Cologne's old town runs from the cathedral down to the Rhine, and almost everything worth seeing lies on that short slope: the cathedral itself, the old city hall, Romanesque churches, fountains full of local legend and two very different museums. This guide covers seven of those places: Cologne Cathedral, the Heinzelmännchen Fountain, the City Hall tower on the Alter Markt, the statue of Tünnes and Schäl, Great St Martin, the Wallraf-Richartz Museum and the Chocolate Museum on the river. They link up in one walk from the cathedral to the water.
Cologne Cathedral
Work on the cathedral began in 1248, to house the relics of the Three Kings that had been brought to Cologne in 1164. Building slowed in the 1470s and stopped altogether in the 16th century, leaving a finished choir and a stump of a south tower with a wooden crane on top, which stood there for about 400 years and became part of the skyline. Construction restarted in the 19th century following the medieval plans, and the cathedral was completed in 1880.
With twin spires of about 157 metres, it was the tallest building in the world from 1880 until the Washington Monument overtook it a few years later, and it is still the tallest cathedral. It was badly damaged by bombs in the Second World War but stayed standing, and it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996. Repairs never stop: the cathedral's own team of stonemasons works on it almost all the time.
- The Shrine of the Three Kings behind the high altar, a huge gilded reliquary begun in 1190 by the goldsmith Nicholas of Verdun.
- The Gero Cross from around 960, one of the oldest large crucifixes north of the Alps, and the Milan Madonna from around 1290.
- The south transept window by Gerhard Richter, from 2007, made of thousands of coloured squares, and the climb of 533 steps up the south tower to a viewing platform about 100 metres up.
The Heinzelmännchen Fountain
In the street Am Hof, a short walk south of the cathedral and opposite the Früh brewery, stands a fountain built in 1899 and 1900 by the architect Heinrich Renard and his father, the sculptor Edmund Renard. It tells the story of the Heinzelmännchen, the little house spirits of Cologne, in a frieze of carved scenes, with the tailor's wife holding a lantern on top.
According to the legend, the Heinzelmännchen came at night and did all the work of the town's bakers, butchers, carpenters and tailors while they slept. A curious tailor's wife wanted to see them, scattered peas on the stairs to make them fall and came with a lantern to look; the spirits, offended, vanished and never came back, and since then the people of Cologne have had to do their own work. The story was made famous by a ballad by August Kopisch, published in 1836.
The City Hall tower and the Alter Markt
Cologne's City Hall, between the Alter Markt and the Rathausplatz, is said to be the oldest town hall in Germany with a documented history, going back about 900 years. It stands on the site of the Roman praetorium, the seat of the governor of the province of Lower Germany. Its Gothic tower was built between 1407 and 1414, rises to 61 metres and is covered with stone statues of figures from the city's history. Four times a day, a carillon of bells in the tower plays a tune over the square.
- The Renaissance loggia in front of the city hall, built between 1569 and 1573.
- The rows of statues on the tower, best seen from the square at its foot.
Tünnes and Schäl
Tünnes and Schäl are two puppet characters from Cologne's Hänneschen puppet theatre, and a bronze statue of the pair stands in the old town between the Alter Markt and Great St Martin. Tünnes, whose name is the local form of Anthony, joined the puppet ensemble in 1803 as a good-natured man with peasant common sense. Schäl, thin, sly and dressed in a tailcoat, first appeared in 1847 at a rival theatre. Together they stand for the Cologne character, and countless local jokes begin with the two of them.
Great St Martin
Great St Martin (Groß St. Martin) is the Romanesque church whose tower rises above the houses along the river. It was built between 1150 and 1250, after a fire, on the site of a large Roman building from the first century, when this ground was still an island in the Rhine. For centuries it was a Benedictine abbey church, until the abbey was closed in 1802. The church burned in 1942 and was badly damaged again in 1945; rebuilding began in 1948 and the interior was finished in 1985.
- The trefoil east end, with three rounded apses around the crossing, and the massive square crossing tower with four smaller turrets around it.
The Wallraf-Richartz Museum
The museum began in 1824, when the collector Ferdinand Franz Wallraf left his art collection to the city. The merchant Johann Heinrich Richartz paid for the first museum building, which opened in 1861. The present building, a clean-lined block by the architect Oswald Mathias Ungers, opened in 2001 next to the City Hall, on the site of a Roman temple to Mars.
The collection runs from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century. Its medieval paintings from Cologne are a highlight, and the Baroque rooms include Rubens, Frans Hals, van Dyck and a self-portrait by Rembrandt. Since 2001 the Fondation Corboud has lent the museum more than 170 Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works, including paintings by Monet, Pissarro and Morisot. The museum is not one of our scavenger hunt stops, but it is a few steps from the City Hall.
- Stefan Lochner's Madonna of the Rose Bower from around 1450, the best-known painting of the Cologne school.
The Chocolate Museum
The Chocolate Museum opened on 31 October 1993 on the Rheinau peninsula in the old Rheinauhafen harbour, founded by the Cologne chocolate maker Hans Imhoff. It shows the history of cocoa and chocolate, has a tropical house where cocoa trees grow, and a glass chocolate factory where you can watch a small production line at work. The Swiss chocolate maker Lindt has been its partner since 2006. It is the most visited museum in Cologne.
- The chocolate fountain, about three metres high, where staff dip wafers and hand them out to visitors.
How to see them in one walk
Start at Cologne Cathedral and walk south to the Heinzelmännchen Fountain in Am Hof. Continue to the City Hall and the Alter Markt, and look for Tünnes and Schäl on the way to Great St Martin. The Wallraf-Richartz Museum is right next to the City Hall, so you can step inside or come back later. From Great St Martin go down to the riverbank and follow the Rhine south to the Chocolate Museum, which makes a good end to the walk.
See Cologne with World City Trail
Our Cologne scavenger hunt turns the old town into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops, from the cathedral to the Chocolate Museum, and the cathedral, the Heinzelmännchen Fountain, the City Hall tower, Tünnes and Schäl, Great St Martin and the Chocolate Museum are all stops, along with the Alter Markt, the Fischweiber fountain, the Heumarkt and the Pegelturm, the water level tower on the Rhine. At each stop you solve a puzzle and learn a story, at your own pace.
There is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in Cologne, for people who prefer a different format.
Play the Cologne scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Cologne →
Play the outdoor escape game in Cologne →
Facts checked in October 2026.