During Cologne’s karneval season, the whole city makes merry. Besides the organised festivities following traditional local customs, practically every pub holds its own party (or, rather, parties). To join in the fun, the best district to start off in is the Belgian Quarter. Here are our top places to go for a slice of the Cologne Carnival action.
Partying pubs
- Grünfeld – In its own words, this watering hole in the Belgian Quarter is the “hottest bar not to be part of the hip crowd”. You can also play chess and table football here.
- Zum Goldenen Schuss – A vintage corner pub on Brüsseler Platz that turns into a circus tent for the carnival period. Five days of acrobatics, kölsch beer and revelry.
- Zum scheuen Reh – A café bar that hosts concerts, readings and other live performances. Opens at 3pm on Rosenmontag, the Monday of the main parade.
- Qlosterstüffje – A cult football pub in the Ehrenfeld district, with a skittles alley and food. Following a two-year break due to Covid, now back in business and ready for the carnival festivities.
- Lotta – Managed by a collective, the speakers here usually blast out punk and ska but not when karneval takes over…
- Stiefel – A dimly lit corner pub in the Latin Quarter, with table football, billiards and a student clientele.
- Kölschbar – The regulars here come to play table football and watch the big-screen action – be it crime series, football or carnival entertainment.
- Hemmer – A well-loved pub in the Ehrenfeld neighbourhood, particularly popular during the carnival period. On Weiberfastnacht (the Thursday before Shrove Tuesday and the first day of the festivities), the partying here starts at 10.30 in the morning. On Shrove Tuesday, you can watch the traditional burning of the Nubbel (a straw-filled effigy) outside.
- Zappes – Yes, they make a good pils in Cologne too and this is the place to come for it.
- Joode Lade – A warm-hearted, rustic pub between the Belgian and Latin quarters. Life here revolves around kölsch beer and the 1. FC football club.
- Stereo Wonderland – This little rock and indie bar hosts regular concerts. It can get pretty crowded – especially during the carnival period!
- Der Schwarze Hase – A dance bar with good cocktails, located in the Ehrenfeld district. The music here is mainly electronic and hip-hop.
- Em Schnörres – Zum scheuen Reh’s little brother and one of the most popular pubs for karneval in the city’s Südstadt district.
Karneval clubbing
- Bumann & Sohn – Six days of partying in the Ehrenfeld district. On Weiberfastnacht, proceedings get underway at 11.11am (which is when the “street carnival” officially begins). Link arms with your neighbour – as is the tradition – and dance away to karneval hits and classics. Starting on the Sunday, they give away 77 litres of beer per day.
- Club Bahnhof Ehrenfeld – On Weiberfastnacht, the party here kicks off with hits from the 90s and 00s. The dancing continues until Sunday with events including Radio Sabor, the party for Latin music lovers with its “Carnival Latino” theme.
- Odonien – After a break of one and a half months, Odonien re-opens for carnival revellers. The party at artist Odo Rumpf’s club gets started with Treibstoff Klub Spökes at 8pm on Weiberfastnacht and ends on Saturday, with techno, house and dub at 200 Rave.
Alternative Cologne Carnival events
Stunksitzung – “mother of the alternative carnival”
The Stunksitzung is an event held entirely in the local dialect, with performers poking fun at key figures on the international and local political stage as well as the clergy. The “mother of Cologne’s alternative carnival” was founded in 1983 by a Cologne student collective (one member of which was entertainer and author Jürgen Becker). Having begun life in the university’s canteen, the Stunksitzung now takes place at the E-Werk venue in the neighbourhood of Mülheim. Selling a total of around 65,000 tickets every year, it’s a huge success and is always sold out quickly. On one of the evenings, the performers storm the stage at another alternative carnival event, Fatal Banal.
E-Werk, Schanzenstr. 36, Gebäude 197, 51063 Cologne. For dates, check here.
Fatal Banal – a cult satirical show
It all began with sketches at a student wedding. When they ran out of student weddings to play, “President” Christoph Stubbe’s troupe started looking for a new stage – and found it in Cologne Carnival. Fatal Banal‘s satirical performances are funny, cheeky, political and totally devoid of pomp. The group had planned to celebrate their 30th anniversary in 2022 but then Covid happened. So now they’re making up for it by sharing their stage with other alternative carnival acts. The premiere on 27 January will feature Deine Sitzung as the guest act, with Schnittchensitzung and Röschen Sitzung providing the entertainment on two other evenings.
Abenteuer Halle Kalk, premiere 27 January; plus nine more performances, every Fri/Sat/Sun at 7.30pm
Rythmic gymnastics of a different kind: Team Rhythmusgymnastik’s Karnevalsport
Team Rhythmusgymnastik, aka DJs Powerfun and Bleibtreuboy, have been helping carnival revellers work up a sweat for more than 20 years. Kitted out in glittery discowear or sportswear (taking their cue from their name), they play anything and everything you can dance too. So hip-hop sometimes has to hold its own against schlager songs while soul classics take on brass bands and funk.
18 February, 11am to 10pm in the Dumont Festzelt marquee, Amsterdamer Straße 192, 50735 Cologne
Ghostly goings-on at the Geisterzug parade
The first Geisterzug (“ghost parade”) in the form we know today took place in 1991 in response to the Iraq War. It’s always been very political, with none of the silliness and sweets of other karneval parades. The costumes are more halloweeny – faces painted in pale shades, claws attached to fingernails, white robes and the like. The musical accompaniment is provided by drums and there are no amps. Anyone can join the parade and you don’t have to sign up before. The theme changes every year, as does the route. Neither had been announced at the time of writing.
Check this site for more details.
The “schools and districts” parade on carnival Sunday
Lots of people in Cologne love the Schull- und Veedelszöch (schools and districts parade) at least as much as they do the main Rosemontagszug parade that takes place on Shrove Monday. Around 30,000 karneval devotees line the streets to watch, party and cheer as the approximately 8,000 participants march by in their wonderful, mostly homemade, costumes. This parade is made up of pub regulars’ groups, sports clubs and music ensembles to name but a few. A jury chooses the wittiest groups and they get to take part in the main parade the next day.
This year, both the Sunday and the Monday parades will cover both sides of the Rhine, starting at Ottoplatz in the district of Deutz at 11.11am. The route then continues across Deutzer Brücke bridge to Heumarkt and then on to the cathedral. From there, the parade will proceed through the city centre and via Neumarkt to the Südstadt neighbourhood.
Shrove Tuesday in Ehrenfeld
Shrove Tuesday sees lots of fun parades in the various districts of the city. Among the most colourful ones is the parade in Ehrenfeld, which even attracts spectators from other parts of the city. It starts at Lenauplatz at 1.45pm, before moving on to Subbelrather Straße, Leyendeckerstraße, Venloer Straße and Fuchsstraße, coming to an end at Vogelsanger Straße. After, the partying continues until the traditional burning of the Nubbel effigy in the late evening, which you can watch at places like Bumann & Sohn or Hemmer.
A fiery finish
Cologne’s carnival celebrations come to an end on the evening before Ash Wedneday, with pubs everywhere staging a Nubbel burning ceremony. The straw effigy serves as the scapegoat for the misdeeds committed during all that partying. At Brauhaus Sion, entertainer and Stunksitzung founder Jürgen Becker carries the Nubbel to his fiery grave. In this anniversary year, the city’s official “burning of the Nubbel” event will take place against a particularly illustrious backdrop: Cologne Cathedral.
Shrove Tuesday, 5.30pm, Roncalliplatz.
Ash Wednesday – what now?
Something to eat first. One place where you can get a good breakfast is Café Sehnsucht in the Ehrenfeld neighbourhood. They use environmentally friendly ingredients and bake their own bread and rolls. And the eggs are organic, of course. Take a seat and chill for a while on one of the bar stools at the window overlooking vibrant Körnerstraße.
Ash Wednesday is the start of the 40-day fasting period. In Cologne, the tradition is to eat fish on this day. If you like your food fried, you might want to try the fish & chips at em Ringstößje. The fish comes in a crispy beer batter with double-fried chips and a kölsch to wash it down and ward off any hangover symptoms.
0 comments on “Cologne Carnival – Five days (and nights) of partying”