Cathedral, it didn't 'feel' European - I understand what you meant. We did go to Aachen, as mentioned earlier, and we enjoyed that. But, the cathedral in Cologne is MUCH more impressive than the one in Aechen. Don't miss the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam . . . read the brochure they give you as you walk thru . . . it is one of the best things we have ever done.

if you want something really authentically German, you could take a very short trip to Wuppertal and ride on the unique hanging railway, the Schwebebahn. Fabulous German engineering and pretty neat views, both along the river, through the town, and, really unique, as it goes right through the Bayer factory.

It sounds didactic, but the Netherlands is currently the name of a country, one which does not include Belgium. I mainly write that because so many posters on travel sites consider the two countries to be the same one, and it's not true, politically or economically. I've spent more time in Belgium than the Netherlands, and would say (an opinion, of course) that Belgium is more interesting!

I like Cologne very much. And I've never been to the Chocolate Museum in two visits. Cologne is good for four days if you like museums and botanical gardens (not gardens in March, naturally). I think it is harmful to a Cologne visit to wake up in another place, despite relatively good public transportation in Germany. You didn't give your home city in your Rick Steves identity profile, but it's like staying in Glen Cove, Long Island to visit New York City. Why do it?

Cologne is too far north for the more picturesque (and mostly stone ... ) towns of the scenic Middle Rhine. Like other posters, I wonder if you mean just "old", or "half-timbered", or "medieval", or just "low-density." Like Belgium and the Netherlands, postwar development has produced vast tracts of single-family, modern masonry homes, replacing the wooden villages that you saw in Band of Brothers. To the extent that such places still exist, they are rare enough to be tourist sights. Unlike the US, there are still plenty of farms, but they are of necessity, modern farms.

Just to ascertain what you are thinking of, I suggest you look at some photos of Monschau. In fact, Germany has similar villages all over, but they are tourist attractions. That's why there is a Fachwerkroute!

I will say that when we attended a flower show in Koblenz some years ago (not particularly near Cologne), we didn't want to stay in Koblenz, so we slept in a family-owned small hotel in Andernach. That has a small medieval town center, and their own history (and what looked like big old resort boardinghouses (??) on the other side of the Rhine.) But I never had the illusion that I was in a history book about Germany. Even when, later in that trip, we slept in Mulheim and visited Trier, Bernkastel-Kues, Traben-Trarbach, Burg Eltz, and later in Belgium, Tongeren, Bokrijk, and Diest, we never had any illusion that we had stepped through a time warp.

I endorse your decision to stay in Antwerp and daytrip to Brussels. I personally wouldn't bother to sleep in Bruges, but I am in the minority here. A parallel idea to the Cologne question (... which I don't recommend ... ) would be to sleep in Turnhout to visit Antwerp. I like Turnhout very much, but there is no reason for a first-time visitor to sleep there, or even make time for it.

To the extent that such places still exist, they are rare enough to be tourist sights.

I'm going to disagree there. Germany is absolutely loaded with towns that preserve much of their historic core, the overwhelming majority of which are completely off the tourist radar. However, finding these places is a little harder in Nordrhein-Westfalen. This region of Germany suffered disproportionate damage from the war (being a base of heavy industry, within easy bombing range from the UK, and the first part of Germany to be invaded from the west), and the needs of post-war rebuilding and industry meant that restoring the Heimat was less important than quickly getting people re-housed and re-employed. So, although you can still find remnants of "storybook", Neoclassical and Jungenstil Germany in NRW, they don't pop out at you like they may in, let's say, Hessen, Rheinland-Pflaz, Bavaria or Baden-Würrtemberg.

My wife and I stayed in Bacharach for a couple of nights at the beginning of our 2006 Germany trip and enjoyed it. It's a very small town right on the Rhine. We took the Rhine cruise only for a couple of hours but it was really fun. The Rhine is a river very bustling with traffic. We drove to Berg Eltz, passing alongside the Mosel and found it to be sleepier. Did not check out the towns around there but Rick lists several in his book. If we went back to that region I might try and stay in the Mosel area and the Rhine both. Trier is also a medium-sized city that I have not visited but which my research indicates would be a great place to visit.

"I would like to jaunt over the border to Germany before returning to Amsterdam... I meant less city like."

Sounds like you have very little time and want a small-town experience. Stay away from Cologne. I'd consider Monschau, which Tim suggested above and which hugs the Belgian border.

I haven't seen Burg Satzvey myself, but it isn't far from there if you have the time. Neither is Bad Münstereifel, a place where I stopped in for a couple of hours recently.

Thank you all for the great information. I booked a cottage in Aachen which will give us the choice to take the train into Cologne or down to Monschau (or stay right where we are) depending on our mood at the end of the trip.

-Lynn

We stayed with German friends of ours that live near Frankfurt two summers ago. While there, they took us on a day trip to Cologne. We really enjoyed it! First we took a tour of the Cathedral. After lunch we went to a nearby Roman history museum (can't remember the name of it offhand). It was fascinating to see such ancient history. That was my first time seeing any Roman ruins though, so maybe that's why I found it so neat. After dinner we went back to the Cathedral for a free organ concert before heading back to our friends' home. Overall, it was a great excursion and we really enjoyed the sites.

We stayed in Koblenz 2 years ago at the Hotel Hamm (7 min walk from main train station). Koblenz is located on the confluence of the Mosel and Rhein rivers, called the 'Deutsche Eck' (German Corner). Fortress Ehrenbreitstein can be reached by an air tram, The Old City was worth touring with an English speaking guide. Highlight for us was an organ recital at St Castor Basilika. We found it worthwhile spending 1.5 days here. https://www.tripadvisor.ca/Attractions-g187391-Activities-c47-Koblenz_Rhineland_Palatinate.html