Hidden HAMBURG

17th July 2025

Hidden Hamburg. Has Hamburg ever been on your radar for a city-break? For so many people this hidden gem, with seafaring at its heart, has been sidelined as a Northern German city, and that’s about it.

Backfisch-Brötchen at BistrOcean

Let me tell you, it is a happening city, with a vibrancy that hasn’t percolated into mainstream tourism. As a starting point, the transport infrastructure is excellent and public transport is safe and regular. We started our journey in this city and subscribed for a calendar month to the Deutschland Ticket, which currently costs 59€ and enables travel on all public transport across Germany (excluding Intercity/ICE trains and Flix trains) for a calendar month. It means that you can hop on and off bus and subways and even the ferries are free.

So, starting with the 62 Ferry that leaves Quay 3 at the St Pauli Landungsbrǔcken – and there is one every 15 minutes in the Summer months – you can travel along the Elbe, past the statuesque cranes of the container port, ending up in Finkenwerder. You can spend the day here at the swimming pool – Freibad – and then take the ferry back. Otherwise, there perhaps isn’t much to do, but it’s a green island and therefore shady in the hotter Summer Months.

A top tip on the way back is to get off at Dockland (Fischereihafen), head out to the Grosse Elbstrasse and turn left for a fancy meal at the Fischereihafen or right to some small restaurants catering to the local business workers. Try BistrOcean. And across the city, Fischbrötchen is the dish to try, basically a bread roll with fish and garnish and a dill cream.

From there it is a couple of stops back to the Landungsbrücken and a walk through the Old Elbtunnel (at Quay 6 at the Landungsbrucken), a cool walk to the other side, with excellent views across the water. You have to walk back again, because there are no connections.

The more traditional sights are the Rathaus and several churches, topped, of course, by the Elbphilharmonie. If you pre-book tickets – which cost a couple of Euros – you can head up flights for a spectacular view.

A walk along the Binnen / Aussenalster, stopping perhaps at the Alsterperle, a quaint converted toilet building that dishes out drinks and light food (Pretzels are great). You can sit with your drink on the grassy bank or sit at the tables – although at peak times, they are at a premium. Up at that end of town, peek into the Literturhauscafe and head round to a rather beautiful street headed by Denny’s on Papenhuderstrasse. Here you will find wonderful architecture, great shops and some top eateries.

Another street offering a variety of great independent shops is Lange Reihe in St Georg (away from the seedy end of the quarter). Plenty of cafes and even a small Bavarian Beer Hall – Hacker Pschorr – which offers the full German experience. There are other beer halls dotted around the city offer a mix of experiences.

One of the great areas of the city is Speicherstadt, the old tax and customs island that is wonderful complex of industrial buildings, now mostly repurposed as offices (and innumerable Oriental Rug businesses). It is amazing to catch goods being hoisted up the outside of the buildings, and even technicians swing about in harnesses, going about their restoration and repair work.

Have we whetted your appetite? Don’t take our word for it but it’s a great city with plenty to do and see.

And before you go, you might just want to read some books set in the city and, of course, you can make your selection here.

Tina for the TripFiction Team

Join team TripFiction on Social Media:

Twitter (@TripFiction), Facebook (@TripFiction.Literarywanderlust), YouTube (TripFiction #Literarywanderlust), Instagram (@TripFiction) and Pinterest (@TripFiction) and BlueSky(tripfiction.bsky.social) and Threads (@tripfiction)

Subscribe to future blog posts