This five-story hotel is about a 10-minute walk from Cologne’s train station, cathedral and Altstadt along the Rhine promenade. It’s modern, minimalist and, most importantly, comfortable. On that last point, many of the rooms here are larger than average and feature a calm, uncluttered look, with lovely hardwood floors, contemporary teakwood furniture, and state-of-the-art technology. Each has a compact, marble-clad bathrooms, most of them with showers only. A couple of rooms on the top floor have little balconies. The staff is professional and helpful, the breakfast is good (enjoy it in the courtyard when the weather’s nice). As in many German hotels, there’s no a/c here, so in hot weather you’ll need to open your window (request a courtyard-facing room if you want more quiet) and use the fan.