Photos of Hamburg, Germany

Part of my 2011 European travel adventures

Hamburg is Germany's second largest city and commonly referred to by Germans as the Window to the world. It was my first time in this big northern gem and I was truly impressed. I spend there 3 days, but only had one cold November Sunday to explore the city. Sundays in Germany are not like in Taiwan, where people flood the streets of the cities, quite to the contrary: When I went sightseeing, most Germans were taking a rest and staying inside. I've only seen few tourists taking photos around the historic sights. A little bit more crowded was the area near the river Elbe with the view on the harbor, which is very inviting for a Sunday walk. A walk you're about to go on with me.

The Hamburg Airport is one of the nicest airports I've ever seen.

1. My impression of Hamburg

Unfortunately my time and the means to explore the broader Hamburg were very limited during my trip, because I wasn't in Germany on pleasure, but business. Therefore I the photos below were taken on a few hours long walk around the central Hamburg, which is huge by the way. I don't think I can tell you how Hamburg really is, but I have a general idea. What I liked is the laid back atmosphere, the clean and very well maintained streets and buildings and the amazing mix of old and new architecture. There's definitely a lot going on in this city, some parts are experiencing a construction boom, while others look like they were recently refurbished. Typical for Hamburg are red-bricked houses, churches with very sharp and tall towers, canals winding their way through the old city and even a lake incorporated in the urban area. There are so many things you need to see, if you come to Hamburg, so I can't really tell you what is a must-see location, but these are the places I really enjoyed: The City hall square and the "Rathaus", Jungfernstieg and the Binnenalster (especially in the evening), the area around the "Michel" church, the Saint Nikolai Memorial, the HafenCity and St. Pauli with the "Hamburger Dom" theme park and the Reeperbahn. I've actually seen so many other interesting parts of the city center, that I could make a much longer list. But let my photos speak for themselves.

I stayed in Holiday Inn Express in Wartenau. Great location, service and price.

2. My photos of Hamburg

Below are some of the photos I've taken during my trip. Hamburg was very foggy in the morning, but in the late afternoon the sky slowly cleared up and although it was around zero degrees Celsius, it was a pleasant day to walk, with a clear blue sky and fresh air.

Wartenau, the area near my hotel. A subway station was nearby, very convenient.

Hamburg's subway trains: Not the newest and biggest, but clean, fast and convenient.

Hamburg's subway is called U-Bahn (Untergrundbahn) and covers the most important parts of the city. What was confusing for me at first was the system of various tariffs depending on the area of Hamburg marked with circles (A, B, C, D). A single fare ticket costs 1.8 Eur, you can take the S-Bahn (Schnellbahn) from Airport to the city center and also switch to the U-Bahn, if you want. For my Sunday adventure I've bought a daily ticket for about 5 Euros, which enabled me to take unlimited rides within the day, something I also recommend to you (and no worries about the various tariffs).

The U-Bahn stations are mostly empty, especially in the outskirts.

I exited at Jungfernstieg, the promenade near the Binnenalster lake.

Binnenalster, smaller part of the Alstersee, a lake inside Hamburg.

Here my walking tour has begun: A fancy street loaded with branded goods.

A view towards the City hall square.

An accordion player.

View on the Rathaus, Hamburg's City hall building.

The Old post.

Hamburg's impressive City hall building, the Hamburger Rathaus.

A closeup.

The Rathaus in its full glory.

The St. Petri church with its incredibly sharp tower.

The ruins of Saint Nicholas, a memorial today.

The church was destroyed during World War II.

This is how I saw the church that day. It's truly impressive.

Modern and old side by side is very typical for Hamburg.

St. Catherine's Church, renovated in recent years, has a very remarkable spire.

Entering HafenCity, Hamburg's new district and biggest city-planning project.

This is Speicherstadt with its red-brick houses and canals, from 19th century.

Majestic houses in Speicherstadt, Hamburg warehouse district.

Another view.

A chimney in HafenCity.

Modern buildings dominate this part.

This one is one of my favorites.

The huge port of Hamburg, second largest in Europe.

Finest modern architecture.

Another masterpiece.

This part is called Sandtorhafen.

Impressive cranes dominate the skyline above Hamburg's harbor.

One of the future landmarks of Hamburg: Elbphilharmonie, still under construction.

A view on Speicherstadt, its Western side.

The Michel, one of Hamburg's landmarks.

Michel or St. Michaelis Church was build in 1669. The tower is 132m tall.

A truly impressive church.

A view from another side.

The reflection of the Michel in a modern building nearby.

Beautiful buildings in thea area, that caught my attention.

Hanseatic High Court or Hanseatische Oberlandesgericht.

Hamburg's 279m tall landmark tower Heinrich-Hertz-Turm.

This was a brief overview of Hamburg during the day. It was a nice walk for me, but not as exciting as the mini tour I made in the evening, when I headed to St. Pauli, Hamburg's famous district.

3. Hamburg at night

After my long afternoon tour of the city center, I headed back to the hotel and took a short rest. When the night fell over the city, I decided to go to the Hamburger Dom theme park and Reeperbahn, Hamburg's famous red light district, where the Beatles rocked the place in the early 1960s before they became big.

Hamburger Dom has a long tradition of amusement. I was lucky to visit the Winterdom.

A big Ferris wheel dominated the sky.

This was much bigger than any Taiwanese night market I've been.

I tried some delicious German sausages in one of these restaurants.

That's a carousel that's not suitable for the fainthearted.

Amusement monster.

After strolling around the Dom for about an hour, I decided to visit Reeperbahn nearby.

Reeperbahn is Hamburg's red light district stretched along a long road.

Brothels are explicitly advertised, sometimes people outside try to lure customers in.

A lot of sex shops and obscure bars are in the area. I did not go into any.

4. Hamburg in conclusion

Hamburg is a huge city full of history and interesting parts. It would need me at least a week or more to truly get the most parts covered. But I'm happy, that I had the chance to see the center. Once I understood the way public transportation works, getting around was not too hard. Walking is a must, if you want to go deeper. The city felt safe, even the Reeperbahn was not as scary as I've thought. To sum it up: Hamburg is so far my favorite German city (I need to see Cologne, Berlin, Stuttgart, though) and I'm sure it'll always remain one of my favorites. Definitely a must-see destination, if you plan a trip to Germany.

[My EUROPE TRAVEL page][HAMBURG MAP][All photos by MKL, 2011]