What to do in Cologne? Agenda today and this weekend

Start at the cathedral and climb the tower, then visit the Museum Ludwig next door. Have lunch in a brewery pub in the Old Town, then walk past the Fischmarkt and across the Hohenzollern Bridge to look back at the cathedral from Deutz. In the evening there is a concert at the Philharmonie or the Stadtgarten.

Go into the cathedral, the Museum Ludwig or the Chocolate Museum. The rainy-day page lists what is indoors, with what is on there next.

Yes, since 1 July 2026 a visit costs admission. Services and prayer stay free, and so do children up to 13. The tower climb has its own ticket.

Weiberfastnacht is on Thursday 4 February 2027 and Rose Monday on 8 February 2027. The season itself opens on 11 November 2026.

The first to open, on 13 November 2026, are the Stadtgarten market (until 23 December) and the harbour Christmas market by the Chocolate Museum (until 3 January 2027). The market at the cathedral and the Markt der Engel on the Neumarkt follow on 16 November and run until 23 December. Heinzels Wintermärchen opens on 23 November, until 23 December on the Alter Markt and until 10 January 2027 on the Heumarkt.

The next Kölner Lichter is on Saturday 31 July 2027, with fireworks over the Rhine in the city centre.

The student bars are on the Zülpicher Straße, cocktail and wine bars in the Belgian Quarter, clubs and concert halls in Ehrenfeld and Mülheim, and the brewery pubs in the Old Town.