Heinzels Wintermärchen - Outdoor Ice Skating in Cologne

As if I am not doing enough skating during the week as a professional figure skater… on my 1 day off a week I decided to check out the beautiful Heinzels Wintermärchen of Cologne, Germany and skate outdoors!

If you are new here, my name is Rebecca and I am currently skating in a professional ice show in Germany for the winter months! Cologne is about a 30-minute train ride from where I am staying so I knew I absolutely had to go check out this ice rink… and who doesn’t love a Christmas market to go with it!

Tickets and Skate Rental:

After a short train ride and a bit of walking, we found the ice rink of Heinzels Wintermärchen right next to the hustle and bustle of the city shopping! I bought tickets online ahead of time to make my visit smoother and faster overall when we arrived. I believe you can buy tickets on-site but be sure to check their website for special events they might have going on or discounted prices.

Once you have your ticket there is a nice, matted area with plenty of lockers to put your skates on and lock up your belongings. There is also a skate rental available if you do not have your own skates.

The Rink:

The ice rink itself was pretty big and shaped like a long strip with an open skating area on one end, and a loop around a statue on the other! The ice was honestly not too torn up as they do Zamboni it, but it was a little bit uneven in some places.

Over the ice, there is a cute little walking bridge for market goers to walk over or watch the skating as they are passing by. It has a banner with the market name hanging from it which makes for a super cute photo op!

Click here for Heinzels Wintermärchen ice skating information page!

Curling:

Next to the ice rink they also have a small curling rink area. I dont know much about curling but it looked like a fun place to be! This little rink area seemed to be a quite popular place for groups of people to hangout, chat, drink, and play this relaxing ice game!

Check here for more info about curling at Heinzels Wintermärchen!

*I do not own any of these pictures they are directly from the Heinzels Wintermärchen website.

The Market:

To top off our amazing visit to this ice rink we took a quick stroll around the main marketplace of Heinzels Wintermärchen! It was quite busy in the streets when we walked through but still fun to see all the booths. There was plenty of food options, probably the most popular being meat or glüwein. My favorite part, is always to look at the beautiful handiwork of all the local artisans. There were so many cool souvenir items, handmade clothing, and other cool pieces of art to look through!

In addition to all of the food and art booths, there were a few other small activities as well! There was a cute little carousel close by to the rink, some live music, and even a little Ferris wheel!

This beautiful market was definitely one of the highlights from my trip to Germany so far and I cant wait to explore more of this beautiful country!

xoxo, Rebecca

If you would like see more of my skating content and travels here in Germany be sure to check out the blog and YouTube video playlist linked below!