If you’re looking for a city with fairytale architecture and gas-lit cobbled alleyways, you should probably stop reading now. Book a flight to Prague or Paris and be done with it. For Cologne (or Köln), is at first glance underwhelming in its postwar geometricity, with more busy roads than pedestrianised ones and only one blockbuster sight in the form of its towering cathedral. And even that’s the stuff of Gothic horror, not fairytales.
But what the city lacks in aesthetic appeal it makes up for in character by the bucket-load, with an open-minded, artsy scene that prompts obvious but accurate comparisons with Berlin, and a completely different kind of beer-drinking culture. Here are seven compelling reasons why you should go to Cologne for your next city break.