Day 1:

  • Very easy connection from airport to city via S-Bahn 1, station is directly connected to airport terminals
    • Day ticket (9 o’clock ticket) works well if you plan to be on and off the subways/trains
  • Check in to Airbnb in Sternschanze neighbourhood: lots of bars, cafes, restaurants, smaller stores, and some cheaper student eats (university gathering area)
  • Explore Speicherstadt, where old shipping warehouses were (in identical brick buildings with copper ceilings to indicate Hanseatic league membership)
  • Miniatur Wunderland
    • Museum of many miniature displays, including trains and cities from different countries
    • Not too expensive but can get quite crowded
    • You can reserve an entrance time online and then show up and go in without the ~50 minute wait that is enforced if you are a walk-in
    • No fee to reserve online and you don’t even have to buy the ticket at the time so no cost to you at all!
  • Nearby is a coffee roaster and cafe; Hamburg is famous for coffee apparently
  • Le Crobag is a French bakery/cafe though it turns out it was actually started in Hamburg so therefore sort of a local thing
  • A local pastry is französische brötchen, which is rumoured to have been German bakers’ attempts at croissants (which turned out flat and became a local specialty)

Day 2:

  • Brunch near Gänsemarkt area in Neustadt
  • Walk around Botanic Gardens (Planten un Blomen) and the greenhouse (free entrance)
  • See Hamburger Dom, a festival/amusement park area with a ferris wheel (which closes early, so we missed it)
    • Would go to the Dom next time!
  • Walk to Rathaus past the small lake in the city
  • Free walking tour of Hamburg with Sandeman
    • St. Peter’s Church
    • St. Nikolai Church memorial (ruins)
    • Speicherstadt area
    • Hafencity area with Elbe Philharmonie
      • Expensive development projects that have run overtime and overbudget that all urban planners around the world love to talk about
      • Sort of reminds me of harbourfront development in Copenhagen in terms of style and controversy over edgy design
  • St. Pauli Elbtunnel
  • Altona station
    • Large hub outside of city with lots of grocery stores nearby
    • Many buses connect here
    • Most major trains stop here before/after Hbf
    • IKEA nearby as well with some other shops!
  • Red Light District
    • Lots of cool things to see, feels just as lively (if not more) as Amsterdam though without so many visible prostitutes
    • Mostly venues with entertainment and bars/nightclubs
    • A lot of stuff is on the aptly named Große Freiheit street
    • Lots of good late night food: döner, fast food, etc…
  • Fishmarkt is a good place to go after a late night out if you make it until 5am (only open 5-10am) 
    • We missed it but would definitely put this on my list of places to go next time in Hamburg

Day 3:

  • Blankenese is an area with lots of expensive houses built on a hillside facing the waterfront, with a bit of a Presidio-like feel (à la SF)
    • Lots of steps and climbing but there’s a bus that goes from the bottom of the hill (i.e. beach) to the top again (i.e. S-Bahn stop) though it is an express so a regular transit pass does not include it (and you have to pay 2 euro extra)
  • Lunch at a Portuguese tapas restaurant in Portuguese area near Landungsbrücken
  • Walk around waterfront