DISCOVER COLOGNE

COLOGNE: AN URBAN KALEIDOSCOPE

CATHEDRAL CITY, RHINE METROPOLIS, MEDIA HUB AND SO MUCH MORE

With a population of well over a million, Cologne is Germany’s fourth largest city. And yet the locals like to call their home the biggest village in the world. That’s probably because of all the many neighbourhoods, or “Veedel”, that developed their own special character over the course of the city’s 2,000-year history. Which means that Cologne never feels overwhelming – but always fresh and new. A designer boutique here, a luxury flagship store there. Opera here, improvised jazz concert there. Lively bar scene here, high-powered business lunch there. And the best place to start discovering the city on the Rhine is the Excelsior Hotel Ernst, right in the very heart of Cologne.

Cologne was founded over 2,000 years ago as a Roman colony. Caesar himself hailed the Ubii people who lived here as “cultured” folk. And culture is exactly what you find around every corner in Cologne. Our 40-plus museums and galleries, our opera, theatre, Musical-Dome and world-famous Philharmonia have made the city on the Rhine one of the cultural hotspots of Europe.

But Cologne’s definition of culture is even wider. The carnival, the brewery, our hip new clubs and vibrant young art scene… all this and more makes up Cologne’s cultural landscape. And what better way to round off the culture than a freshly tapped Kölsch, our sacred beer that’s still brewed in the old traditional way. Do you know where this tradition got its official seal? In the Excelsior, of course.