The cathedral view
Cologne's classic view, both spires whole above the river — from mid-bridge or the far bank.
W. Bulach — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Raimond Spekking — CC BY-SA 4.0 · CEphoto, Uwe Aranas — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Friedrich Haag — CC BY-SA 4.0
From the eastern bank at the end of the bridge, or from the middle. Up close the cathedral is too big to fit in a frame; from here both spires show whole. After dark, when it is floodlit, is much better.
Entirely. The footway is fenced off from the tracks, and trains pass beside it, not on it. The only thing to watch for is cyclists, who share the same path.
Ten minutes to cross, twenty to thirty with stops for photographs and a look at the locks. Combine it with the cathedral, which stands right at its end.
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The Hohenzollern Bridge is a railway bridge over the Rhine directly behind Cologne Cathedral, with a walkway for pedestrians and cyclists beside the tracks. It is the busiest rail bridge in Germany, carrying well over a thousand trains a day, so you hear them passing right next to you as you walk. Hundreds of thousands of love locks hang from the walkway railings — so many that their weight has become a subject of engineering discussion in the city. From the middle of the bridge you get Cologne's most famous view: the cathedral with both spires complete, seen from the opposite bank. It is free and always open.
Cologne's classic view, both spires whole above the river — from mid-bridge or the far bank.
Hundreds of thousands of padlocks on the railings, many carrying names and dates going back years.
Germany's busiest rail bridge — trains pass a few metres from you, constantly.
Hohenzollernbrücke, 50679 Köln