Cologne Cathedral 2026: Tickets, Tower, Inside and How Long It Took to Build

Since 1 July 2026 you need a ticket to visit Cologne Cathedral as a tourist. Prices come from the cathedral's own ticket leaflet (koelner-dom.de, October 2026):

• Cathedral: €12, reduced €6 (school pupils over 14, apprentices and university students)
• Tower: €8, reduced €4
• Treasury (Schatzkammer): €8, reduced €4; a combined ticket for the tower and the treasury is also sold
• Free: children aged 13 and under, people attending a service or coming in to pray; on 1 May and 3 October entry is free for everyone

Opening times: tourist visits are generally possible daily 10:00-17:45, and 13:30-16:30 on Sundays and religious holidays; visits are restricted during services. The tower is open 9:00-18:00 from March to October and 9:00-16:00 from November to February. Times can change on holidays, so check koelner-dom.de before you go.

When we visited in November 2025, entry was still free.

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Cologne Cathedral stands in the very centre of Cologne, in western Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia, on the west bank of the Rhine. Only a square separates the central station (Köln Hauptbahnhof) from the cathedral: walk out of the station and the facade rises right in front of you.

On Roncalliplatz, on the south side, the city's most famous Christmas market runs from 16 November to 23 December.

Our experience: we arrived at the central station after a train ride of about half an hour from Düsseldorf, and the cathedral was our first stop. Trains from Cologne Bonn Airport arrive at the same station.

The foundation stone of the building that greets you outside the station was laid on 15 August 1248. Construction stopped in the second half of the 15th century; the unfinished south tower and the wooden crane on top of it were part of the city skyline for centuries.

Work started again in the 19th century and the cathedral was completed in 1880: 632 years from the first stone to the last (koelner-dom.de). Standing in front of it and looking at the stonework on the facade, you understand where all that time went.

When it was finished in 1880 it was the tallest building in the world. In World War 2 it was badly damaged by bombs but it did not collapse; since 1996 it has been on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

So how high is Cologne Cathedral? Its height comes from the two west towers, which rise to more than 157 metres and put it among the tallest churches in Europe. There is no lift to the viewing platform in the south tower: you climb a narrow spiral staircase of 533 steps, and the platform is at about 100 metres (koelner-dom.de).

The staircase is tight, and at busy times people going up and coming down squeeze past each other.

Our experience: we did not climb the tower. As we say in the video, the best view of the cathedral is from the other side of the river, so we crossed the Rhine to the KölnTriangle; we describe that spot in the photo section below.

Step inside Cologne Cathedral and a long nave opens up, its pillars reaching upward, with light filtering through the coloured stained glass on both sides. The cathedral interior shows every detail of its Gothic architecture here: slender clustered pillars, pointed arches and a very high vault.

The cathedral's real treasure is the Shrine of the Three Kings (Dreikönigenschrein) behind the high altar: a gilded reliquary made, according to tradition, for the remains of the three kings who came from the East, and one of the largest of its kind in the Western world. In one of the side chapels hangs the oak Gero Cross, from the 960s and 970s; it is described as the oldest surviving large crucifix north of the Alps.

Our experience: we spent a few minutes walking around the interior; what struck us most was the height of the pillars and the colours of the windows. Cologne's Dom is still a working church with services every day, and tourist visits are restricted during services, so check the schedule before you go.

A story told among locals says that the world will end on the day Cologne Cathedral is completely finished; they link this to the fact that the facade is never free of scaffolding. The real reason is more ordinary: weather and pollution wear the stone away, and the cathedral's own stonemasons' workshop, the Dombauhütte, has kept up the repairs without a break for centuries.

On the outside you will see ugly stone faces that throw rainwater away from the walls: the gargoyles. Folk belief says they scare off evil spirits and protect the city, which is why their faces were made frightening on purpose.

KölnTriangle: from the rooftop terrace of this building in Deutz, on the other bank of the Rhine, you get the cathedral, the bridge and the river in one frame. We paid €5 per person and took the lift up; in our view it is the best place for photos of Cologne Cathedral.

Hohenzollern Bridge: walking between the love locks you have the cathedral straight ahead of you; the shot from the Deutz end of the bridge is one of the most photographed views in Cologne.

Roncalliplatz and the station square: you need a wide-angle lens to fit the whole facade in. At night, when it is lit up, the cathedral looks completely different, and in December the Christmas market in front of it adds to the scene.

The reverse of the 2011 €2 commemorative coin in Germany's federal states series shows Cologne Cathedral and the words "NORDRHEIN-WESTFALEN"; the cathedral represents North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state.

According to Germany's central bank (bundesbank.de), the coin entered circulation on 28 January 2011 with a mintage of 30 million and was struck at all five German mints. It is worth the same as a normal €2 coin and is legal tender everywhere in the euro area.

• Visiting in December: the cathedral's own Christmas market fills Roncalliplatz, right below the twin towers; for its dates and hours, see our Cologne Christmas Market 2026 guide .
• One day in Cologne: from the cathedral, walk on to the Old Town, the Hohenzollern Bridge, the Heinzelmännchen Fountain and the Chocolate Museum; our things to do in Cologne guide  maps that walk step by step.
• Sleeping near the Dom: to stroll home after seeing the floodlit cathedral, the where to stay in Cologne guide  lists hotels a short walk from the Dom.

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