Cologne Carnival

Cologne calls carnival the fifth season and starts it at eleven minutes past eleven on the eleventh of November, then largely waits until the week before Ash Wednesday to finish the job. That week begins on the Thursday, when the city stops working by late morning and the streets fill with costumes, and it ends on Rose Monday with a parade several kilometres long that takes hours to pass any one point. Brass bands and songs in the Kolsch dialect carry the whole thing; almost everyone is dressed up, and standing about in ordinary clothes marks you out immediately. Sweets and small bunches of flowers come off the floats by the tonne.

What you actually see

• Rose Monday - the long parade of floats, bands and marching societies through the old town.
• Weiberfastnacht - the Thursday opening, when the streets fill from late morning onwards.
• The dialect songs - a shared Kolsch songbook that the entire crowd already knows.
• Costume culture - homemade outfits rather than bought fancy dress, worn for the whole week.

When to go

The dates move with Easter and fall in February or early March. Thursday and Rose Monday are the two big days, while the Sunday school parade is calmer and better with children. Hotels raise prices and sell out months ahead across the whole Rhineland, so decide early. The 11 November opening is one busy day, not a substitute for the main week.

Honest expectations

It is loud, crowded and very wet with beer, and the old town streets become slow crushes where pushchairs and wheelchairs struggle badly. Trams and trains are packed, and shops, offices and some museums shut on the main days. Toilets are scarce and the queues long. If you dislike crowds or drink, come a fortnight either side instead.

Nearby

Cologne's cathedral and Rhine promenade, the city's Roman collections and Bonn upriver.