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Autumn is perfect for visiting Cologne. It is the best season for unhurried strolls in the Old Town or along the Rhine, for exploring the city’s numerous museums -- far less crowded than in summer - and for sipping beer in a traditional Brauhaus (pub) of an evening. With the end of the summer tourist season, it is much easier to book a table at a restaurant or a theatre ticket. Importantly, hotel prices go down in September-October before rising again in late November, on the eve of the Carnival season.

The hotels

One of Cologne’s most unusual hotels Hotel im Wasserturm is an exclusive retreat for those willing to stay away from the hustle and bustle of the city centre (three stops away by U-Bahn).

Just a short walk away from the Cathedral, railway station and all main attractions, Maritim Hotel is an elegant modern building overlooking the Rhine. With 454 air-conditioned and electronically locked rooms, it boasts its own indoor 'high street' - a 100 metre long glass-roofed corridor of quality boutiques, bars and restaurants. The hotel has an excellent fitness centre (swimming pool, sauna, Turkish bath and solarium), and the sumptuous buffet breakfast in Rotisserie restaurant is second to none in Cologne. Despite Maritim’s considerable size, the atmosphere inside is quiet, and the service is both efficient and discreet.

A stone’s throw from the Cathedral Square, Hotel Muller Koln is small and unpretentious, yet clean, warm and friendly - with cosy, nicely furnished rooms. The buffet breakfast is excellent, and the saloon-style bar has a small garden terrace -- a welcome place to unwind after a busy day exploring Cologne.

The restaurants (Prices are for a three-course meal with wine)

£35 Dinner at Fischers is a gourmet experience, a crash course in wine drinking and a spectacle all at once. The owner, Christina Fischer, is a TV star (a regular of the German equivalent of 'Ready, Steady, Cook'), and one of the country’s leading wine connoisseurs. She is also a perfectionist making sure that everything in her classy, and yet amazingly democratic, restaurant is up to the mark: spotless open-plan kitchen, own wine-cellar, young and friendly staff. She herself maintains constant presence in the dining hall hovering from one table to another like a butterfly and advising the patrons on the merits of this or that wine from her impressive 85-page, 700-item strong wine list. Her main achievement is an exquisite balance between 'cross-cultural' (in her words) cuisine and fine, mostly German, wines. "My chef, Gregor Schuber, cooks for the wines," says Miss Fischer, the first German winner of the Decanter magazine Wine-by-the Glass Award. Try German Sparkling Pinot Noir as an apéritif, followed by the starter of vegetable terrine in Rodesco sauce, before proceeding to Blauer Spatburgunden 'Blonde Noir' or 1977 Montepulciano Abruzzo with your main course -- perch in lemon-grass sauce, or piglet Anjou-style. Mineral water with your meal is free. Booking essential. Fischers, Hohenstaufenring 53 (+49 221 3108 470)

£20 The Cologne Economic Summit in June 1999 marked the highest point in all 411 years of Em Krutzche, one of Cologne’s oldest restaurants. It was then that Chancellor Schroeder, President Chirac, Bill and Hilary Clinton, Tony and Cherie Blair used to pop in there for meals and informal talks. This 'historic guest-house on the Rhine' specialises in traditional German cuisine and brews its own beer. The clientele is mixed and, unless some dignitaries are in attendance, the atmosphere is noisy and informal. Try cold melon soup with mint followed by Beef 'Rheinland -- pieces of succulent (allegedly, marinated for three days) meat served with potato dumplings and apple puree. And don’t forget to order such Cologne speciality as 'Veedel Hahn' -- a bread roll with cheese and mustard -- on the side. Em Krutzche, Am Frankentum 1-3 (+49 221 258 08 39)

£12 No visit to Cologne is complete without a meal at one of its peculiar 'Brauhauser' (breweries-cum-pubs), where waiters, known as 'Kobes, all sporting white shirts and black aprons, will bring you platefuls of cheap and filling food and 'stangen' (small cylindrical glasses) of 'Kolsch' -- Cologne’s pale top-fermented beer, the city’s favourite 'social lubricant'. Try the centrally located Brauhaus Fruh am Dom, where patrons sit -- in semi-darkness -- on long wooden benches around massive oak tables. Apart from its own brewery, this pub also has an in-house sauna -- probably to counterbalance the effects of too much 'Kolsch'. The waiters are gregarious and facetious, so don’t be surprised if one of them decides to join your party (you are supposed to pay for the beer he drinks, by the way). As for the food, one course of boiled pork crackle with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes, say, will keep you full for the rest of the day. Brauhaus Fruh am Dom, Am Hof 12-14 (+49 221 2613 211, www.frueh.de)

The big night out

Start with a Bloody Mary or a Manhattan at Oscar (Hohenstaufenring 25-27), a quiet café-bar with Andy Warhol-ish décor and the biggest TV screen in Cologne. Proceed for a classic cocktail at the elegant Piano Bar at Maritim Hotel (Heumarkt 20), or at the more avant-garde and boisterous Citrus (Aachener Str 21). If you are into jazz and soul, go across the road to the intimate Subway (Aachener Str 82/84) or to the more convivial Papa Joe’s (Alter Markt 50-52) which both have performances every night. For classical dancing, try Tanzfabrik (Bremerhavener Str. 35), or Kantine (Kempener Str 135), if you are over 35. For House/Techno and Hip Hop, visit the trendy Alter Wartesaal -- a converted waiting room at the main railway station, or E-Werk (Schanzenstr 28) which -- conveniently - has a beer-garden where you can cool down in the intervals between hip-hopping.

The Classic Sight

While in Cologne, you simply cannot (and should not) miss the spectacular Cologne Cathedral - the purest and the most perfect example of the High Gothic to be found anywhere in Europe. The Cathedral, dominating the city-scape and visible from everywhere, is often called the heart of Cologne. It is the city’s main landmark, the hub of its social, cultural and political life: markets, carnivals, parades and demonstrations are always centred around it. Started in 1248 by Archbishop Konrad of Hochstaden, the Cathedral took 632 years to complete. Its dimensions are truly astounding: 157 metres high and 86 metres wide, it covers the area of 8,000 square metres and had been Europe’s tallest structure until the construction of the Eiffel Tower. Statistics aside, the Cathedral is breathtakingly beautiful. There’s something futuristic about its two main spires, aimed at the skies daringly - almost rocket-like. The interior, too, seems to defy the laws of gravity: the mass of stone climbs mysteriously to the canopy-like vaults 44 metres above the floor. Interestingly the Cathedral was the only structure in Cologne to have survived World War II almost intact: the Allied bombers spared the building as an orientation point for their raids. The Cathedral is in the process of constant restoration (last year alone, over £5 million was spent on it), so don’t be surprised to see scaffolding in one of the naves. Puff your way up the 509 steps to the top of the South Tower, past the world’s largest bell, for a stunning view of Cologne. Open daily from 10 am to 4pm.

The alternative sight

At the new Imhoff-Stollwerck Chocolate Museum overlooking the Rhine, you will be greeted with a tiny chocolate bar and a nauseatingly sweet smell, emanating from one of the exhibits - a functioning state-of-the-art model of a modern chocolate factory. Wander through the tropical greenhouse recreating a cocoa plantation, learn about the 'cultural history' of chocolate going back to the Third Century BC. Pause at the tree-shaped chocolate fountain and dip a wafer (not a finger!) into it to sample this exquisite local product: chocolate manufacturing was introduced in Cologne by Franz Stollwerck in 1839. At the gift shop, you can stock up on chocolates of all shapes and sizes -- a real chocoholic’s paradise. Imhoff-Stollwerck Museum, Rheinaufen 1a (+49 221 93 18 880, www.schokoladenmuseum.de). Admission £3

The Walk

Start in the Cathedral Square. Go down the steps into Utter Fettenhennen, along which the main street of the Roman province of Colonia ran. Turn left into Komodiensrasse and look at the remains of the Roman City Wall in front of the house number 45 and further down, at the crossing with Tunisstrasse. Follow the same street as it becomes Zeughausstrasse, winding past a relatively well-preserved Roman Tower, which was made into a lavatory for the near-by St. Clara nunnery during the Middle Ages. Curiously, this stopped the Tower from being dismantled and its ancient stones used as building material -- the fate that befell many other Roman structures in Cologne. Further down, next to the Dorint-Kongress Hotel, there’s a restored Roman bath-house, decorated with pieces of marble. Enter the hotel lobby and take the lift to the top floor, from where you will be able to look down at the bathhouse’s inner courtyard with a swimming pool and a pergola. Turn left behind the hotel, then left again to see the ruins of the Tower of St. Helena, so named after the mother of Emperor Constantine. Walk back towards the Cathedral along St.-Apernstrasse and An der Burgmauer and tick off some more bits and pieces of Roman fortifications on your way.

The shops

£1000 will buy a beautiful hand-painted tea set for two, made of the famous Meissen porcelain, in the specialised 'Meissener Porzelaan' boutique (In der Hohle 4).

£150 is the cost of a smart lady’s blouse by Jil Sander, Germany’s top fashion designer (Birgit Kaiser GmbH, In der Hohle 6).

£7 buys a medium-size bottle of '4711, the Original Eau-de-Cologne', a pungent toilet water that originated in Cologne over 2000 years ago and whose exact composition is still kept in the strictest secrecy (Glockengasse 4711). The same sum will also buy a Hugo Pott designer silver knife or a spoon (C. Hugo Pott GmbH, Ritterstrasse 28).

The guidebook

Lonely Planet’s "Germany" has a comprehensive section on Cologne and its environs with lots of up-to-date practical tips. For more information on Cologne contact German National Tourist Office, P.O.Box 2695, London W1A 3TN, Tel. 020 7317 0908, Fax 020 7495 6129, email: gntolon@d-z-t.com, 24-hour-brochure-line: 09001-600100, www.germany-tourism.de. Or Cologne Tourist Office, Unter Fettenhennen 19, 50667, Koln, Germany, Tel: +49 221 221 23 391 (fax: - 2320), www.koeln.de

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