TimeRide Cologne
VR time travel in Cologne's Old Town: a virtual tram ride through 1926 Cologne, experienced through a VR headset.
TimeRide Cologne is a time travel attraction in Cologne's Old Town that lets visitors experience different eras of the city's history through virtual reality headsets. The centrepiece is a virtual tram ride through Cologne as it looked around 1926, complemented by guided VR city walks.
At a Glance
- Type
- Time travel attraction with Virtual Reality
- Location
- Alter Markt 36–42, Altstadt-Nord (city centre)
- Opened
- 2017
- Format
- Combination of museum, cinema, and virtual tram ride
- Era depicted
- Cologne's Old Town circa 1926
The virtual Cologne old town that visitors travel through in a replica tram was reconstructed with around 700 buildings, 3,000 animated figures and 250 cars – all based on historical film footage, postcards, city maps and archival materials from 1926.
The Journey Back to 1926
The experience unfolds across several stations, each bringing episodes of Cologne's city history to life. The highlight is a ride aboard a replica tram where visitors, wearing VR headsets, roll through the Old Town as it appeared in the 1920s. The virtual environment recreates the Cologne of that era in remarkable detail: around 700 buildings, some 3,000 animated figures, and 250 cars. The reconstruction drew on historical film footage, postcards, city maps, drawings, and other archival material.
TIME RIDE GO!
TimeRide Go! is a mobile format offering guided walking tours through the city, at various stops along which historical scenes become visible through mobile VR headsets. According to the official website, Cologne has two of these VR tours at two different locations: an Old Town tour spanning more than 2,000 years of Cologne's history, and a Cathedral tour showing how Cologne Cathedral was built.
Background
TimeRide Cologne is one of several locations operated by TimeRide GmbH, a company that develops tourism concepts and runs locally themed historical attractions. Other locations include Dresden, Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, and Kloster Andechs.
Timeline
- 2016TimeRide GmbH founded in Munich
- 2017Opening of TimeRide Cologne at Alter Markt 36–42
- 2018Opening of TimeRide Dresden near the Zwinger
- 2018Won German Tourism Prize (2nd place), Bavarian & Munich Founder's Prize
- 2019Opening of TimeRide Berlin (August); KVV awards Mercurius Prize
- 2020Opening of TimeRide Frankfurt am Main (June)
- 2023Opening of TimeRide GO! brewery tour at Kloster Andechs
- 2025Opening of TimeRide Senseum Old Pharmacy Andechs
Gallery
Map
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Address
Alter Markt 36-42
50667 Köln
Hours
Mo: 10:00–19:00
Di: 10:00–19:00
Mi: 10:00–19:00
Do: 10:00–19:00
Fr: 10:00–19:00
Sa: 10:00–19:00
So: 10:00–19:00
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Sources & links
- Official website
- Wikipedia (retrieved 2026-06-25)
- Official website (retrieved 2026-06-25)
- Google Maps (retrieved 2026-06-25)
Auto-generated, last verified: 2026-06-27
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