Altona & Ottensen Hamburg – All our local tips

Sometimes after exercising (my sport club is nearby) I meet friends in Aurel for a sparkling rhubarb juice or caipirinha (happy hour daily till 21:00, Caipirinha €4,00 and Mojito €5,50).

Especially around 18:00 it becomes very crowed and often too loud for profound talks. After work people let the day fade away in a cozy gold-red atmosphere. They have a very uncommon but tasty beer called “Große Freiheit” (great freedom) for €1,50 (small) to €2,50 (big). If you are with your wine lover friends, this is the first place I found for ordering a bottle (0,75l) of really good wine for only €11.00, last time it was even an 1-l-bottle!

The ambience is retro and mainly red, good music, mixed people, free pretzel sticks on every table. A big self-service bar, an amazing room with coloured windows in the back of first room. Beside that there is a cozy booth for only two people (in love?). Cute!

Don’t be surprised or afraid on the toilet. First of all it is volitional! Cheeps of whales in the ocean. Cute!

In summertime you can sit outside, if you can find a chair – if not: many people sit on the most frequented (of Hamburg?) road kerb with their drinks and immerse themselves in the vibrant life of Ottensen.

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Aurel | Bars, Coffee & tea | Small beer € 1.50
Bahrenfelder Str. 157 | Altona & Ottensen | +49403902727
Mon -Thu from 12:00, Fri – Sat from 10:00, Sun from 11:00

If you feeling like having a good cocktail, the Blaues Barhaus (blue barhouse) is the best place to go.

The barkeeper there are the best cocktail mixer I know here around. They have so many new ideas and of course they know all classic drinks. If you don’t know what to drink – the menu is full of many many many different drinks – they’ll give you good advices due to your feeling of the day or what you prefer or what you never tried.

The barkeepers have a good feeling for how you feel. The music is very various from good DJ’s also the people there. It is not the cheapest bar around, but one of the best.

Super Insiders Advice: Check out the impressive and creative restrooms. Like a small disco itself small LED spots showing the pretty damn cool formed washbasins. Don’t be surprised if you wanna freshen up, there is a really small window between the mirrows to the male restroom.

Blue Hour: Tuesday to Saturday from 18:00 – 22:00, also Sunday and Monday (except ahead holidays) Cocktail and Long-drinks for 5 Euro. This is my time for drinking my lovely, rarely to find ‘Pimm’s Rangoon’.

If you looking for a dignified place to go… here you are in good hands.

Hurry Up: Open only till August 1st, 2010 – I heard Blaues Barhaus has to be teared down to make room for a new building.

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Blaues Barhaus | Bars | Pimm’s Rangoon € 6.00
Grosse Brunnenstr. 55 | Altona & Ottensen | +494039905842
From 18:00 daily

This candyshop in Ottensen is as bright and colourful as you always imagine them in children books. It is one of these shops where kids press their noses against the window pane to get a closer look.

When you open the door, the beautiful smell of candy, fudges and and roasted nuts is welcoming you. Most of all you see, smell and taste in the glasses is in organic quality and made lovingly by hand. And every day you can discover your inner child and watch at around 16:15 (Saturdays at 14:30) how out of one huge bonbon they make hundreds of little ones and funny looking lollies or how the fudge is made and the nuts are roasted.

The shop is called Bonscheladen, because “Bonsche” is the word for bonbons in Hamburg. But it also means a “treat”. So reward yourself with a visit to this shop and dont be surprised when you find Mary Poppins next to you getting her favourite strawberry candy.

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Bonscheladen | Shopping, Snacks
Friedensallee 12 | Altona & Ottensen | +494041547567
Tue – Fri 11:00 – 18:30 (show 16:15), Sat 11:00 -16:00 (show 14:30)

:: SPRING IS COMING SOON! :: BE PREPARED FOR FRESH GREEN PLANTS ::

If you wanna go for a walk and are interested in flowers, plants, trees, dessert, … at least nature! Check out the Botanical Garden in Hamburg. It’s awesome!

Even the last drizzly weekend I was there and was really impressed again. So many different flowers. Have a look in the fragrance-tactile-garden – there I found a flower that smells like chocolate. Hilarious! Small labels and big “try-it-yourself” walls inform you about plants and their smell, touch and use. Discover the Botanical Garden, through all the different theme gardens from “plants of the bible” to “evolution of the rose” through all the continents.

The blue futuristic Loki-Schmidt-Building is a museum for economic plants encouraged by the ZEIT foundation.

One of my favorite places is the dessert garden with glas pyramids (which was a present of United Arab Emirates).

Special programs: Both, the state institute of teacher training and school development and the University of Hamburg (faculty biology), are the ‘Green School’ which hands out indoor plants and test plants for cytology, also carnivorous plants, succulents, etc. for learning.

Historical excursion: Since 1919 the Botanical Garden Hamburg (established in 1821) belongs to the University Hamburg. Due to shortage of space and after a 10 years construction period, it was reconstructed and opened again in 1979 in Hamburg-Osdorf, at the S-Bahn station Klein Flottbek (S1).

Art excursion: In front of the Botanical Garden Hamburg, at the entrance, there is a sculpture, by artist Waldemar Otto which called: Adam plundered his paradise. The original plan was a second sculpture of Eve as well. Public protests because of the exceedingly high costs and the design made the artist reduce it to only Eva’s hand in the golden apple tree. Really funny is the fact: some unknown painted Adam some underwear, several times, again and again. Now it still exists.

Relaxing excursion: The Palme – the palm, is an outside café for some chilled coffee, ice cream and lovely cake. Also you’ll get sausages and potato salad there for absolutely affordable prices.

Music excursion: Every first Thursday in the month there is a concert for free!

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Botanical Garden | Art & culture, Music, Relaxing | Free
Ohnhorststraße 18 | Altona & Ottensen | +494042816476
09:00 – till 1 1/2 hour before sunset daily

The café Knuth, located in a little side street, is a good spot to watch the Ottensen crowd following their daily routine or maybe taking a break of it. I love to sit here and watch people while drinking a bowl of creamy milk coffee that comes with one of my favourite cookies and maybe treat myself with a nice piece of cake.

In the morning the popular café is the meeting point for hip mothers and fathers with or without their children to enjoy one of the tasty breakfast variations. (Especially at the weekends it is not easy to conquer a free table)

At lunchtime the creative people from the nearby design offices come here to spoon a pumpkin-ginger soup or to munch a tomato rucola panini.In the evening people call it a day with a cocktail, have a nice chat and relax after work.

All day long this is accompanied by a service that seems to take just a short break to their usual occupation like studying art or theatre.

So choose whatever time suits you and get an idea of the flow of Ottensen.

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Café Knuth | Bars, Coffee & tea, Snacks | Panini from € 3.80
Kleine Rainstraße 21 | Altona & Ottensen | +494046008708
Mon – Fri 09:00 – open end, Sat – Sun 10:00 – open end

The black box with big white letters stands inconspicuously on the Altonaer Balkon (Altoner balcony) in the beautiful harbour scenery. If the sun is shining – don’t be scared, just go in and close the door behind you.

You have to wait few minutes till your eyes acclimatise to the dark. You’ll see the harbour upside down moving projected picture on a white wall.

The Camera Obscura is deemed to be the forerunner of photo cameras. Invented in times of Renaissance also know as pinhole camera. It is a camera without a lens and a single very small aperture. The smaller the hole, the sharper the projection, an upside down and right-left reversed picture.

Pretty nice experience! And for free!

BTW: The current projected picture can also be seen in the foyer of the Altonaer Museum.

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Camera Obscura | Art & culture | Free
Palmaille 75 | Altona & Ottensen
Tue – Sun 10:00 – 17:00

Today I was after months again in the blue-house-with-gold-letters-shop. How can I explain my impression or my feelings, when I got in — into the most sinful paradise… ?

I rummaged around outside in big oversea-boxes for some new kind of tea and was really impressed by the wide range. Then I went into the seems-like-chaotic-shop and my nose and my eyes went crazy. How absolutely amazing it smells like itchy feet, far away countries, teas and spices…

From classical sorts like Darjeeling, Earl Grey, Mate Tea, Pu Erh Tea, the famous Kusmi Tea, Yogi & Ayurveda Tea, …  to extraordinary teas like Precious Lamp, a Chinese tea rose bloom, which unfold itself if you put hot water on it.

Beside that they have the biggest collection of chocolate I’ve ever seen. The same applies here: a big range of the black gold from milky to salty, from hot spicy to bitter, with flowers, fruits or alcohol.

If you’re looking for some coffee or espresso, this is your place, fresh finely grounded in front of you, all kinds you can imagine.

Same for wine and sparkling wine… all price classes! Amazing!

In addition in the shop you’ll find all accessories for extraordinary tea-session, teapots, ginger-biscuits, tea boxes, … as a gift for your friends?

For sure I will be there quite more often now. At Claus Kröger I get all I don’t really need, but – seriously – after all that’s exactly what I really need to sweet up my life! Claus Kröger is one of the oldest shops in my neighborhood with no other chain stores. I always try to support that kind of shops because it’s one of the last individual and real Hamburgian (not like American coffee shops).

From my morning 100% Arabica-coffee, to my something-special-chocolate, to my afternoon tea and to a delicious Claus Kröger wine for the dinner. Fair trade!

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Claus Kröger | Coffee & tea, Shopping | Chocolat Hot Masala € 2.95
Große Bergstraße 241 | Altona & Ottensen | +49403806060
Mon – Fri 09:00 – 18:00, Sat 09:00 – 15:00

Around the corner in my neighborhood this year, a cosy Café/Bar in Altona Altstadt was established - the El Brujito!

El Brujito means little witch and is a small, pretty comfortable place. You’ll get breakfast with fair-trade coffee, awesome cakes, all kind of toasts and (ordered in advance) fresh Argentinean empanadas, Southamerican stuffed pastry.

The always smiling, amiable crew has a good knowledge of their large wine list (house wine starts at €2,50). My favorite is the cheese plate (also available: meat plate) in two different sizes.

You can sit inside on chairs and armchairs, in front of the door on a bench (great during the day) or in the beer-garden in the backyard.

Last week you could even enjoy a surprise concert in this cosy ambiance!

Have a look at the revolutionary wall paintings and quotes, and the awesome photos of revolution.

All in all one of my new favorite spots in Hamburg and I hope it stays in Altona Altstadt for a looooong time. Viva la revolution, viva El Brujito!

BTW: Sunday is Brunch-Time from 10:00 to 15:00!!

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El Brujito | Bars, Coffee & tea, Snacks | Cheese Plate € 4.00
Lornsenplatz 7 | Altona & Ottensen | +494080607103
Mon – Sat 09:00 – 02:00, Sun 10:00 – 18:00

Beside the Aurel in Ottensen you can find the Familieneck (family corner) which is always a nice spot for listen to different music every night from electronic to reggae and a last beer before going home.

The DJ is under the roof in the middle of all the alcoholic beverages and can watch down to the whole scenery. The barkeeper, especially Hubertus, is like a diva and always up for extroverted chats. If you come here you never know how the night end. Everything seems to be unpredictable. The bar is always full, also late at night!

The people at Familieneck are weird, extroverted and muddle-headed – don’t mind if a woman dances on a table with a Tequila in one hand or three guys with cowboy hats trying to order their 17th beer.

Small, dark, loud, crowd – Familieneck.

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Familieneck | Bars | Beer € 2.80
Friedensallee 4, 2276 | Altona & Ottensen | +49403907497
18:00 – 04:00 daily

A little history journey in advance: The Große Bergstrasse was the first big city pedestrian zone from Altona Trainstation to Nobistor. But this was a long time ago – now you can find on one hand some specialised shops like Claus Kröger, lock and key service, health food store and on the other hand many Turkish bazaars and 1-Euro-shops. The street became more and more low-priced. No bookshops or sportswear.

Many shops have been empty for many years, as well the “Forum Altona”-building and the former shopping centre Karstadt (that’s why everybody’s still calling it: Karstadt-building) and the main post office.

Since 2003 many citizens’ initiatives and social- and artists-associations moved in and brought back the cultural life in the Große Bergstrasse. They also picked the city reconstruction planning out as a central theme. Caused in the renovation all of them had to leave the “Forum Altona” building in 2009and moved out or in the empty building right beside, the Frappant-building.

As long as it is possible around 45 artists try to stay at the old, not-in-use-anymore shopping centre. Exhibitions and fashion shows with electronic music makes it a nice place to be. The entrance atmosphere is like an Alfred Hitchcock’s movie. Behind the building you have to climb up the access road of the car park to the second level (by the way: nice view over the roofs of Altona), then follow the white line till the entrance of the building and climb up all steps in the 7th floor. On your way, don’t miss all the great street art in front of the Frappant-building and inside everywhere.

Unfortunately it’s a limited thing – that means: This year, 2009, the big Swedish furniture store Ikea (slogan: “Make a house a home” – “Wohnst du noch oder lebst du schon?”) showed a greater interest in that building and a brand new concept for a first full product range inner city, which polarized the local people into the Anti-Ikea-Initiatives and the Pro-Ikea-Initiative.

More important for you is what happens now, what’s going on. Check out the Frappant website and have fun and good talks on one of the really creative events. And then you’ll see if it’s a good base for “make a house a home” or if it’s still like lively home.

PS: The fight between the artists and IKEA is finished. The artists have to move out at first weekend on March to the old police casern “Viktoria-Kaserne”. The first Innercity-Ikea-Store will open expected 2012.

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Frappant | Art & culture | Free
Große Bergstraße 174 | Altona & Ottensen
Check online event schedule

Last time I was in Insbeth I got really drunk with some good friends around. Puh! Ok, it was a small celebration of a birthday (the staff make a gift: a drink called “lovesickness” – till today we have no idea, what it was).

Insbeth has no scenic or hip style, nothing fits, but it fits well together. It is also a common gay-bar and very personal. A mixture of Star Trek, dream world and multi-culture-café with space decoration and super-sized animal drawings at the wall you will find the same mixture of people here: a black African with orange juice, a Turkish vegetable trader playing Backgammon and local alternatives eating a late breakfast.

They offer a simple, but really cheap breakfast (Mon – Sat 10:00 – 14:00) for around 3 Euro (bread, cornflakes, milk, coffee or tea, jam, cheese, …) and Brunch every Sunday 10:00 – 14:00. With political correct newspapers, this is the place where you can order a coffee without an Italian language course.

When the owners changed (I think it was 2006), all the staff quit. Now everything is new and still the same. You have the feeling, this spot has a long history with lots of stories.

The staff is still very cute and friendly. Oh, and they stayed till the sunrise on Monday morning with us! Unbelievable!

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Insbeth | Bars, Coffee & tea | Breakfast € 3.00
Bahrenfelder Str. 176 | Altona & Ottensen | +49403901924
10:00 – open end daily

Actually the Café LilliSu looks a bit kitschy and if I would describe most of the people who go there as young mothers with well-behaved children called Richard or Leonard. On the other hand: it’s a good spot for young ladies to chat about everything.

I would say this place is not alternative enough for me to become my favourite place but in a way I really like it. The atmosphere is light, simple and cosy. The furniture is mainly Nordic white. Inside there are big shelves with lovely organic products like coffee and tea, chocolate and self-made jam you can buy as presents for friends or just for yourself.

The owners are two women who have been living in Ottensen for many years, always creating new, really tasty dishes like filled pasta (some with tomato-mincemeat and fresh-fruity sauce, others with ricotta-spinach and red-pesto-sauce). Or if you are more into sweets, check out the cake-counter! Fair-trade, organic (therefore political correct) coffee rounds out the time at LilliSu. They have great breakfast too, mmmmh.

Wonderful, lovely place -outside in the sun as well (during the wintertime with warm blankets).

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LilliSu | Coffee & tea, Snacks | Latte Macchiato € 2.60
Große Rainstraße 18 | Altona & Ottensen | +49403902491
Mon – Fri 9:00 – 19:00, Sat – Sun 10:00 – 19:00

The Rehbar (doebar) is one of the successful examples for “szene bar meets a sarcastic view on German clichés” that are quite popular in Hamburg.

Although its also a good place to have a latte macchiato after a Ottensen shopping trip in the afternoon, I love to go to the happy hour between 6-9 pm. Drinking a cheap, tasty caipirinha, mojito or mai tai and nibbling pretzel sticks while sitting under a golden ceiling is my idea of a good start in the evening.

Or maybe you try the Rehbier (doebeer) while looking at the special details to find everywhere around: a cuckoo clock and a fake fire place behind the bar, a gallery of deer pictures on the wall and a doe in a show case. Not to forget the backroom table football under the eyes of a boar head and forest sounds on the toilet. And still it really looks stylish, a miracle you have to see yourself!

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Rehbar | Bars, Coffee & tea | Caipirinha(happy hour) € 4.00
Ottensener Hauptstr. 52 | Altona & Ottensen | +494039906363
Mon – Fri 11:00 – open end, Sat – Sun 10:00-open end, Happy hour 18:00-21:00

Tucked away on a little street in Ottensen you will find a cosy and personal Portuguese restaurant which is different from the somewhat soulless and touristy Portuguese restaurants in the so called portugese quarter of Neustadt.

The restaurant Ribatejo (translated: on the shores of the river Tejo) in Ottensen is far more atmospheric and attracts a mixed crowd of youngsters, couples and elderly people. There are many regular guests – always a good sign that customers like to come back again and again.

Here you can either just enjoy a decent wine (really tasty Rose wine for example!!) or you can enjoy Tapas or other traditional dishes The tiny and somewhat open kitchen is set pretty much in the middle of the place. So sit down on a wooden bench, relax and sip your wine while watching your meal getting prepared!

Compared to many other portuguese restaurants and bars, this place has a really nice atmosphere: Nice lighting, a tasteful interior and bar/counter, old cobble stone (!) on the floor (as it used to be the entrance of a backyard for carriages). This place can only make you feel very comfortable!

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Ribatejo | Bars, Snacks, Restaurants (Portugese) | Blass of vine € 3.00
Bahrenfelder Straße 56 | Altona & Ottensen | +494041287911
Mon – Fri 08:30 – 00.00, Sat 10:00 – 01:00, Sun 12:00 – 00:00

Whether you want to attend a special rock-, jazz- classic-, theatre production, a reading or a political event, you will find yourself in a unique atmosphere in the FABRIK in Ottensen.

Here you can combine cultural events with a look into the industrial history of Ottensen that once has been big in producing machine parts for the ship industry. The famous alternative and multicultural “communication center” was founded in 1971 in a building of a former machine factory that is around 150 years old.

Unique surrounding, unique program: In the FABRIK you don’t find mainstream events, its more for the particular taste or even more particular taste. So check out the website, if there is anything that makes you curious. And maybe you are anyway a fan of the “sounds of the Mongolian grasslands” or the “festival of the monsters of ska-punk” and don’t understand at all why I stress this point so much!

The famous Fabrik indoor flea market is my favourite in the cold season, when the hall and the gallery are packed with the Ottensen folk that emptied their attics. There is always a treasure to find here and for sure also one or two German scurrilities. Good luck with your own hunt!

In the cold season the flea market is once a month on a Saturday from 09:00 to 15:00. Check out the website for more information. Entry is for free.

The next dates are:
13 March 2010
17 April 2010

Details about this spot (Show on map)
The FABRIK | Art & culture, Music, Shopping | Tickets from € 8.00
Barnerstr. 36 | Altona & Ottensen | +4940391070
Presales Mon – Fri 13:00 – 17:00

Tired of sitting in cafes, in need of fresh air and a stroll among trees? Looking for a place to practice Tai-Chi or maybe you even brought your running shoes and you don’t know where you could go jogging (if you don’t fancy to go downtown to the Alster lake when staying in Schanze or St.  Pauli)?

In this old park with beautiful trees you will be among people who play with their kids, go for a walk with their loved ones or who try to get in shape by one round after the other. And as it’s a small park it really means one round after the other and you will pass the same faces again and again.

What may feel strange for some visitors are the old gravestones (as it used to be a cemetery) which are scattered around the park and spread some kind of gloomy but special atmosphere. In these days you may be lucky to experience an ice-cold day with blue sky while the snow crunches beneath your feet.

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Wohlerspark | Relaxing
Wohlersallee | Altona & Ottensen
Daily