2 days in Hamburg, Germany: a weekend itinerary

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Spending 2 days in Hamburg, Germany is a perfect little weekend city break. There are loads of things to do, places to visit, and of course (most importantly) amazing places to eat and drink. It’s like Berlin’s less pretentious seafaring cousin.

Hamburg has history, a gritty industrial edge and a vibe that’s uniquely its own.

If you’re looking for an unusual city break and you’ve already done the usual German ones like Berlin and Munich, I’d definitely recommend looking into Hamburg. And luckily for you, I’ve got loads of tips here in my little Hamburg weekend itinerary.

Here’s what I recommend doing, seeing, eating and drinking over 2 days in Hamburg…

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Disclaimer

I was treated to a lovely hotel (Hotel Baseler Hof) thanks to the tourist agency Come to Hamburg after they were aware I had already booked a trip to Hamburg. They covered (with no obligation to say anything nice about them!) the Maritime Museum tour; my Hamburg card; a drink at Clockers; and meal at Hobenköök.

Everything else mentioned in this post was not covered.

These gifts did not affect my views or my writing in any way. Thoughts on Hamburg are all my own.

My blog is always 100% honest and I cannot be bribed with food, although feel free to try.

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2 days in Hamburg itinerary: day 1 

Walk around the Speicherstadt (warehouse district)

I’d seen the Speicherstadt (the warehouse district) a lot in photographs of Hamburg.

It’s full of red-brick warehouses built on timber piles and surrounded by canals. It reminds me a lot of the Albert Docks in Liverpool.

The warehouses used to only store goods, but nowadays a lot are redeveloped into museums and eateries.

I had intended to do a canal boat tour, but it was -2, my hands had gone blue and I have to draw the line somewhere…

If you’re there in less gruelling conditions, I think this would be a good way to get a different perspective of the city.

Do a tour of the International Maritime Museum

I had a tour of the International Maritime Museum from a lovely chap called Damian, who knew everything there is to know about all things maritime.

The museum was set up by someone called Peter Tamm. Basically, Peter Tamm’s mum gave him a model ship when he was little without thinking about the consequences. The consequences were, in fact, starting an entire lifetime’s obsessive collecting of model ships and associated maritime stuff. I don’t just mean hunting round antique fairs and car-boot sales a couple of times a year. Oh no. I mean spending millions on over 70,000 (I think) items that have ended up in the museum. I have no idea where Peter Tamm kept them before he opened the museum. If you’ve ever seen the TV programme Britain’s Biggest Hoarders on Channel 4… I imagine his mansion was like that but full of boxes of ships. Luckily, he got them all into the museum so was able to share them with the public.

I must admit I’m not massively interested in ships but it was really impressive seeing the entire 10 floors (or ‘decks’ as they call them!) of the museum absolutely full of it all.

I thought one of the most impressive bits was a section of model ships made by prisoners of war. Because they didn’t have proper equipment, they used things like hair and bone to make incredibly intricate replicas of navy ships from memory and sold them to get some money while in prison.

… my other half thought the most impressive bit was a giant Lego model of the Queen Mary 2 cruise ship.

I really enjoyed the tour and if you’re into ships, you could probably spend all day there. If you have any interest in all things maritime, I’d really recommend going.

Sample some delicious street food for lunch in HafenCity

Head to Food Lovers Market if you’re after lunch near the Maritime Museum. It’s a selection of little food huts and is popular with local office workers on their lunch breaks judging by the queues.

This is something I love when on a city break – doing what people who live there do. Some cities are good for a holiday but not somewhere you can imagine living. Hamburg is definitely somewhere I could picture having a job, going shopping and doing normal everyday stuff.

Anyway, this food market is on every Tuesday (11:30-14:00) just round the corner from the Maritime Museum. You’ll spot the selection of little vans serving different food. If you’re not in Hamburg on a Tuesday, there seem to be plenty of food markets on different days that you could go to.

Take in the view from the St Nikolai Memorial

No city break is complete without dragging yourself up an awful spiral staircase that goes on for about 10 years to get to the top of a tower for a view of the city. Bonus points if it’s so windy at the top that you can hardly take a photo.

The St Nikolai Memorial eases the pain of such a mission by providing a lift (or ‘elevator’ for my American readers; hi there). Extreme wind and suffering at the top are still available.

St Nikolai’s original church was destroyed in the air raids on Hamburg in 1943, but the ruins are kept as a reminder.

The tower is also the fifth-highest church tower in the world. Who doesn’t love a fact like that…?

This is the incredible view. I had terrible weather so I’m sure the photo would be a lot nicer on a sunny day, but I quite like the brooding skies over the mint rooftops.

I’ll be honest, the view the other way wasn’t half as good (and was so windy it made my eyes water). Fun. 

Visit Miniatur Wunderland: the biggest model railway in the world 

Miniatur Wunderland is the world’s largest model railway. It features nine rooms, covering landscapes from different countries around the world in incredible detail.

Although the words ‘model’ and ‘railway’ are enough to make most people back away slowly, regular readers will be well aware that this is my idea of fun. So please bear with me.

If you’re just skim-reading this Hambury itinerary for ideas, and you only take one thing from it, make it this. I’d heard about Miniatur Wunderland before, stalked it online and had some idea of its scale and quality, but it surpassed all expectations. It is seriously impressive.

There’s a fully working airport (the planes actually take off!), a dock with real water in it and beautiful replicas of famous cities. I loved the Swiss Alps and Cinque Terre especially.

The lighting in the rooms changes from day to night about every 15 minutes and everything lights up with terrifying accuracy.

My favourite thing was the attention to detail everywhere: things like cars crashing, couples snogging, campfires burning… There was even a little stables (being horsey, I loved this). If they ever need anyone with equestrian knowledge to amend the details in those stables and set up different scenes, my rates are very reasonable.

I should mention that Miniatur Wunderland is Germany’s biggest tourist attraction. Bear that in mind if you’re planning a visit. Although I loved it, I did spend the first 10 minutes being driven mad by the wall-to-wall crowds and screaming children. I’d definitely recommend visiting in the morning when it might be quieter. 

I can’t do it justice though. You need to go. Have a look at the official Miniatur Wunderland video trailer if you’re not convinced.

And if you do visit, and you like this sort of thing, I also REALLY recommend visiting Grand Maket in St Petersburg, Russia (edit from the future: obviously Russia isn’t somewhere to visit at the moment but do make a note for one day…).

 

Enjoy delicious local food at Hobenköök

By far the best place I ate in Hamburg was Hobenköök Restaurant & Markethalle. Like it says on the tin, it’s a market hall and restaurant in one, located by an old freight railway station in an up-and-coming area of the city.

All the produce is from within 100km of Hamburg. How cool is that? The place is beautifully laid out in the renovated old warehouse. It has a bit of a Scandinavian feel to it, with lots of fresh and smoked fish on the menu (all brilliant) and beetroot pickled/fresh etc, and the BEST homemade rye bread I have ever had. I seriously regret being so full that I couldn’t eat the last piece. Also, they had the sign of a good restaurant: an open kitchen.

This is exactly the kind of place I love finding when on holiday. When anyone I know says that they’re going to Hamburg, this will likely be the first thing I recommend to them and start sending them links to. That’s how good it is. After our meal, I went and bought some food-based presents for friends at home from their market shop. And by ‘friends’, I mean me.

Side note: all of Hobenköök’s tables had what I call ‘Florence Nightingale’ candles (candles in those little holder things), which I love. Very cosy if you’re visiting over a chilly weekend like I did.

2 days in Hamburg itinerary: day 2

Start your day with art at Hamburg’s Kunsthalle

The Hamburger Kunsthalle is a set of 3 art museum buildings right by Hamburg’s central station. It covers:

• old masters (not my cup of tea at all)
• nineteenth-century art (ditto)
• modern art (don’t mind if I do)
• contemporary art (yes please).

I made a proverbial beeline for the gallery of contemporary art. It is excellent. The best bit for me was a collection of famous German landmarks (the Brandenburg Gate etc) made out of fabric and hung on a washing line, making them look like wet clothes. I can’t recall the name of the artist now, so if anyone knows, please leave a comment below.

Note that it’s closed on Mondays, like most of Europe. Check opening times before visiting.

Explore Hamburg’s alternative St Pauli district

Apparently, St Pauli is known for its football club/team. I’d never heard of it, but then I avoid all non-equestrian sport with a giant bargepole.

My other half has given me some info to write an entire paragraph on the St Pauli football scene below…

St Pauli football club is different from others. It still plays football, obviously, but it has more of a moral ethos and hasn’t turned itself into a business like others have. It was taken over by left-wing intellectuals and is very progressive to this day. I was really impressed by a sign above their football pitch that said ‘Football has no gender’, which goes some way to fight the toxic masculinity usually present in the sport. It’s a community-minded and spirited football club in the traditional sense, with strong morals about sponsorship. It was probably the first ‘hipster’ football club and is famous for having a skull and crossbones logo on its shirts, which is very much a cult thing as I discovered while waiting around for half an hour in their gift shop.

You can read more about St Pauli’s unique ethos in this Guardian article if you’re interested. Essentially, it’s not the usual football rubbish and I was (fairly) happy to go and look at it. I couldn’t bring myself to pose for a photo, though, so enjoy possibly the only photo of my husband on this entire blog (he’s generally not involved in the blog at all).

If you’re a football fan, it will probably be a must-do while in Hamburg. Enjoy.

See the famous Reeperbahn in St Pauli

Other than football, St Pauli is famous for the Reeperbahn.

This is the ‘sinful mile’ of the city and one of Europe’s largest red-light districts. Like with most maritime cities, sailors used to end up hanging around Hamburg while their ships were re-loaded with goods or while they were on leave. Their questionable behaviour spawned cheap bars, brothels and strip clubs.

Even though there aren’t sailors there now, all the trappings remain. Flashing neon signs have taken over and the whole shebang has become a tourist attraction. To be fair, it’s not all seedy. There are more highbrow sorts of entertainment in the form of theatres and music halls too.

The Reeperbahn and the St Pauli area in general are also famous for being where The Beatles first started gigging. You can find statues of them in the aptly named Beatles-Platz. If you’re really into The Beatles, there are walking tours you can do that call in at all the clubs/bars they frequented. Being from Liverpool originally, I feel like I’ve absorbed enough Beatles information to last a lifetime so I didn’t bother. Getting a photo with the statues was enough. (But that was so disgusting of me that it didn’t make anywhere near the cut for the blog!).

Stroll around the rest of the St Pauli area

Aside from football and sleaze, St Pauli offers everything an alternative area of a city should. Cool bars, street art, independent shops. It’s definitely worth wandering around and taking it all in.

However, like all working-class ‘cool’ districts, it’s suffering from inevitable gentrification. More hipster bars and restaurants, rents going up, apartments being built. Hopefully, it’ll keep its unique character despite this.

Vegan burgers for lunch from Vincent Vegan 

Let me just interject here. I know these burgers don’t look appetising in the photos below. Like an idiot, I’d shoved them in my bag to take away and utterly crushed them as a result. But I can assure you, they tasted heavenly despite that uncouth treatment.

I was so impressed that Hamburg not only does vegan options everywhere but that it has so many exclusively vegan restaurants and cafés too. I’d massively recommend Vincent Vegan whether you’re plant-based or not. I had the best burger I’ve had, amazing chips and homemade basil lemonade. 

It’s a high-quality vegan fast food place. When you’re waiting for your order at Vincent Vegan, they give you an animal name rather than taking your name to shout out when it’s ready (a challenge for knowing your animal names in German!). I got ‘llama’. I’d have liked ‘meerschweinchen’ (guinea pig), but you can’t have it all.

Get to know Hamburg with a free walking tour

Regular readers of this blog will know that I’m always banging on about how good it is to do a free walking tour on every city break. Hamburg is no exception, so I’d recommend Robin and the Tourguides.

There’s a historic and city centre tour, a harbour/St Pauli one or a craft beer one. I wish I’d had time for the craft beer one but I only had 2 days in Hamburg and I’d already crammed too much into the itinerary. Typical.

The tours last for 2 hours and are obviously free, but you should give a tip at the end if you can afford it. Their meeting point is the Landungsbrücke No. 5 nearby the Hardrock Cafe (you can find it here on Google Maps).

I’d already seen it the previous day when walking around, but the tour takes you past the Rathaus (town hall). I like to think I’m a bit of a Rathaus connoisseur. While I’m partial to the gold-topped Landsberg am Lech one down in Bavaria, I have to admit that the Hamburg one is a strong contender for best Rathaus I’ve seen so far. It’s in the main square and is unexpectedly ornate. You can do a tour of the inside for 5 euro, but if you’re tight for time then it’s enough just to admire its exterior.

Browse some independent shops

On every city break, I try to scout out some unique local shops that I can’t get in the UK. Unfortunately, I had no room whatsoever in my suitcase to buy anything on this trip (seriously, I have never been so on the verge of bursting a suitcase and putting my own packing tips in the bin). But I still had a bit of a window shop around Hamburg and I 100% can’t leave out this gorgeous shop I found, Kauf Dich Glücklich. They seem to have a few branches in the city but I’ve linked there to the one nearest our hotel.

They had higher-end highstreet stuff like Selected Femme, Cheap Monday and Rains, but also loads of clothing and homeware brands I’ve never heard of (and probably couldn’t afford but were still nice to browse). It was all laid out in a beautiful, slightly hipster way. You know the kind of thing!

With my horrendous suitcase situation in mind, I restrained myself from making any purchases and I reckon I deserve a small medal for that…

Round off the evening with cocktails at Clockers, a secret bar

Clockers is a hidden/secret/unmarked speakeasy type bar, and of course I hilariously struggled to find it because of this – despite knowing where it was.

It’s only a short walk from Ban Canteen but I kept walking past it like an idiot.

When I did eventually get in, I was really struck by how cosy it was. It has dimmed lights, wood everywhere, fairy lights and walls covered in moss. 

Clockers is exactly the kind of place I love recommending to people because it’s such a gem and you’d probably not stumble across it otherwise. Despite being a weeknight, it had a few other people there – not too many – and a friendly buzz to it. 

I should probably warn you not to go to Clockers if you have an early flight or train to catch the next day… Or just woman up and deal with the hangover, because their homemade gin is worth the pain.

And if you have longer than 2 days in Hamburg…

If you’re in Hamburg for a long weekend and have time to do a day trip, I really recommend Lübeck, which I have a whole guide to. Lübeck is beautiful and just the right size/distance for a day trip from Hamburg if you want to get somewhere quieter.

2 days in Hamburg, Germany, itinerary: useful information

Where to stay

I was really pleased with the hotel I picked for my trip, Hotel Baseler Hof. This is a good base to explore Hamburg from.

How to get around

Much of Hamburg is easily walkable, but for longer treks or if you’re just lazy/tired/cold, its public transport is excellent – much like most German cities, of course.

I got a Hamburg card, which meant that all public transport was free. This made everything so quick and easy. Even if you decide this wouldn’t be worth it for your trip, public transport is affordable and still simple to use.

When to go

I went in late October/early November. It was unseasonably cold, even for that time of year. But I’d still recommend it for an autumn or winter city break. There’s plenty of indoor stuff to do and cosy places to eat/drink. And the public transport quality means that you can always hop on the U/S bahn to warm up between places.

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