I lived in Hamburg for about two years, starting in March of 2012, and hadn't been back since 2014. Unlike Berlin -- which I visited regularly between 2012 and 2016 and then didn't visit since then -- I have the sense that the core or heart of Hamburg is roughly the same, despite the gentrifying.
Given that this was a really packed 3 days and to me had the core of what I think Hamburg is and what you should show someone to get a feel for Hamburg, I wanted to share this as a travelogue post.
Day 1 (Friday): Eppendorf (Isemarkt) - Zoo - Sternschanze
- Arrive (w/the train) Hamburg Hbf 10:30/11
- Eppendorf:
- Eppendorfer Markt for Brunch @ Cafe Karl, Günter & Marie (nice, airy. Tasty food)
- walked along Eppendorfer Weg
- visited Isemarkt -- a "weekly market" that also has food trucks and music, runs from Eppendorfer Baum to Hoheluftbruecke U-Bahn stops under the raised train/tram way. It is open Wednesdays and Fridays.
- Took the bus to Hagenbeck's Tierpark/Zoo . One of the oldest zoos, about 100 years old, and the first one to use trenches instead of fences to keep the animals in, and some animals have free range of the park (peacocks and some tiny little creatures between a tiny deer and a rabbit). We managed to see a walrus being fed and also go under him in a glass tunnel and see his filter-whisker-vacuum mouth up close.
- Checked into Hotel -- Holiday Inn @ Berliner Tor, stop of several U-Bahns and S-Bahns, 1 Stop from Hbf, well-connected and also safe vibe. I would recommend. They even have a Sauna.
- Sternschanze-area:
- Dinner @ Cafe Mexico -- authentic Mexican food from a Mexican family. I visited regularly when I lived in Hamburg. Still very good. Price includes chips and salsa. The neighborhood got hipper and I am glad they remained.
- Sadly, the source of a common meme a few doors down from the restaurant did not survive the demographic shift (location):
- Walked a loop around Sternschanze:
"The Schanze: This multi-coloured area between the Schulterblatt, Schlachthof and the Stresemannstraße changed back in the ‘70s into a melting pot of foreigners and punks, artists and freaks. A lot of small stores where you can shop til you drop, kebab shops, second-hand shops, Portuguese cafés and the omnipresent Asian Bok snack restaurants characterise the street scene."
saw the Rota Flora (famous occupied building), pointed out how to get to Altes Maedchen (craft beer bar). Glad to see Oma's Apotheke still exists. - Tip: any bar/pub that has "Eck" in the name (another longtime bar, Erika's Eck, also still exists) allows smoking.
Day 2 (Saturday): Altstadt-Minatur Wunderland - Portuguese 1/4 - Nordic food - Planten un Blomen - St Pauli EveningTour
Not a bad walk. Route here.
- Altstadt:
- walked along Steintordamm towards the Altstadt. Cool street, lots of food markets -- Turkish, Afghan, Persian, Arab, etc etc. (e.g.) If I'd known about it when living there, I'd've shopped there al lthe time.
- Turkish Breakfast @ Back Lava. Special things: a honeycomb and sour cherry preserves. If I went back, I'd've done a "build your own" breakfast and picked a different egg dish, the default for the 2 person has way too much tomatoes for my taste and a bit too much sweet stuff.
- Walked through the "Altstadt"/Town center, and to the Speicherstadt by way of Deichstrasse, which is full of rebuilt very-old houses along a canal
- Miniatur Wunderland trains and landscapes galore. There's also an exhibit now on 20 years of history, including budget for each area and the renovations and expansions during covid.
- Buy your tickets either there in person, for a future time slot, or on line in advance. We showed up around 11 and thankfully the wait time dropped from (max) 90 to 40 minutes and killed a little time in the waiting room before going in.
- Block around 3 hours for this. Lots of standing. There are chairs but someone is always sitting in them. They open at 7:30 and close at 1am, so you can try really early or really late to avoid the children and the pointing. Lots of cool tours going on, lots of expansions. Goals for next time.
- Walked along the Portuguese Quarter, which thankfully still exists.
- Had a really nice savory pasteis (with spinach and feta) at Cafe Sul as well as bacon-wrapped cheese things and some tea. They'd decorated with the traditional tiles, I felt very much like in a piece of Lisbon.
- Looking for water, saw in google maps "Finnshop" nearby and discovered the Nordic Sailor-Missions. Finnish next to Norwegian-Swedish. They were both having (separate) easter parties.
- THE FINS HAVE A GROCERY STORE IN THE BASEMENT. And a Sauna.
- The grocery store includes Pirakka ("open" pirogi) and even gluten-free Maemmi (molasses-carmelized bread-based pudding? Hard to describe. Tasty though).
- Continued walking, ran into another Swedish church and easter thing, with some live music. They had a tiny fridge in their crafts-etc sale area where they had the swedish cheese brand we like as well as the herring we like (abba), even in nice flavors (e.g. ginger)
- Kept walking to Alter Elbpark/Große Wallanlagen/Planten un Blomen. They have signage now explaning its history:
- Int'l Garden show in Prussian times then again in modern times => the former walls and area around it are a nice park. Walked through the "wall" parts, by the Bunker and the old botanical garden, before needing a break to put up our feet and change clothes
- Evening tour from the Sankt Pauli Tourism office.
- The tour guide has lived in St Pauli for 5 years but has gone there for years because her mother used to live there -- her dentist was based there since she was 3, etc. Her dad also did some of the construction work at the Zoo. Interesting stories. E.g. the "big freedom" in Danish-owned Altona (1640 to 1840ish) was not just religion but also career/guild.
- Only negative was a stop in a smoking bar (Picadilly, an old cult gay bar), so we popped around the corner to Maa'deyo, a nice latin american restaurant and warmed up with some corn tea. I'd go back and try the food next time.
Day 3 (Sunday): Fischmarkt - Ferry- Hamburg Bunker - rest of Planten un Blomen
- Altonaer Fischmarkt -- ran a bit late, 8:45. Next time, would plan to arrive at 8am latest. Arrived Reeperbahn, everything was quiet and clean, walked 10 minutes. Grabbed a quick flammlachs for breakfast and managed to snag good deals on bundles of cheese and sausage. Even watched a little of the dutch plant auctioneer and listened to a little music in the main hall.
- It's (in)famous as where people go to keep drinking after a night of drinking, as they open at 5. They used to be really strict about shutting down at 9:30, clearly in the last few years, that's become more a gentle suggestion.
- Afterwards, we had a nice brunch around the corner at Special Connection. Good flat white, great eggs and nice gluten-free bread.
- Hopped on a Ferry (Ferry lines are included in public transit day tickets). Caught the wrong one, so ended up at the Oevelgoenne beach and then stepped out and took one going the right direction.
- Standard advice from locals: do not do a harbor tour. Overpriced and boring. Just hop on a few ferries instead.
- Headed to the Hamburg Bunker (they only had two! Mannheim had 54 ish?!) but got refused entry with our metal water bottle, so returned to the Hbf to re-store our stuff and came back.
- interesting "mountain path"of reasonable stairs up to the top-- there is a tiny park, trees
- obviously some nice views, a kiosk/imbiss, a restaurant, and a public set of displays about the history of the bunker. It was started reallllllly late in the war (1944? The one I live by was 1942 & 1942) and was intended to be re-used after the war so had built-in windows that were filled in a kind of temporary way, which explains why it could be repurposed.
- THIS THING IS MASSIVE. My bunker looks like a sad smart car next to a tour bus or maybe a plane by comparison
- There's a dance club (Uebel & Gefaehrlich) that has been there since I lived there, actually longer as well as a school for sound engineering and I think music in general
- There is also a climbing hall somewhere inside.
- Walked back to Planten un Blomen to catch the part we missed
- Late Lunch circa 15h at "Stadt Salat", quick bowls in a "don't get too comfortable" spartan aesthetic
Notes for next time or ideas for a 4th/5th day:
- Museum ships @ Landungsbruecken
- Rickmer Rickmers and
- Cap San Diego.
- They differ 60 years in age and were both cargo ships. Cap San Diego was in the last generation where they built the cargo cranes ONTO the ship.
- Alster boat tours (from Jungfernstieg). They seem to run 2 hrs. One goes up deep into the canals, the one I thought looked interesting (Dämmertorn) did a loop and touched on the "Stadtpark" in Ohldorf (which I don't know if I've been to).
- Musicals! Lion King? Hamburg is known for its musicals. Also, Opera, but I'm not a fan of Opera.
- Other museums.
- The "Dialog im Dunkeln" ("blind museum") has evolved to be a "Dialog" Museum also with other disability-mimicking experiences.
- Emmigration museum was good, I'd go again
- Kunsthalle Hamburg. I think I'd never been
- Other St Pauli tours like "Saat Pauli", "Sankt Pauli queer tour". They also have a craft beer tour.
- Other markets:
- St Pauli Nachtmarkt aka Nighttime Farmer's market. Wednesdays 16-20h
- St Pauli Nachtflohmarkt in the Rindermarkthalle. Night time flea market in spring/summer, Weds & Thurs. Check the website for times.
- Sternschanze Flohmarkt. Saturdays. Great flea market. Really has everything you need as a new person in town. Pots, pans, shelves, whatever. Not just piles of clothes.
- Food/Restaurants/Bar:
- Groeninger local brewery with a fun cellar. You can buy a tiny keg to share, helpful for treating a group. Heavy german fare like pork knuckle (Schweinshaxe)
- Moewe Sturzflug. Comfy Bar, old couches. It was where I hosted the English-German Stammtisch I started up when I lived there. The name means "seagull nosedive", and Germans love puns, so, "dive bar".
- Altes Maedchen (mentioned on day 1)
- Sign up for and use the StadtRad bike share program and cycle around Hamburg. It is a steep learning curve, though.
- Luebeck. Cute day trip. Maybe half day. Home of Marzipan.
