Free entry
38 places in Cologne
Aachener Weiher
An artificial lake in the inner green belt with a beer garden – one of the most popular summer meeting spots around Aachener Straße.
Antoniterkirche
A Gothic Protestant church in the middle of the Schildergasse – Cologne's most visited church after the cathedral, known for Barlach's ‘Hovering Angel'.
Beethovenpark
A near-natural landscape park in Sülz from the 1920s – with wide lawns, mature trees and a special garden.
Blücherpark
A strictly geometric people's park in Nippes from 1913 – with a pond, play lawn and Baroque-style avenues, designed by Fritz Encke.
Decksteiner Weiher
An elongated lake in the outer green belt – popular for walking, jogging and rowing, with the Haus am See restaurant.
Flora Botanical Garden
Cologne's botanical garden with over 10,000 plant species, historic themed gardens and the grand glass ‘Flora' festival hall in Riehl.
Forstbotanischer Garten Köln
A sprawling forest botanical garden in southern Cologne with the adjoining Friedenswald – around 90 hectares of trees, ponds and calm, free to enter.
Friedenspark
A city park in the Südstadt near the Rhine, built on an old fort – a quiet green space by the approach to the South Bridge.
Fritz-Encke-Volkspark
A socially minded people's park by Fritz Encke (1920s) in Raderthal – with flower gardens, an open-air theatre and a reading garden as rare features.
Great St. Martin Church
One of Cologne's twelve great Romanesque churches – its distinctive crossing tower shapes the old-town skyline by the Rhine.
Hiroshima-Nagasaki Park
A peace park in the inner green belt – a place of remembrance for the atomic bombings, designed as a quiet green space.
Humboldtpark
A small listed green space in Humboldt/Gremberg – one of the few inner-city parks in the Kalk district.
Klettenbergpark
An idyllic natural garden in a former gravel pit – a hidden gem with ponds, rocks and lush greenery by Fritz Encke.
Klingelpützpark
An inner-city park in the northern old town on the site of a former prison – today a popular green open space.
Cologne Ghost Parade
Cologne's alternative, self-organised carnival parade – eerie and torch-lit, with no floats and a political motto.
Cologne Rose Monday Parade
Germany's largest and oldest Rose Monday parade – over 7 km of floats, music and sweets through the city centre.
Cologne City Forest
A sprawling woodland park in Lindenthal with a deer enclosure, ponds and playgrounds – a popular recreation area in western Cologne.
Minorite Church
A Gothic Franciscan church on Kolpingplatz – burial place of the ‘journeymen's father' Adolph Kolping and the theologian John Duns Scotus.
Mülheim Stadtgarten
A historic city park in right-bank Mülheim from 1912/13 – a green oasis with mature trees near the Rhine.
Neu St. Alban
A modern 1959 church by the Stadtgarten, built from rubble bricks – a remarkable post-war design in the spirit of Le Corbusier.
Rose Garden
A symmetrical rose garden by Fritz Encke on a former fortress fort – in summer a fragrant sea of blossoms in the green belt.
St. Agnes
After the cathedral, Cologne's largest church – a mighty neo-Gothic hall church that gives the Agnesviertel its name.
St. Amandus (Cologne-Rheinkassel)
A Romanesque village church in northern Cologne – with a choir that recreates the famous collegiate church of St. Gereon in miniature.
St. Andrew's Church, Cologne
A Romanesque-Gothic basilica near the cathedral – burial church of Albertus Magnus, with a colourful stained-glass cycle by Markus Lüpertz.
St. Aposteln
One of Cologne's twelve great Romanesque churches – with a magnificent trefoil choir on Neumarkt and a minor basilica since 1965.
St. George's Church
A Romanesque columned basilica in the Südstadt, called the ‘Ravenna on the Rhine' – with ancient columns from Roman buildings.
St. Gereon's Basilica
A spectacular Romanesque church with a ten-sided decagon – the largest free-vaulted central building of the Middle Ages north of the Alps.
Basilica of St. Cunibert
The youngest of Cologne's twelve Romanesque churches, near the Rhine – famous for its splendid medieval stained glass.
St. Maria im Kapitol
The largest of Cologne's twelve Romanesque churches – famous for its trefoil plan, the carved wooden door of 1065 and its Renaissance rood screen.
St. Maria Lyskirchen
The smallest of Cologne's twelve Romanesque churches – with almost fully preserved 13th-century vault frescoes and the ‘Boatmen's Madonna'.
St. Mary of the Assumption
A magnificent Baroque Jesuit church near the cathedral – long Cologne's largest church after the cathedral and one of the city's few Baroque monuments.
St. Pantaleon
An early Romanesque monastery church in the Südstadt with an Ottonian westwork – burial place of the Byzantine empress Theophanu.
Basilica of St. Severin
A Romanesque basilica in the lively Severin quarter – its roots reach back to a late-antique memorial building of the 4th century.
Basilica of St. Ursula
A Romanesque basilica over a Roman cemetery – famous for the Baroque ‘Golden Chamber' with the relics of Saint Ursula.
Stadtgarten
Cologne's first public park in the Neustadt – a green oasis and at the same time a legendary venue for jazz and concerts, with a beer garden.
Südpark
A small listed park in Marienburg from around 1900 – a quiet, well-kept green space in Cologne's elegant south.
Volksgarten
A popular park in the Südstadt with a boating lake, pedal boats, beer garden and the Orangerie – one of Cologne's loveliest meeting spots.
