Whats Cologne like?

[Troy.McClure]

Im off to Cologne on Saturday week for 8 days and I hope to get 2nd round games in there, Dortmund and Gelsenkirken, although I dont have any tickets.

Can anyone give me some tips or advice on the place? I assume that there is a fan zone in the middle of town somewhere, is it any good? We are going to camp a bit south of the city and drive around.

As we are hoping to pick tickets up on the street can anyone give me an idea on how much they cost face value and are the germans being strict about having the right name on the ticket?

Thanks.

[MickeyT]

Cologne was packed with people when I was over there...great atmosphere in the city altogether. As regards the Fan Fests, there are two of them that I could see. Don't bother going into the one beside the cathedral as it's small and has no big screen and is fairly dull in all aspects. Instead follow the crowds down to the main bar/restaurant area and you'll see the bigger Fan Fest. I didn't manage to get into this one cause I couldn't be bothered queuing but it did look decent from the outside.

There'll be a good few touts (usually scousers or cockneys) hanging around the cathedral area generally (or train stations at host cities). The going rate for the first round games was around 100-150 euro from what I could see. For the second round I'd say it'll be far more pricey though. There's no name checks on tickets at all so if you do manage to get some reasonably priced tickets I wouldn't worry about it.

[Stuttgart88]

I was there on Tuesday. Super stadium. I loved it. Would love to hear if you agree.

Can't offer any help on the city though as we were in Dusseldorf which is a 30-40 minute drive away. Old Dusseldorf is nice. Loads of bars / cafes etc (3 Irish bars which I gave a wide berth to!). Fans from all countries based there, or were passing through.

I had black pudding & onions on brown bread in a Dusseldorf bar. Not for the faint hearted. Raw pudding & raw onions! Was complemented surprisingly well by a rich dark local beer though.

[drinkfeckarse]

I had black pudding & onions on brown bread in a Dusseldorf bar. Not for the faint hearted. Raw pudding & raw onions! Was complemented surprisingly well by a rich dark local beer though.


You can take the Irish out of.....;) :D

[Stuttgart88]

In fairness, I wasn't expecting Clonakilty...