HAMBURG

A GREAT CITY TO VISIT

I first visited Hamburg twelve years ago and in the intervening years have visited Germany’s second largest city on thirteen separate occasions. Duration of stay has ranged from one day to seven weeks, and I have arrived by car, boat and plane.

There is no shortage of accommodation in Hamburg with a variety of hotel styles and prices to suit all pockets ranging from the many B&B establishments to the more opulent surroundings of “The Four Seasons” or “The Atlantic” hotels, with the mid range “Holiday Inn” or “Etap” hotels among many others.

Access to Hamburg is easy with regular flights from the UK operated by Easyjet, British Airways and Lufthansa as well as Ryanair which flies to nearby Lubeck. Road links are also good and if you are bringing your own car from the UK you have the choice of the channel crossing to France and then driving through France and Germany or if you prefer (and this is the way I travel with the car), you can take the Stena ferry from Harwich to the Hook of Holland and then drive through Holland and Germany, an easy six hour drive with a break. Unfortunately it is no longer possible to travel to Hamburg by ferry, I did this once about eleven years ago from Harwich, it took about twenty hours but was a great way to travel. The only way to arrive in Hamburg by ship from the UK now is to go by cruise ship, Cunards Queen Mary II is often here and it is always a big event when she arrives.

Once in Hamburg, you will not be short of things to do, it is a lively place where there is always something to do. For those of you who enjoy shopping (I’m afraid I don’t), Hamburg has all the top stores you could wish for and the shopping arcades are a pleasure to walk around and a restaurant or café is never far away for that well deserved coffee break or lunch.

Architecture and heritage abounds and one of the best ways to get to know the city and see the best parts is to take part in a walking tour, you can get information on these from the tourist information office and they usually leave from opposite the Rathaus (the Town Hall). There is of course the usual open top tour bus as in every big city. A more relaxing alternative is the Alster cruises which depart regularly taking visitors to various stops around the Alster (Hamburg has two large waterways known as the Aussenalster and the Binnenalster). There are many canals and waterways within Hamburg and of course there is the Elbe which is the main river which carries all the large ships.

Other places to visit are the parks and gardens with the “Planten Un Blomen” being my personal favourite, on the edge of the park is the “Fernsehturm” (TV Tower) which used to have a revolving restaurant, sadly visitors can no longer go up the tower. The tower is next to the “Hamburg Messe” which is a large conference/exhibition centre which holds various events including the boat show.

Visitors can spend many hours down at the harbour, watching the ships come and go or taking a harbour cruise or ferry across to the other side of the Elbe. There is a Mississippi style paddle steamer to take trips on and craft of all description. By the harbour they are constructing a new building to house the Elbphilharmonie, which I believe will be finished by 2012.

Along the harbour you will find many restaurants and if you walk past Landungsbrucken (or take the U-bahn and bus) you will eventually come to the fish market, this is a must to see on a Sunday morning (05:00 to 09:30 in summer, 07:00 to 09:30 in winter). It is a lively place with market stalls selling just about everything from live chickens to souvenir coffee mugs, inside the main building you can purchase breakfast (anything from a roll to a buffet breakfast along with hot drinks, cold drinks and beer. All this whilst listening to a live rock band, what better way to start a Sunday? (of course for many it is the end of a rather long Saturday night). A short walk from the fish market and you are in Sankt Pauli where you will find the Reeperbahn with its many bars and restaurants.

Getting around Hamburg is easy and relatively cheap, the U-bahn and S-bahn trains will get you to most places of interest and the regular bus service will get you to the places that the trains don’t service. There are various ticket types which are valid on both trains and buses, ranging from a single journey ticket to an all day group ticket for up to five people (good value if you are making more than two journeys in a day). For the tourist there is also the Hamburger Card which not only gives you cheaper travel on the trains, buses and boats, but also discounts off of shopping, restaurants and museums. The Hamburger Card can be purchased for a day or up to a week.

Once you have seen and done all you want to in Hamburg (and believe me, you will need to be here a long time to achieve that!). There are many places of interest within a short drive or train journey away. Bremen is only 90 minutes on the train as is Lubeck, Luneburg is a mere 30 to 40 minutes. All three are fascinating towns in their own right and well worth a visit, trains run regularly from Hamburg’s Central Station.

If you want to travel a little further then Travemunde is a very pleasant seaside town and has ferry services over to Scandinavia, Hanover is a few hours drive away. You could even do as I did on one of my visits to Hamburg and take yourself off to Berlin for a couple of days. The list of places to visit and things to do is endless and I’m sure that anyone visiting Hamburg would not be disappointed, no matter what age or interests.