Go Citybreak:The third largest port in Europe is a busy maritime city but the money it generates funds many things, including culture and fun, writes Don Morgan
THE DESIGNER Karl Lagerfeld once remarked of Hamburg, his hometown, that it’s the gateway to the world - but only the gateway.
In fact, Hamburg is the gateway to a whole world of its own, and Lagerfeld would have known this if he hadn’t gone off to Paris as a teenager. Amid a setting as unique as Hamburg’s, sandwiched between the River Elbe and lake Alster, Germany’s second city basks in a soberly grandiose setting, church spires stabbing the skyline, surrounded by water, style and edginess that comes with being a city trading on commodities, culture and ideas.
Hamburg styles itself as a Weltstadt, a world city like New York, but it started out as a modest Saxon fortress. Like the original Viking settlement of Dublin, it was unearthed during excavations. Unlike Wood Quay, it was fully preserved. The city’s had an eventful time ever since. A major northern European port since the 12th century, Hamburg was one of the principal cities of the Hanseatic League, and a target of pirates like Klaus Störtebecker, whose gold reputedly adorns the spire of the Katharinenkirche church. After being invaded by the Danes and the French whenever they fancied, Hamburg burnt down in 1842, and was devastated again during the second World War. Today, Hamburg is the third largest port in Europe, one of the principal import routes for coffee and fruit, and a major centre for shipbuilding. The fun stuff, the culture, nightlife and architecture, has to be funded after all.
Hamburg has thus been able to rejuvenate itself over the centuries. The vibrant city-state’s one constant, a wealthy merchant class, has provided the city with the cash to aid the city’s evolution, and funded its trade in culture.
Home of Brahms and Mendelssohn, Gustav Mahler was director of the Staatsoper. The baroque writers Lessing and Klopstock both lived and worked here. The Beatles owe everything to their stint in St Pauli, the district beside the port, where the city’s notorious red light district, the Reeperbahn, can be found.
Today, Hamburg is still a draw for culture. Hamburg is home to one of the finest art collections in Germany at the city's gallery, the Kunsthalle. The highlight of the permanent collection being the sensational Eismeer(Sea of Ice) by Caspar David Friedrich, a contemporary of JMW Turner. On the river's edge is the newest addition to Hamburg's cultural scene, the Elbphilharmonie, a striking web of glass and steel.
On the same latitude as Dublin, Hamburg enjoys warmer summers, and this year experienced what one local friend describes as a “brooding heat”. Good that you’re surrounded by water to cool you down. Most locals make great use of this fact.
Lake Alster is at the heart of the city, around which locals act out their lives. Stay in any of the hotels around it, like the glass-fronted Royal Meridien, or Kempinski Atlantic, and look out the window in the morning. Tanned, elegantly dressed folk stride to work in a manner unrecognisable to those of us used to the dank grimness of a commute back home. If you like walking or people watching, going for a stroll around the lake is a great way to see how the Hamburgians live.
Rowers and sailors shoot past from the myriad boat clubs, young mothers go jogging, burning off extra calories pushing junior around in the pram. Lovers, wasters, everyone passes along, around and across the lake. The lake is the conduit of the city. The view from the northern end is breathtaking. Water laps against rocks, the city’s spires nonchalantly peer back at you amid the hum of traffic and quacking of ducks.
A full circuit of the lake takes about an hour, ending up at the Jungfernstieg, one of the most stylish shopping streets around the Rathaus (city hall), with designer shops aplenty. The Alsterhaus, Hamburg’s Brown Thomas, is in the thick of it.
A must-see, and must-shop if you have the reddies, is Ladage Oelke on the 19th century Alsterarkaden.
An old school “English style” tailor for both ladies and gents, it does a pretty mean tweed, ready to wear as well as bespoke. Even if you emerge empty handed, a short browse around the original wood panelled shop will feed your inner couturier.
There are plenty of places to eat nearby, but the self service restaurant in the Alsterhaus commands the best views of Hamburg. It’s possible to get a window seat at peak times, but you may have to beat off fierce competition from agile pensioners, so bring an umbrella.
Getting around is delightfully stress free. Hamburg has one of the most comprehensive public transport systems in Germany. Conveniently, the Jungfernstieg happens at the junction for most of the S-bahn and U-bahn train lines.
But it’s not all underground trains. The Alster has its own network of water taxis, which also offer tours around the canals, where you can get a peek into the backyards of some of the most sought-after villas in Europe. The tour guide will show a healthy disrespect for the moneybags living in them but one thing is certain – people know how to live well here.
Hamburg after hours swaps its genteel mantle for something more edgy, like swapping Burberry raincoats for leather chaps. Most tourists go to the Reeperbahn, once a mecca for love-starved sailors which has become the general entertainment district of the city. It’s not to everyone’s taste but there’s plenty of other things to do or see at night.
The Portuguese district near the riverside Landungsbrücken is a seafood hotspot, and the boho Schanzenviertel offers an array of cafes, clubs, restaurants and bars. Undergoing inevitable gentrification, it’s still worth a look.
The flavour you get is of a city following its own path, independently of other large cities in Germany. While Munich is described by some as a “nice big village”, there’s nothing small about Hamburg, ever the gateway, and ever its own world. Posh, edgy, unselfconscious.
Go thereAer Lingus flies direct to Hamburg on certain days of the week (aerlingus.com)
Where to stay, eat and have fun
5 places to stay
Side Hotel,Drehbahn 49, 0049-40-309990, side-hamburg.de. Slick designer hotel in the thick of it, just off the Gänsemarkt. Across from the Hamburg state opera, the Staatsoper. Pricey but worth it for the architecture and central location alone. Rates for double rooms from about €229 each.
Le Royal Meridien, An der Alster 52-56, 0049-40-21000, leroyalmeridienhamburg.com This is the best hotel in Hamburg. The ninth floor bar and restaurant has floor-to-ceiling views of the Alster and the whole city. Doubles start at €135 per room.
Kempinski Atlantic. An der Alster 72-79, 0049-40-28880, kempinski.com. A landmark that featured in a James Bond film (
Tomorrow Never Dies). Its spa has views of lake Alster. Exudes old-school class. Doubles start at €179 per room.
Hotel Hamburger Hafen, Seewartenstraße 9, 0049-40-311130, hotel-hafen-hamburg.de. This four star hotel by the river used to be a home for retired sailors and has maritime decor. High end rooms at reasonable rates, from €99.
25hours hotel, Paul-Dessau-Straße 2, 0049-40-8555070 25hours-hotels.com. Quirky, daringly decorated hotel close to the trendy Schanzenviertel. Doubles from €75.
5 places to eat
Restaurant Mio, Jungfernstieg 58,0049-40-32527645. Sleek, contemporary take on Italian food. The restaurant is a transparent glass cube.
The Old Commercial Room, Englische Planke 10, 0049-40 366319. A popular spot with tourists and locals. The home of an inexplicable local dish called Labskaus, a mix of beetroots, fish, corned beef and a fried egg. It specialises in fish and regional specialities.
Vlet, Am Sandtorkai 23/24, 0049-40-33475375-0. Upmarket gourmet restaurant in the renovated warehouse district, the Speicherstadt. Has white tablecloths and exposed red brick, while the food does the talking. Taster menus from €59 to €65 plus wine.
Dat Backhus, Jungfernstieg. Part of a chain of bakeries, it looks like something out of 1960s series
The Prisoner. Excellent coffee and Brötchen (sandwiches) on home made bread. Sit in or take out and sit by the lake. Pure, cheap bliss.
Krabbenbrötchen on the Landungsbrücken. The knack of eating crawly sea creatures is not lost on the people of Hamburg. Try a Krabbenbrötchen, a roll filled with tiny North Sea shrimps. Deceptively tasty, it can be bought all along the Landungsbrücken, the jetty for small tour boats and water taxis, on the banks of the Elbe.
5 places to go
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Glockengießerwall 1, 0049-40- 428131-200. The buildings are as much worth the admission price as works by Caspar David Friedrich, Gaugain, Monet, Picasso and Paul Klee. Impressive bronzes by Matisse at the entrance set the tone.
Alster Boat Tours; Alster Touristik, Anleger Jungfernstieg, 0049-40-3574240, alstertouristik.de. White-hulled boats tour the vast network of canals through posh suburbs as well as the heart of the old port,
Hauptkirche St Michaelis, Englische Planke 1, 0049-40-37678-0. Affectionately called "der Michel". The baroque cathedral has a 82m copper spire.
Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte, Holstenwall 24, 0049-40-428132-2380, hamburgmuseum.de. A favourite with young and old, it charts the city's development, without flinching from uncomfortable truths and shies away from being a dry repository of artefacts.
StrandPauli, Hafenstraße89, info@strandpauli.de. One of the best beach bars in Hamburg, a summer gem. If you stay up long enough, you'll catch the Fischmarkt, next door. It sells, among other things, fish, flowers, pets and bric-a-brac, with a soundtrack of live jazz. Open from 5am-9.30am.
Hot spot
Meyer Lanskys American Cocktail Bar. Gänsemarkt 36, 0049-40-3571-3175, Meyer-lanskys.com. This cocktail bar is an institution in Hamburg, coveted by cocktail aficianados for years. Gets the after work crowd and spills out onto the street from its basement location on Gänsemarkt. Great atmosphere and extremely friendly.
Shop spot
Alsterhaus(Jungfernstieg 16-20, 0049-40-359010) and Ladage Oelke (Neuer Wall 11, 0049-40-341414). Practically adjacent, Alsterhaus is the first class department store of Hamburg, while Ladage Oelke is where the anglophile Hamburgians get their natty look. Across the road is the Spitalerstrasse/ Mönkebergstrasse shopping district. It has the largest H&M in Europe.