We arrived at Köln Hbf on Sunday 9 August after travelling from Hannover on three trains.
The main body of this post will give a few details of the breweries / bars we visited in the same order. For details of travel to Köln, accommodation, cafes, places of interest and a side trip to Koblenz see the appendices that follow.
Gaffel am Dom
 |
| Gaffel Am Dom (10/8/2026 10.30am) |
From the main entrance to Köln Hbf it's a short walk across Bahnhofsvorplatz towards the west end of the Dom (cathedral) to reach
Gaffel am Dom on Trankgasse.
The entrance is between external pillars and under a big blue Gaffel Kölsch sign.
Carrying our suitcases and backpacks, we found a table near the entrance at 5pm on Sunday. The service at a Köln brewery restaurant is similar to its Dusseldorf equivalent with the main differences being that the main draught beer is pale Kölsch and the standard glass is a smaller 20cl measure. The scrubbed wood tables with ceramic pots for cutlery are a common feature.
The draught beers available are Kölsch and Wiess, which is served in larger glasses. The bound menu also includes English translations for the food menu with sections for Salate (salads), Schnell & Satt (Quick bite) and Hauptgerichte (Mains).
One wall of the long room features traditional enamel brewery signs above the wood panelling.
Brauhaus Reissdorf
Brauhaus Reissdorf is situated on the ground floor of a block of flats at Kleiner Griechenmarkt 40.
Typically, there was wood panelling and a distinctive overhead lamp. It was warm inside with all the windows open and no aircon.
The Reissdorf Kölsch was poured from a barrel on the bar counter and served by a different friendly Köbes.
The beer menu also includes
Reissdorf Dröppche Naturtrüb (5.1% ABV) and a 0.4l krug of the cloudy and fruity Dröppche was the next beer ordered to go with a meal.
The publicity for this new beer on the table translates as '
You’ve got to know how to treat yourself -Treat yourself to a Dröppche fresh from the tap.'
Hellers Volksgarten
There were great views to the south of Köln from the high floors of our hotel.
On Tuesday afternoon we walked down Ulrichgasse to get a closer view of
Ulrepforte (above right), a 13th century gatehouse. On the way we passed a historic street shrine with a Pietà sculpture embedded in the old brick wall of the former
Carthusian monastery at the junction with Kartäusergasse.
Hellers Brauhaus is near Köln Süd station at Roonstraße 33. From early April until late September,
Hellers Volksgarten also serves food and Kölsch at Volksgartenstraße 27, by the boating lake in
Volksgarten (People's garden).
 |
| Kölsch & Wiess |
Arriving at 7pm on a Tuesday, we were able to find seats at a spare table (61). The draught beers are Kölsch, Wiess and Weizen.
We drank 30cl glasses of Kölsch (4.8% ABV) before our meal and Wiess (4.5% ABV) afterwards. Wiess is brewed using the same top-fermentation brewing process as Kölsch but is not filtered. Both beers are recommended.
It took less than half an hour to reach Früh em Veedel, assisted by a one stop tram ride from Ulrepforte to Chlodwigplatz.
Near Ulrepforte, the Sachsenturm section of wall has been extended eastwards with a 'relief building' (Entlastungsbau). At Chlodwigplatz the 13th century city gate Severinstorburg has a tower above which is octagonal at the front and square at the rear. Früh em Veedel is the brick building on the right of the Severinstorburg photo.
Built where the demolished medieval city wall used to stand, the tavern was founded in 1879 as Brennerei (distillery) A. Hermann and taken over by
Früh in 1979.
The original distillery equipment and fixtures were preserved by
Früh. In the far corner of a rear room, there is a vertical metal cylinder with glass expansion chamber components that was once used to distil spirits here.
We arrived before 9pm and found a table in a side room that was quieter than the bar area. The floor in the bar area has a tiled floor and the side room has a wooden floor. The Kölsch is served in traditional 20cl glasses. The Köbes replied with an exaggerated 'Ja' after my effort of ordering 'Zwei Kölsch bitte' but he seemed happy to serve us promptly.
After our final Kölsch in Köln it was time to return to our hotel.
The northern entrance to Chlodwigplatz U-Bahn station is by escalators slightly left of Severinstorburg. We would take line 17 two stops north to Severinstrasse, the current terminus.
At platform level it was interesting to see the remains of the base of the bastion which was a further line of defence before the Severinstorburg which was only unearthed recently when the U-bahn station was built.
APPENDICES
Transport to Köln etc
Hannover > Altenbeken, Altenbeken > Hamm, Hamm > Köln
Because of weekend maintenance work on the German rail network we needed to take three trains from Hannover. In Germany we used the monthly DB Deutschland-Ticket (€63) which allows unlimited travel on regional trains (not ICE), local U-Bahn, tram and bus services.
Köln Hbf is just west of the river Rhein near the cathedral (Dom).
The railway station includes many food outlets and other shops including a FC Köln shop . Payment is required to use toilet facilities.Trams stop nearby and U-Bahn services can be accessed from Breslauer Platz / Hbf station with an entrance near exit on north side of the main railway station and Dom / Hbf with an entrance near Gaffel am Dom (exit from south side of the main railway station).
Accommodation
We stayed at the
Premier Inn Cologne City Sud hotel. This was not far from the Poststrasse U-bahn station.
There are far reaching views from the 16th floor!
Coffee bars and meals
Hotel breakfasts are usually expensive and we enjoyed two morning visits to the branch of
Reys Bäckerei & Cafe at Kleiner Griechenmarkt 81 just across the road from Brauhaus Reissdorf where we received friendly service and good value.
Evening meals were reasonable value at Brauhaus Reissdorf (Sunday) and Hellers Volksgarten (Tuesday).
Landmarks and places of interest
Art galleries in the city include
Museum Ludwig which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2026.
Colonius, a 1981 telecommunications tower at Innere Kanalstraße, north west of the city centre, was spotted from a train.
We came across another medieval gateway (
Eigelsteintorburg) to the north of Köln Hbf on Eigelstein.
The
Crane Houses were only glimpsed from a distance from a train as we crossed the (depleted) river Rhein. They are the three large buildings beyond Deutzer Brücke and Severinsbrücke in the photo above.
A trip to Hachenburg and Koblenz
 |
| River Sieg - view from train to Au. |
To reach Hachenburg by train involves a change at Au. After crossing the Rhein at Köln, it follows the river Sieg eastwards to Au. A connecting train travels south to Altenkirchen where it changes direction, east to Hachenburg.
 |
| Roland, Meg and Christa by the river Rhein, Koblenz |
Thanks to our friends Christa and Roland we were able to visit them in Hachenburg (Westerwald) on the Monday, take an interesting walk around lakes, stay the night and get a lift to Koblenz on Tuesday to be shown around the town where Christa had lived as a student.
The train to Köln crosses the river Mosel (Moselle) as it leaves Koblenz and runs on the west side of the river Rhein, via Bonn.
At some points there are good views across the river, which had a lower water level than usual due to the drought.
Leuven (Belgium)
On Wednesday we travelled from Köln to Leuven by train, changing at Aachen and Welkenraedt. See separate blog post (Work in Progress).
Recommended articles about Köln and Kölsch
'The champagne of pale ales' by Scott Antcliffe - My search for the perfect Kölsch beer in Cologne
Boak & Bailey - Impressions of Köln: expansion pack features Früh em Veedel
Katie Mather - Drinking Kölsch in Cologne, pt.1
Katie Mather - Drinking Kölsch in Cologne, pt.2
European Bar Guide - Bar Crawls: Köln – The Kölsch Run
Cologne with Open Eyes - an interesting blog by Luise Stein with multiple posts, including The Cologne Charterhouse
Related posts
Visited before Köln in August 2026:
Typically, there was wood panelling and a distinctive overhead lamp. It was warm inside with all the windows open and no aircon.
The Reissdorf Kölsch was poured from a barrel on the bar counter and served by a different friendly Köbes.
The beer menu also includes Reissdorf Dröppche Naturtrüb (5.1% ABV) and a 0.4l krug of the cloudy and fruity Dröppche was the next beer ordered to go with a meal. 
The publicity for this new beer on the table translates as 'You’ve got to know how to treat yourself -
There are far reaching views from the 16th floor!
