We Visited The Christmas Markets In Cologne In Just One Day. Here’s How You Could Too!

Have you heard of extreme day tripping? Neither had I, until my friend convinced me to try one! It’s a new trend that sees you fly to another country for just one day (via budget airline, of course). All the fun of experiencing a new destination without the expense or time constraints of an overnight stay.

We decided we would head to Cologne to explore the Christmas markets.

There were two main reasons for choosing Cologne: one fun, one practical.

Firstly, we wanted to experience some authentic German Christmas markets on our trip as we’d planned to take it in late November, and with 4 main markets and dozens of smaller ones, Cologne ticked all the boxes.

We were especially enchanted by the photos of the market snaking around the imposing cathedral.

Secondly, getting to the centre of Cologne from the airport is incredibly easy. You can take the S19 train from the station inside the airport straight to Cologne central station in under 15 minutes. This train runs every 20 minutes and only costs EURO 3.50 each way. So convenience was a big attraction for us given we were only visiting for the day!

The Details Of Our Trip (Including How Much It Cost)

One of the first things people ask when I mention our extreme day trip is how much did it cost. So before we get onto the fun stuff like what we did, I’ll break down what we spent!

We paid £46 each for return trips from Stansted to Cologne. These were mid-week flights (we went on a Wednesday) departing at 7.50am and then returning home at 7.30pm.

I was travelling with my girlfriends (there were three of us travelling) so we split the cost of the airport parking for the day. This cost £15 per person. Then, as I mentioned above we spent 3.50 Euros (approx £3) each, each way on the train.

The Cathedral and the Cathedral market is right next to the Cologne central station, and from here you can walk to some of the other Christmas markets very easily too. So there was no need to take (or to pay for) any other mode of public transport if you didn’t want to!

This means the total essential spend for the day trip was £67 per person.

I then spent approximately £100 more on breakfast at the airport, food around the markets, a Christmas ornament, and small souvenirs for the kids. But how much you spend on these ‘extras’ really is a how long is a piece of string question. I didn’t really think about money, and happily paid for everything that took my fancy, as we were only there for the day!

To give you an idea of costs a Bratwurst cost 7 euros, a mug of hot chocolate cost 3.50 euros (plus a 3 euro mug deposit, but this was refundable if you returned your mug. We spent 6 euros on 4 chocolate covered marshmallow biscuits and I spent 6 euros on a bowlful of mushrooms covered in a creamy garlic sauce.

In terms of souvenirs, a magnet cost 3 euros, I spent 13 euros on my Christmas tree ornament. The giant cookie necklaces that are so popular here started from 5 euros each depending on the size you chose.

What Did We Do In Cologne?

As I mentioned above, there are 4 main Christmas markets in Cologne. But we decided we didn’t want to turn our trip into a box ticking exercise and try to visit them all: we only had one day! So we started at the Cathedral Christmas market, because that’s the one we wanted to visit the most.

Here we wandered around all the stalls, ate delicious treats, and did a little shopping. We arrived here early (just as they opened at 11am) so it was lovely and quiet. This is the best time to visit if you do want to explore all the stalls – it was so crowded here later in the day.

Once we were sure not a stall had been missed, we headed over to the nearby heinzels winter fairytale market, and this was my favourite of the two. The craft stalls had a more artisan feel, and the whole place had a more authentic and social vibe. There was a ferris wheel and a carousel for little ones, and plenty of beer halls for the grown ups.

We loved watching families curling on the purpose-built curling course (this is really popular so you have to pre-book this) and there is even an ice skating rink that runs along the full length of the market.

We went ice skating, we bopped to the music, we drank hot fruit punch and ate the richest raclette. I could have stayed here all day watching the lights and being part of the crowd.

Alas, even the best things have to come to an end. So we walked back to the cathedral because I wanted to look inside. Entry is free but donations are encouraged. It’s a beautiful cathedral with stunning stained glass and enviably high ceilings. The organ is one of the nicest I’ve seen.

From here we went back into the now much busier cathedral market to grab a bratwurst for our dinner, then it was back to the train station and back to the airport!

From a practical point of view, passing through security took less than 5 minutes, and we walked through passport control on our way in and out of the country too. They asked us the purpose of our trip (to visit the markets), stamped, and we were on our way!

All in all, this was one of the best days out I’ve ever had. Exhausting but incredible. And if you’re short on cash, time, or both, but there’s somewhere in Europe you’ve always dreamed of seeing then I would definitely recommend giving an extreme day trip a try.

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