Living in Neustadt-Süd, Cologne

Neustadt-Süd is the southern half of the ring Cologne built outside its demolished medieval walls, and part of the Innenstadt Stadtbezirk. Aachener Straße separates it from Neustadt-Nord, the Ring boulevards separate it from Altstadt-Süd, and the railway line marks the outer edge towards Zollstock, Raderberg and Sülz. Nearly forty thousand people live in under three square kilometres, which makes it the most densely populated Stadtteil in the city.

What it is

A Wilhelminian grid of five and six-storey apartment blocks, rebuilt in patches after the war, with three named Veedel inside it. The Kwartier Latäng - a Cologne mangling of the Paris Quartier Latin - runs around Rathenauplatz and along Zülpicher Straße and Kyffhäuserstraße, and is the student quarter proper. The Südstadt occupies the eastern end towards the Rhine and Chlodwigplatz. Between them the streets are ordinary residential Neustadt: tall stucco fronts, courtyards, corner Kneipen. The Volksgarten, a large nineteenth-century park built on a former fortress site, anchors the south, and the Aachener Weiher and the inner green ring close the western side. The Technische Hochschule Köln has a campus presence here, and the synagogue on Roonstraße and the Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst by the Aachener Weiher are the landmarks people name.

Who lives here

Students, and a lot of them, in shared flats that have been shared flats for decades. Alongside them: young professionals who stayed on after graduating, older tenants in long-held rent-controlled apartments, and families in the quieter blocks towards the Volksgarten and the green ring. It is a young Stadtteil with a lot of turnover, which is good news if you are looking for a room - this is the part of Cologne where rooms come up most often - and less good news if you want neighbours who know your name.

What it's like during the day

Working, studying, and sitting outside. Zülpicher Straße is the spine, lined with cheap food, copy shops, second-hand bookshops, bakeries and bars that open early. The university's main campus is not in this Stadtteil but immediately beyond its western edge, so the daytime foot traffic is heavily student. The Volksgarten fills with picnics and football as soon as the weather allows, and the Aachener Weiher does the same on the other side. Around Chlodwigplatz and the Severinstraße the mood changes into an older, more settled Cologne of traditional pubs and small shops.

What it's like in the evening

Loud where the students are and calm three streets away. The Kwartier Latäng has the highest concentration of bars in Cologne outside the Altstadt, plus the concert club MTC and the Off Broadway cinema, and on Thursday and Friday nights the pavements around Zülpicher Platz are full. The Ring, just across the boundary, adds the big clubs. The Südstadt end is a different evening entirely: Kneipen with regulars, wine bars, restaurants that fill up early. If you dislike noise, look at the streets between the Volksgarten and the railway rather than anything within earshot of Zülpicher Straße.

Getting around

This is one of the best-connected residential Stadtteile in the city. Stadtbahn stops inside it or on its rim include Barbarossaplatz (lines 12, 15, 16, 18), Zülpicher Platz (9, 12, 15), Eifelplatz (12), Eifelstraße (12, 15, 16), Eifelwall/Stadtarchiv (18), Ulrepforte (15, 16), Moltkestraße (1, 7), Universitätsstraße (1, 7) and Dasselstraße/Bahnhof Süd (9). Bahnhof Köln Süd, under the western bridge at that last stop, is a regional rail halt on the left-bank Rhine line with RE and RB services, useful for Bonn and the Eifel but not an S-Bahn station. The cathedral and the Hauptbahnhof are ten to fifteen minutes by Stadtbahn and walkable from the eastern half. The terrain is flat and the bike is often faster than the tram.

Eating and shopping

Cheap and plentiful. Zülpicher Straße delivers döner, falafel, pizza, Vietnamese and student-priced lunch menus; the side streets hold small Italian and Middle Eastern places. For groceries there are supermarkets on Zülpicher Straße, Luxemburger Straße and around Chlodwigplatz, plus Turkish greengrocers that beat the chains on fruit and vegetables. Bakeries are on every second corner. The Südstadt end has the better restaurants and the more serious wine bars, and the weekly market on Chlodwigplatz is close enough to use from most of the Stadtteil.

When NOT to pick it

Do not pick it if you need quiet nights: in the Kwartier Latäng the noise is structural, not occasional, and no amount of double glazing fixes a pavement full of people at two in the morning. Do not pick it if you want green space bigger than a park, if you want a parking space, or if you want an apartment in good condition at a low price - the stock is old, often only partly renovated, and the cheap rooms are cheap because the flats are worn. Families with small children will find the eastern blocks workable and the student blocks not. If you want the same centrality with less noise, look south to Zollstock or west to Sülz; if you want the atmosphere without the student volume, look at the Südstadt end near Chlodwigplatz.

Neustadt-Süd is the right choice if you are studying or new to Cologne and want to land in the middle of everything: the widest choice of rooms in the city, a dozen Stadtbahn lines, food at student prices, and a social life that starts at your front door. It is the wrong choice if you are looking for calm, space or a quiet street.