Harbour Hamburg – All our local tips

An amazing place for starting the day, best with relaxing breakfast in sunshine and with a great view over the Elbe river!

Inside it is hip and cozy, if you find a place to sit. To brave the cold weather, just go outside (especially in wintertime) – it is unbeatable – here you’ll find warm blankets. It is not very cheap there (fresh orange juice for 2,90 Euro), it no-frills, and not alternative.

It is one of my favourite breakfast points in this town. Great spot for staying after long breakfast/lunch, sipping slowly and thoroughly enjoying your latte and trying the cake in the afternoon. Talking, watching and staying for the first wine and taking the day to the blue hour, the night comes, the harbour lights shines – that’s like a visual soundtrack of the Hamburg harbour!

By the way 1: There is also a big playground for kids in front of the Amphore Café.

By the way 2: Here I always bought my sparkling rhubarb juice to go to Park Fiction (see the Park Ficton article).

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CaféBar Amphore | Bars, Coffee & tea, Relaxing, Snacks | Orange Juice € 2.90
St. Pauli Hafenstr. 140 | Harbour | +494031793880
From 10:00 daily

On the way to Park Fiction (see this article) you’ll drop by CaféBar Hensel, usually just called Hensel. It is a real insider tip. They employ a very mindful and patient staff, and the head of business Peter is a very calm and amiable guy.

There are plenty of drinks and you will find the best beverage list I know. They have an amazing range of affordable creativite drinks.

They offer more than 30 types of beer (Astra, Beck’s, Desperados, Jever, Pilsner Urquell, Rothaus Tannenzäpfle, Sol from Mexico, Baltika from St. Petersburg, …).

The hot beverages put no limits on your imagination. Laced Hot Chocolate, Lumumba (Chocolate with 4cl Hansen Rum), Apple-Cinnamon-Punch, … and now think about Espresso with one of the following added spices: almond, amaretto, banana, caramel, chai spiced, chocolate, cinnamon, coconut, coffee, hazelnut, mango, peppermint or vanilla….

Combined with my favourite: a big piece of old-Bohemian apple cake with honey caramelized walnuts. Don’t miss the macadamia whipped cream!

Beside all these culinary masterpieces, try the snacks prepared with much love and care, i. e. curry-banana-soup or homemade Sicilian potato salad (garlic!!), Casseroles, Pennines, Antipasti, …

Very interesting for me: the current exhibitions of a young artist from Hamburg.

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CaféBar Hensel | Art & culture, Bars, Coffee & tea, Snacks | Lasagne € 5.00
Antonistraße 4 | Harbour | +4940134965
From 11:00 daily

The early bird catches the worm: For everybody who likes to take a long walk or to jog along the Elbe river in the early morning, here is a really nice spot to take a Nordic breeze.

The big stone, erratic boulder, is the oldest and probably first immigrant of Hamburg. During the Kansan glaciation (around 400.000 years ago) or the Wolstonian Stage (around 135.000 – 200.000 years ago) it came from East-Småland in Sweden to Germany and “slept” on the ground of the Elbe river in the Elbe valley till September 17th, 1999.

That’s when they tried to deepen the Elbe river to increase the turning circle for big container ships. The stone became a dangerous obstacle. Only one day later, it was like a big event for many Hamburgers to watch the scenery at the harbour. Divers prepared the “alter Schwede” with steel-nets to lift it out of the water. A massive crane singled it out of the water, shortly after it came out it suddenly fell back into the river. Only five days later they tried it again, with hundreds of curious onlookers, and it worked!

The 217 tons Småland-granite was baptizided June 6th, 2000 with Elbe water and given its name: Alter Schweder (old Swedish). Between “birth” and “baptism” are 1,7 or 1,8 million years. The measure is 19,7 meter and 4,5 meter high. For geologists it’s very interesting to see the striation of the glaciers.

In the summertime it’s a nice spot for couples to watch a bit seperatly the sunset or making a fire with friends.

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Der alte Schwede | Art & culture, Relaxing | Free
Hans-Leip-Ufer, 22605 | Harbour
24 hours daily (the stone is always there)

Dialogue in the dark: For sure an experience you will never forget: get a real feeling of how it is to be blind. You are lead by blind guides in small groups through specially constructed darkened rooms, in which scents, sounds, wind, temperatures and textures simulate daily environments.

It is fascinating how soon another kind of “seeing” starts: How “seeing” the people next to you just happens when they speak. And when they are quiet they just disappear. How you can experience your environment only by touching it, smelling it.

Of course what is different to reality, everybody is blind in the darkened rooms. Therefore my spontaneous thought: “oh my god, hopefully no one just saw how stupidly I stumbled into this room!”was quite unnecessary.

Because of that, my personal advice: you don’t need to care about what colour you are wearing when visiting this very special exhibition, but maybe you want to make sure that you are good smelling!

Only guided tours, make a reservation in advance and tell them you need an English guide!

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Dialog im Dunkeln | Art & culture | 60 min tour € 15.00
Alter Wandrahm 4 | Harbour | +4970044332000
Tue – Fri 09:00 – 17:00, Sat 10:00 – 20:00, Sun 11:00 – 19:00

If you’ve got itchy feet, because you haven’t traveled in a while, or if you are homesick, because you are still travelling – this is the best place to go!

Dockland is a fantastic 25m high office building (by Hadi Teherani) formed like a ship, situated in the middle of the harbour with a great view from the top to the docks with all incoming and outgoing ships.

Take the HVV-ferry from Landungsbrücken to Dockland for a romantic harbour sunset. It always gives me the feeling I am at the gate of the world! No entrance fee, only a little work-out with all 140 steps up to the platform.

But after that little exercise I am always feeling like ‘Rocky’ on the top, – no matter if it is foggy or sunny, Monday or Saturday, in the morning or evening (closed in night), it is always awesome! Ohhh, itchy feet!

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Dockland | Relaxing | Free
Van-der-Smissen-Straße 9 | Harbour
Daily (except nights, closes at 23:00 and if it’s too stormy)

For only € 2.00 (common) you will get a girl next-door behind the bar and a good electronic DJ. Here we are! Whenever you come to the Pudel (nobody says Golden Pudel Club – it’s too long).

It is special and different. Whether in the afternoons with cake and coffee, or evenings with quiche and beer or late sitting on the steps watching the habour (it is very close to Park Fiction) or in morning at 07:00 for the last beer after partying while watching the sunrise before breakfast at the fish-market on Sunday!

With great electronic beats there is sometimes not enough space for everybody shaking their bodies and dancing. Inform yourself about which DJ will play! Go there, dance there, don’t think about next day!

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Golden Pudel Club | Bars, Music | Entrance € 2.00
Am St. Pauli Fischmarkt 27 | Harbour | +494031979930
From 22:00 daily

HVV – Hamburger Verkehrsverbund -public transport company of Hamburg. Beside metro and subway trains as well as busses here we have the public ferries. Every 15 minutes the ferry number 62 travels from Landungsbrücken to Finkenwerder and back (just stay on the ferry). If you have a common HVV-ticket for the day or single ticket for €2.75, don’t miss it.

Fortunately there are no annoying voices from bad speakers trying to explain the harbour with unfunny jokes. Step up on the roof, enjoy the wind and the great view. Start at Landungsbrücken Bridge 3, ferry 62, short stops at Altona/Fischmarkt (see the Fishmarkt article), Dockland/Fischereihafen (see the Dockland article), Neumühlen/Övelgönne (Elbstrand), Bubendey-Ufer and Finkenwerder and back.

If it is too cold, walk down inside the ferry, with great view, too. They even serve hot and cold beverages!

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HVV Fähre | Art & culture, Relaxing | Single Ticket HVV € 2.75
Landungsbrücken Bridge 3 | Harbour | +494019449
See the timetable

Located between Deichtorhallen and Baumwall, the “Speicherstadt” is the world’s largest warehouse complex. It is here that precious goods like tea, coffee, spices, cocoa, tobacco, computers, and oriental carpets and rugs are stored.

Built at the turn of the last century, it constitutes an important Hamburg landmark and is one of the main attractions of the harbor boat trips. Take a close look at the architectural details as you float along the narrow canals. The reflections of the romantic Wilhelmine Gothic style constructions with their peculiar turrets and gables convey an idyllic atmosphere.

To learn more about its traditional and current functions, you can take a guided tour of the district or visit one of the various museums. At the “Hamburg Dungeon“, professional actors, exciting shows and rides will take you to the dark side of Hamburg’s past where you’re definitely in for a good scare! Or visit the word’s largest digitally operated model railroad at “Miniatur Wunderland” with realistic reproductions of Hamburg’s popular districts, parts of Austria, Scandinavia, the USA, and Switzerland. “Dialog im Dunkeln” (check the Dialog im Dunkeln article) is another highlight – there is nothing to see but lots to discover! Experience for yourself how sightless people perceive the world.

At sunset, the Speicherstadt is engulfed in a mysterious atmosphere when the facades of the red brick buildings and steel bridges are artfully illuminated. Enjoy this magical moment along with the aromatic scents of commodities from all over the world…

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Speicherstadt | Art & culture
Am Sandtorkai | Harbour
24 hours daily

—– Summer season starts at the beginning of April 2010 —–

There are three possibilities to get here: (1) bus nr 36 from city center or St. Pauli to “Liebermannstr.”, then steeply downhill, across very luxurious mansions, back into the Strandperle or (2) take the ferry nr 62 from Landungsbrücken to Övelgönne/Neumühlen or (3) bus nr 112 from main trainstation or St Pauli or Altona to Övelgönne/Neumühlen (final destination).

At the beach you can listen to the rushing Elbe and to the seagulls. The container-dockyards from the opposite are still working day and night. Listen to the deep, hard sound. Ships from all over the world loaded with containers, no one can guess what’s inside, the ships will turn around in front of you. You’ll get an idea how huge it is.

The Strandperle has since many years been the only simple snack stall at the beach. Under the sunshades, the free chairs or at the sandy beach you can sit down and relax.

Sometimes it seems all Hamburgers (from students to seniors) are here standing in line for drinks and (the best!) french fries from the fast and friendly service. The atmosphere is easy-going and relaxed.

I come here often with friends, smoke my shisha or just get some french fries and Astra and “life couldn’t be better”. It’s magical attraction!

PS: Here a short historical excursion: Surprisingly I heard that in former times the Strandperle was a milk stand and people came here for a glas of milk after bathing in the river Elbe. It were closed during the WWII and reopened in 1949 as a restaurant. The owner changed in 1973, so the Strandperle (as we know it) were born. 2006 the owner changed again and the new ones still keep the idea of Strandperle.

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Strandperle | Bars, Relaxing | French fries around € 2.00
Övelgönne 60 | Harbour | +49408801112
11:00 – 23:00 daily (weather-dependent)