Hotels in Hamburg

Hamburg - Guide

Hamburg- General Information

Hamburg Rathaus

The second biggest port in Europe, Hamburg is a city of contradictions, and one which conjures up surprising echoes of other places. The first thing many people associate with it is the sleaze of the famous Reeperbahn, and the St Pauli district. Yet at the same time it is said that a greater number of millionaires now reside, per capita, in Hamburg than anywhere else in Europe. Located on the north bank of the River Elbe, it is dominated by water and is reputed to have more canals than Venice. The red brick factories that line these canals will remind British visitors of Manchester, while its glitzy shopping arcades are heavily influenced by those in Milan.

Hamburg History

The city takes its name from the first permanent building on the site, a fort (or ‘burg’) built on rocky ground in a marsh between the Alster Lake and the Elbe River as far back as the 1st century AD. It was destroyed and rebuilt several times until the 12th century, when its proximity to the main trade routes of the North and Baltic Seas quickly made it a major port of Northern Europe. In the 14th century it became a member of the powerful Hanseatic League of trading cities and in the 17th century it was declared an independent city-state.

Hamburg suffered severely during Napoleon’s last campaign in Germany, but experienced its fastest development during the second half of the 19th century, when the growth of the city's Atlantic trade helped it attain its pre-eminence as a port. The last and worst destruction of the city took place during World War II, when it suffered a series of devastating air raids by Allied forces. Yet like many cities that have suffered such a fate, the destruction allowed Hamburg to be rebuilt in an innovative, original way. And, amazingly enough, there are still a great many 17th and 18th century merchant houses remaining, tucked in between prize-winning modern developments.

Eating & Drinking in Hamburg

The centre of Hamburg has its share of trendy, expensive restaurants, but if you venture further afield – especially in the student districts Univiertel or in the Schanzenviertel around Schulterblatt and Schanzenstrasse – you’ll find a greater range of cuisine at more affordable prices, including many ethnic eateries. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given its maritime history, the city’s local specialities tend to be focused on seafood. One is Aalsuppe, an eel soup also made with plums and mixed vegetables, which is more appetising than it sounds. Another is Labskaus, a hash which typically contains pickled corned beef, herring, beetroot, mashed potato, onions and gherkins, all topped with a fried egg. It is traditionally favoured by sailors. The city also has a surprising number of Portuguese restaurants down by the waterfront.

If you want to eat on the go, the stalls in the St Georg area near the Hauptbahnhof offer cheap snacks, as do those in the Reeperbahn in St Pauli. The most famous fast food of them all, the hamburger, is not especially popular in its ‘home’ town – invented in the mid-19th century and introduced to America by German immigrants, the popular snack takes its name from the city.

Hamburg’s bars regularly move in and out of favour, but the liveliest places can be found around the St Pauli area, though bear in mind that many don’t open before 22.00. Popular student bars, which are also good for cheap meals, can be found in the Univiertel and the Schanzenviertel districts. In the former, Grindelhof, Rentzelstrasse and Grindelallee are particularly good streets to explore.

Cafés and café-bars tend to reflect the area they are in: those in St Georg are somewhat bohemian, the Univiertel and Schanzenviertel more studenty, while Altona boasts a mixed and unpretentious clientele. Note that three of the museums ( the Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte, the Kunsthalle and the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe) have cafés that are well worth a visit in their own right.

Hamburg Culture

Contrary to its somewhat grimy, seedy image, Hamburg has many parks, while also being traversed by numerous canals and framed by beautiful lakes – all of which mean that is enjoys an enviably fresh, verdant setting. It also has a sparkling nightlife, a vibrant cultural scene, one of the biggest and most prestigious shopping districts in the world and is a stylish media centre. Its semicircular shape is defined by broad, curving roads that follow the line of the original city’s fortified walls. The base of this semicircle rests on the River Elbe and is composed of the city’s massive port. Traditionally central Hamburg was divided into two halves: the Altstadt (‘Old Town’) in the east and the Neustadt (‘New Town’) in the west, separated by the Alsterfleet Canal.

Broadly speaking, the Altstadt plays host to Hamburg’s most architecturally interesting public buildings and preserved merchant houses, while the Neustadt is focused more on commerce and entertainment. In the former, right on the canal, you’ll find the Rathaus, the home of the city-state’s parliament, an immensely imposing building, designed in the German neo-Renaissance style, with statues of the city’s patron saints and maritime images lined up alongside each other along its cornice.

Heading south-east, into the Altstadt proper, there’s the Gothic church of St Katharinen, which was badly damaged in the war but sympathetically restored. Its tower, like those of the four other historic churches, remains a prominent feature of the skyline. Further east there’s also the remarkable Chilehaus, a 1920s red-brick office block with sharp, prow-like corners and staggered balconies that are meant to mirror the outline of the decks on Hamburg’s huge ocean-going liners.
Back across the Alsterfleet canal from the Rathaus, in the Neustadt, you’ll encounter the city’s most exclusive boutiques and flashiest shopping arcades on a succession of streets: Neuer Wall, Grosse Bleichen and ABC-Strasse, known collectively as the Hanseviertel. Having explored these, head west, where you’ll find Holstenwall, which marks the boundary between the Neustadt and the notorious St Pauli. Here the Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte presents Hamburg’s history in an exceptionally informative and entertaining manner, while, close by, St Michaelis – Hamburg’s city symbol and finest church – offers the best bird’s-eye view of the city from the tower’s 82-metre-high look-out platform.

Venture further west and you’re soon in St Pauli itself and the strip clubs, sex shops and brothels of the Reeperbahn. South of here, there’s the harbour and Hamburg’s famous Fischmarket – packed, from very early in the morning, with barking vendors, haggling shoppers and bleary eyed survivors from the city’s nightclubs, which are concentrated to the north of St Pauli in the districts of Schanzenviertel and Univiertel.

If you’d like to get a different perspective on Hamburg from the water, head along to the Landungsbrücken on the river. Here you’ll find many bridges leading to the floating pontoon, where there are plenty of boats offering hour-long harbour tours. Make sure you go on one of the small ferries and not the large double-decker, since only the small ones take in the city’s canals, as well as the port itself.

The other most distinct area of Hamburg lies to the north and comprises the Binnenalster, a small lake, which is the smaller forerunner of the large Aussenalster Lake beyond. The promenade along the Binnenalster’s southern bank is known as the Jungfern stieg, after the young women who used to stroll there. Neuer Jungfernstieg, the promenade along the western bank, is lined with the splendid houses of the city’s bankers and businessmen. Aussenalster Lake itself plays host to boating in the summer and skating in the winter. Walking round its perimeter takes about three hours, and the route leads past many of the city’s finest villas, clubs and consulates.