hi guys looking at going to cologne for the Christmas market this year (nice drive for the range rover ) and was wondering if anybody has been there and got any recommendation's for a hotel and parking ?
thanks will

Hi Will,

We've been to Cologne to the christmas markets a few times...

Last couple of times we stayed outside the centre at the V8 Hotel - https://v8hotel.koeln/en/ it has a decent sized car park on site.

It's based at 'Motorworld' which is on the site of the old airport and is pretty cool. There are a couple of nice restaurants, a collection of Michael Schumachers Formula 1 cars and some memorabilia... then there are some classic cars, and if I remember rightly a flight simulator and a kart track.

It's on the tram line, so is handy to get in to the centre for the markets.

Prior to that, we've also stayed at the Excelsior Hotel Ernst, which is at the foot of the Cathedral, amazing hotel - it's also right next to 'Gaffel am Dom' which is an amazing place to grab some Kölsch (beer) and some fantastic food. (It's near the main train station and there's an underground car park opposite - and the hotel offer Valet service) Andrew.

Here's the old L322 outside the Ernst

thanks both sounds great but i think they are both now inside of the new lez which if i have been reading it right my 2014 range rover doesn't qualify for been euro 5 and comes with a 100 euro fine if you do enter .so now its trying to find a hotel outside the zone but they all look like a good distance away from the centre and maybe a bit to far to travel in and out on if you wanted to go back to your hotel during the day .

I'm pretty sure 'Motorworld' is outside of the LEZ as they mention this when marketing the car storage facility.

We've used this link in the past to get an Umweltplakette - we were also able to get one for an old 2005 TDI Passat a few years ago.... so might be able to get one for your L405.

https://www.berlin.de/labo/mobilitaet/kfz-...595.en.php Andrew.

ok so is this like a emission zone pass ?

Yes, you need to fill in some information from the V5 of the car, pay a few euro and they'll post you a little green sticker (- they call it an Umwelt Plakette) for the windscreen that should entitle you to drive in the LEZ

(you can just about see it in the bottom corner of the windscreen of my old L322 Supercharged in the picture above )

There are other sites online to register for it as well, but this is the one we've used successfully in the past. Andrew.

right form filled in (think its correct) lol here is the new lez
[img]https://www.fullfatrr.com/gallery/albums/userpics/24884/erweiterung_gr%C3%BCne_umweltzone%20%281%29.pdf[/img]

Should take around a week to arrive all being well...

The V8 Hotel is just outside the LEZ in 'Butzweilerhof'

 Andrew.

did you take the trams into the city and if so do you remember how long it took ??

From memory it took around 30 minutes to get from the Tram stop near the hotel to Hauptbahnhof (which is right by the Cathedral) Andrew.

Just got this

Click image to enlarge

Excellent!

Yep, just stick it in the windscreen and you can drive in any green "Umweltzone" in German AFAIK. Andrew.

many thanks for your help everything all sorted now

No worries,

I know it's a way off, but hope you have an enjoyable trip.... Andrew.