For shopping in Cologne, there are many things that differs it from shopping experience at other places. It has many retail shops, department stores along with beautiful shopping streets or within elegant shopping passages at the midst of the city. It is also equally important for art galleries and antique dealers in the city. There are many shopping centers in Cologne and the some of the most popular of them are being discussed below, along with shipping ideas for cologne.

•    Hohe Strasse and Schildergasse: These two are the most classical shopping streets in Cologne.  The Hohe Strasse starts from Wallrafplatz next to the cathedral. In 1967, it was Germany’s first shopping street only for pedestrians and completely without traffic. The Hohe Strasse really has also a historical background as at the time of Romans, it was part of the connections from Rome to Xanten. Presently around many shops for clothing, shoes and jewelery stand along this open sky shopping mall of more than one kilometre. The Schildergasse, extending the Hohe Strasse in the direction of Neumarkt, offers the shopping area bit wider than the Hohe Strasse. Along this street the huge and modern building of the Neumarkt Galerie shopping centre is the biggest visiting point for those who love to go shopping in Cologne.

•    Shopping centre Neumarkt Galerie: The Neumarkt Galerie is the largest and perhaps the most beautiful shopping center in the centre of Cologne. The building has around 10 meter tall artwork that is in shape of upside down ice cream cone produced by the American artists Oldenburg and van Brugge, which is real attraction of the building. There are around 65 shops in the shopping center on three floors. At the ground floor as well as upper floors there are multiple shops with fashionable clothing, jewelry and shoes from well known names. Building also has a good number of restaurants, bistros and cafes. Galerie at the Neumarkt stop, next to the department store Karstadt and the neighboring Olivandenhof.

•    The Main train station: The main train station is even so popular among citizens of Cologne that along with traveler they also stop and shop around five corridors of the station. There are 70 shops there that make things to be exciting and venture some. The biggest advantage of this market is that some shops here remain throughout the day. However, its official time to operation is between 8am and 10pm.

Cologne an urban center for arts

Cologne is a center for every person who loves art and culture. There are choice selections around in 100 galleries and about 10 auction houses. There is a veritable “Art Mecca” in the city, as it organizes two large Art trade fairs as named “Art Cologne” yearly

•    Art Fairs in Cologne: It is the city in Cologne that is known for its art fairs which held there at yearly basis. There exist about 300 international exhibitors that offer goods even from antique time to modern time. There are also many craft works and furniture, art from the old masters and paintings from the 19th Entrance of east halls with new logo. At the art fair goods are even exhibited for young collectors. Another popular fair is Art Cologne that is held every year from starting at the end of October or at beginning of November. With around 260 international galleries and 70,000 visitors visit at it.

•    The Auction House Lempertz: Those love the art and creativity yet has ample to be seen at art fairs and auction houses in Cologne. In total there are total six auction houses in Cologne. And the oldest auction house there is a Lempertz that is Germany’s largest auction houses. It was initially come into operation after the beginning book and graphic auctions from 1945. Till 1908, it was the only place that used to sale out masters and arts crafts from the East Asian art in 1908. Presently it is place for the contemporary art, photo graphs and graphic arts. 14 auctions are held yearly at the headquarters situated. After Cologne, it has opens its branches at Berlin and Brussels, where many auctions has also held.

What to keep in mind when shopping in Cologne: When you are in cologne for a shopping experience then Galeria Kaufhof is the place where you can have best form of shopping chances to explore out commodities sold out there. It is the only address where one can get collection of boutiques and all under one roof.  Its ground floor has many perfumery shops to jewelry shop at its ground floor. Whereas its first floor has fashion and brand shops like Betty Barclay to S. Oliver and Jeans and every other big name in the first floor.  Its third floor is the sport world, where all the sports equipments and accessories are found. And finally its fourth floor contains a branch of electronics market Saturn. Its basement is gourmet paradise where fishes are served for delicacies and enjoyment with beer and wine.

One of the premier cities of Germany Cologne has everything for all visitors in every age group and with varied interests. The art and culture centers in cologne includes churches with unique Romanesque architecture, museums, historical buildings, theatres, memorials and wells, parks and gardens, musical hotspots, cinemas, shops, restaurants and cultural tours. Below are mentioned some of the prominent centers of attraction in cologne.

• Cologne Cathedral: It is a Roman Catholic Church in Cologne, Germany and is seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and presently is under the administration of the archdiocese of Cologne. It has reputation in German Catholicism especially with respect to Gothic architecture and faith and perseverance of the people in cologne. It is dedicated to Saint Peter and the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is a World Heritage Site and one of the best known architectural monuments in Germany as described by UNESCO as an “exceptional work of human creative genius”. It is visited around 30 thousand people every day. Construction of Cologne Cathedral started in 1248 and was completed in 1880 in bit and pieces. It is a 144.5 metres long, 86.5 m wide and its towers are approximately 157 m tall. It is one of the world’s largest churches and the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe. Cologne’s medieval builders had planned a grand structure to house the reliquary of the Three Kings and fit its role as a place of worship of the Holy Roman Emperor.

• Excelsior Hotel Ernst, Cologne: The Excelsior Hotel Ernst with perspective of Cologne Cathedral, the ‘Dom’, was constructed in 1863. He was the first owner of the hotel and used to name as “Hotel Ernst” The Hotel Ernst was renovated from 1908 to 1910 and re-opened as the Grand-Hotel Excelsior Hotel Ernst In 1918, after eight years of re-opening, the British Army moved into the hotel after soon as the war was over. Another re-opening occurred at the end of World War II. Family Kracht Roulet is still today the owner of the Excelsior Hotel Ernst. Since Mai 2004 Wilhelm Luxem is the general manager of the hotel.

• Lanxess Arena: It is an indoor arena in Cologne, North Rhine – Westphalia, Germany It was inaugurated in 1998 and there around 20,000 spectators can easily be accommodated. It is generally used by VfL Gummersbach, a handball team, Kölner Haie (ice hockey) and for concert purposes. In June 2008, it was decided that it would be named as Lanxess Arena for a period of around ten years. Since then it has hosted concerts by Paul McCartney, Cliff Richard, Elton John, Rod Stewart, U2, Depeche Mode, Take That, Shania Twain, Westlife, a-ha, Roger Waters, Aerosmith, Anastacia, Tina Turner, Coldplay, Mariah Carey, Shakira, P!nk, Raygun, Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, Backstreet Boys, Gwen Stefani, David Bowie, George Michael, Britney Spears, Spice Girls, Destiny’s Child, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Kylie Minogue, Tokio Hotel & Celine Dion, among others. For another interesting purpose, the arena was used for World Wrestling Entertainment in 2002, 2003, 2006 and in October 2007.

• MediaPark: It is an urban regeneration close to Cologne and was completed in year 2001. It was made to keep fit and appropriate the companies with point of view of accommodating them for those which belongs to media and communication industry. It was also built with view to accommodate companies from media and communication industry as well as cultural institutions and hotels. It is located at Neustadt-Nord around area of some 20 hectare. The project was designed by the Canadian architect Eberhard Zeidler having construction from 1990 to 2004. It is home to around 250 companies and workforce of around 5,000 people. Among the corporate companies at MediaPark the prominent ones are EMI Music Germany, Radio Köln and Westdeutscher Rundfunk studios of 1LIVE. The cultural institutions at media park includes, the Filmbüro Nordrhein-Westfalen, the Fresenius University of Applied Sciences, the musikFabrik and SK Stiftung Köln with the Akademie för uns Kölsche Sproch.

• Rheinauhafen: It is a 15.4 hectare urban regeneration project in Cologne, Germany situated along the River Rhine between Südbrücke and Severinsbrücke situated at the inner city’s historic old town. It is about to develop around the Rheinauhafen, an Industrial harbour developed during 1880s. The project started in 2002 and is slated to be completed by 2011. This project is consisted of about 250,000 meter square waterfront floor area, primarily used for offices, cultural institutions, hotels and dwellings. The earlier commercial port here is being used as a marina. The new Rheinauhafen is home to a good number of companies in field of creative industry and among them the most popular are Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Electronic Arts and Microsoft. In the vicinity cultural organizations are German Sport & Olympia Museum and Imhoff-Schokoladenmuseum.

• The Zoo: The Aktiengesellschaft Cologne Zoological Garden features around 7,000 animals of more than 700 species in an area spread around in 20 hectares. This zoo has an international reputation with an attached aquarium and invertebrate exhibits with an emphasis on primates like as bonobos and lemurs. Moreover, in-the-wild conservation efforts and research focussing on animals of Madagascar, the Wallacea, and Vietnam are being actively promoted and supported through and in cooperation with Cologne University and local projects, like as Przewalski’s Horses.

• Museum Ludwig: Museum Ludwig, located in Cologne, has collection and exhibits of modern art. It exhibits works from PopArt, Abstract and Surrealism, and has one of the largest Picasso collections in Europe. It also includes works from Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. Another integrate and important section of the museum is the Sammlung Ludwig, a collection of art by Picasso, Russian avant-garde and American Pop-art artists.

Other places for attraction in cologne are Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Claudius Therme, Sachsenbergstraße, Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Römisch-Germanisches Museum and Karneval.