ANNA is the epitome of a successful young German professional. For 51 weeks of the year she works hard with a creative job in Cologne’s buzzing media industry. But this week, she is a fairytale princess.

Joining her are her friends – a mixed bunch of vikings, sea creatures, sailors, clowns, and a masked cat and fox. And, together, as if we have have known each other all our lives, we are standing in a crowded bar, glasses of foaming beer held high, singing along to a wandering brass band blasting out rousing local folk songs on trombones, horns and a big bass drum.

This is carnival... Cologne style.

“Only in Köln!” laughs Anna, using the German name for the city, while attempting to teach me the words to a thumping anthem which, she admits, even people from the next town wouldn’t understand.

“Everyone joins in regardless of age or anything else,” she says. “And forget about going anywhere else; people from the rest of Germany always come here to party.”

The party – which is repeated in hundreds of bars across the city, was the culmination of a week of ‘Karneval’ festivities – from Weiberfastnacht (or ‘Women’s Carnival Thursday’) to Karnevalsdienstag (Shrove Tuesday).

“Is it like this in England?” I am asked by countless new friends over narrow glasses of local Früh Kölsch beer. Each looked surprised when told that no, we don’t celebrate carnival.

“So what do you do instead?” they ask.

“Err... make pancakes?” I cringe, with shame, to a mix of incredulity, sympathy and more commiserating beers.

Quite simply no one, with the possible exception of the Brazilians and the Mardi Gras revellers of New Orleans, does carnival like the Kölners.

Technically, the carnival season starts in November, but it is for the week leading up to Ash Wednesday that the whole city stops. Or rather, gets going.

Forgot those preconceptions of straight-laced Germans (a ludicrous stereotype anyway). Hit this buzzing conurbation on the Rhine in late February and you’ll find a city with only one thing on its mind: fun!

The sight of all those revellers dressed as Prussian cavalrymen, jesters, fairytale characters (Red Riding Hood, Snow White and handsome princes are on every street corner) or turned-out outlandishly in the city’s trademark red and white stripes, can be bewildering. Cologne is, after all, a serious-minded place: a place of hi-tech industries and media, of cutting-edge art galleries, an ancient university city, an archeological treasure house with a rich Roman history, and religious centre dominated by its 750-year-old cathedral, or ‘Dom’ – the third tallest in the world, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

But these scenes have been typical since the Middle Ages, and probably earlier. The highlight is Rose Monday, which features a 7km-long parade of marching bands, floats and revellers, most dressed immaculately in 19th century military or aristocratic uniforms, complete with helmets, caps and medals, and their lady counterparts. As the floats (many inspired by political satire) make their way around the packed city, those on top throw out sweets – more than 300 tons of them.

To cheers of “kamelle” from the crowds lining the streets and hanging from balconies, windows and rooftops, the dapper lords and ladies of the carnival throw nearly a million bars of chocolate and 300,000 bunches of flowers.

The culmination comes with the appearance of the three principal carnival figures, the prince, the farmer and the virgin (three men, one in drag). And then the serious business of partying continues – at masked balls, parties, local bars, or the heaving taverns and brewhouses of the pretty Altstadt (Old Town), much of which was painstakingly restored to its medieval glory after being flattened in the war. And there it goes on. And on.

Anna is right; no one parties quite like it. And there is nowhere better to raise another glass of Kölsche and join your new friends in the heartfelt local toast: “Kölle Alaaf!” – Cologne above all!

DERTOUR offer two night breaks, with two nights accommodation on a bed and breakfast basis at the Maritim Hotel including flights from London Heathrow from £259 per person, based on two people sharing. Book via dertour.co.uk or call on 0203 131 2895.

For more information on Cologne’s attractions, go to cologne-tourism.com, visit the tourist information centre near the Dom, or call +49 221 221 30400.