Cafeography
Draußen sitzen · Cologne

Outdoor seating cafés in Cologne

Terraces facing the cathedral, Rhine-side seats in the Rheinauhafen and the Rheinpark, and squares in the Belgisches Viertel.

Photo: Alejo Galli, Pexels License

The largest café terrace in Cologne faces the cathedral. Café Reichard at Unter Fettenhennen 11 has about 400 seats outside and as many indoors, and the Betz family has run it for more than 30 years; tortes, Baumkuchen and pralines come from its own Konditorei team.1 It opens every day, 08:30–20:00.

Draußen sitzen, sitting outside, is easy to find in most of the city: roughly a third of cafés in the Altstadt, Ehrenfeld, the Zülpicher Viertel and Sülz & Klettenberg have tables outdoors, and the Agnesviertel & Eigelstein and Zollstock & Bayenthal have the highest share. The Altstadt has the most terraces overall, ahead of Ehrenfeld and the Südstadt, while Kalk and Mülheim have the fewest.

Local tip: On a warm evening, Savoca Caffè in Klettenberg keeps its terraces open until 22:00 while the café runs to 23:00.7

Where these cafés are: Altstadt (39), Ehrenfeld (24), Südstadt (18), Zülpicher Viertel (15), Sülz & Klettenberg (14), Belgisches Viertel (12), Agnesviertel & Eigelstein (12), Nippes (8), Zollstock & Bayenthal (6), Mülheim (5), Lindenthal (4), Deutz & Poll (4), Kalk (3).

At a glance

164Cafés listed
105With opening hours
00:00Earliest opening
00:00Latest closing
  • Opens earliest: Café Belgique, from 00:00 (Mon–Thu 11:00–23:00 · Fri 11:00–00:00 · Sat 00:00–01:00, 11:00–00:00 · Sun 00:00–01:00, 11:00–23:00).
  • Closes latest: Bingo Club, until 00:00 (Mon 14:00–22:30 · Wed–Thu 14:00–22:30 · Fri 14:00–00:00 · Sat 12:00–00:00 · Sun 12:00–20:30).
  • Most common features: indoor seating (49%), wheelchair access (28%), partial wheelchair access (21%).

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Terraces in the Altstadt

Between Neumarkt and Rudolfplatz, opposite the church of St. Aposteln, Fassbender at Mittelstraße 12–14 runs a modern café and restaurant with a wide terrace.2 Cölner Cafehaus at Minoritenstraße 2 opens at 07:30 from Monday to Saturday, one of the earlier starts in the old town.

For an evening ice cream outside, Eiscafe Toto on Quatermarkt stays open until 22:00 from Monday to Thursday and until 23:00 on Fridays and Saturdays, and Don Gelati on An der Linde serves daily until 22:00.

By the Rhine

On the left bank, the Chocolat Grand Café in the chocolate museum at Am Schokoladenmuseum 1a has a terrace over the Rhine and serves breakfast on tiered stands, alongside chocolate fondue and drinking chocolate.3 In the Rheinauhafen, Omo roasts its own coffee and runs a café at Anna-Schneider-Steig 3 where you can try new coffees and take beans home.4

On the right bank, the Park-Café at Auenweg 17 stands in the Rheinpark, the main grounds of the 1957 Bundesgartenschau (federal garden show), and replaces the park’s tea house destroyed in the war.5 It opens Tuesday to Sunday, 11:00–18:00. Further north in Mülheim, Café Rheinspaziert at Hafenstraße 16 stays open until 21:30 from Tuesday to Saturday.

Brüsseler Platz and the Belgisches Viertel

Café Belgique at Brüsseler Platz 16 opens at 11:00 and serves until 23:00, and until midnight or later at the weekend. The square has also been in court for years: a 2023 judgment of the higher administrative court in Münster obliges the city to cut night-time noise there, and the city brought in an alcohol ban from 21:00.6 In August 2026 the court upheld a €5,000 coercive fine against the city, because readings in May 2026 still reached or came close to 60 dB(A).6

Round the corner, vevi at Brüsseler Straße 29 has tables outside and a vegan menu, and Café Luz at Brüsseler Straße 66 runs until 22:00 from Tuesday to Thursday.

Gardens and quieter squares

In Klettenberg, Savoca Caffè at Gottesweg 139 opens daily 08:00–23:00 and keeps its terraces open until 22:00 when the sun is out.7 In Sülz, Café Osterspey on Luxemburger Straße has been a café since 1919, and Awli Backyard on Sülzburgstraße opens at 09:00 most days.8

Ehrenfeld’s outdoor tables line Venloer Straße, where Madame Tartine at number 432 opens at 10:00 on every day except Tuesday. In Nippes, Café Wohnraum on Neusser Straße opens at 08:30 on weekdays.

Sources

  1. Café Reichard, Café Reichard, accessed October 2026
  2. Fassbender Köln und Jansen by Fassbender, Fassbender GenussKultur, accessed October 2026
  3. Chocolat Grand Café, Schokoladenmuseum Köln, accessed October 2026
  4. Omo Kaffee: Café im Kölner Rheinauhafen, Omo Kaffee, accessed October 2026
  5. Rheinpark (Köln), Wikipedia (German), accessed October 2026
  6. Nächtlicher Lärm auf dem Brüsseler Platz: Zwangsgeld gegen die Stadt Köln bestätigt (17 August 2026), Justiz NRW, Oberverwaltungsgericht Nordrhein-Westfalen, accessed October 2026
  7. Savoca Caffè: Öffnungszeiten und Frühstück, Savoca Caffè, accessed October 2026
  8. Konditorei Café Osterspey: Über uns, Café Osterspey, accessed October 2026
Keep exploring

Other ways to browse Cologne

Specialty coffee

27 cafés
Konditoreien

Bakery cafés & Konditoreien

37 cafés
Vegan & vegetarisch

Vegan & vegetarian

66 cafés
Frühstück

Breakfast & brunch

17 cafés
WLAN

Wi-Fi

24 cafés

By area: Agnesviertel & Eigelstein Altstadt Belgisches Viertel Zülpicher Viertel Südstadt Ehrenfeld Nippes Sülz & Klettenberg

FAQ

Outdoor seating in Cologne: questions

Which café in Cologne has a terrace facing the cathedral?

Café Reichard at Unter Fettenhennen 11, opposite the cathedral’s main portal. It has about 400 seats outside and as many indoors, makes its own tortes, Baumkuchen and pralines, and opens every day from 08:30 to 20:00. The Betz family has run it for more than 30 years.

Where can you drink coffee outdoors by the Rhine in Cologne?

On the left bank, the Chocolat Grand Café in the chocolate museum has a terrace over the river, and Omo in the Rheinauhafen roasts its own coffee. On the right bank, the Park-Café stands in the Rheinpark, the main grounds of the 1957 federal garden show, and Café Rheinspaziert is on Hafenstraße in Mülheim.

What are the night-time rules on Brüsseler Platz in Cologne?

A 2023 court judgment obliges the city to cut night-time noise on Brüsseler Platz, and the city introduced an alcohol ban on the square from 21:00. In August 2026 the higher administrative court upheld a €5,000 coercive fine against the city. Café Belgique on the square serves until 23:00, later at weekends.

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