Travelling to Hamburg for 1mo, suggestions?

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Chapbass

Chapbass

Diamond Member
May 31, 2004
3,145
93
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Hey all,

I'm travelling to Hamburg, Germany for a month (April 15-May15, give or take) for work, but I will have some free time to do a small amount of traveling. I'll have a furnished apartment for my stay, but no car. I do however have several friends at the office who are German natives, and they do have vehicles.

Any suggestions on what to do/see while there?

Also, I'm not positive on cell phone bands, any word whether my AT&T samsung infuse 4g will work over there? Maybe get a prepaid sim if it does?

BTW, for reference, I'm 27, not single (not too big into the whole clubbing/bar scene anyway, so that is more or less out).
 
Yreka

Yreka

Diamond Member
Jul 6, 2005
4,084
0
76
If you are into WW2 stuff, the Neuengamme concentration camp Memorial/Museum is nearby IIRC.
 
GTaudiophile

GTaudiophile

Lifer
Oct 24, 2000
29,767
33
81
Printer Bandit said:
GTAudiophile might have ideas.
Click to expand...

Congrats! You'll be living in a great city. The second-highest populated city in Germany, following Berlin. Hamburg, like Berlin, is one of three city-states. It is led by a governing mayor. Situated in the north, Hamburg is also unique as a German city due to its status as a major port/maritime trading hub. Hamburg is a historical "Hansastadt" or member of the Hanseatic League of maritime trading cities. Hamburg is the first city where the Beatles played outside of the UK. Hamburg is also famous for its Reeperbahn, a street in the famous St. Pauli district. On Friday and Saturday nights, the streets are lined with prostitutes that love to go after single men...quite aggressively I might add. Finally, situated in the north of Germany, Hamburg lies at the crossroads of both east and west, connecting The Netherlands with Berlin, Poland, and beyond as well as north and south, connecting Germany with Denmark.

In my next post, I will offer some more suggestions on what to do in and around Hamburg.
 
RossMAN

RossMAN

Grand Nagus
Feb 24, 2000
78,840
344
136
GTaudiophile said:
Congrats! You'll be living in a great city. The second-highest populated city in Germany, following Berlin. Hamburg, like Berlin, is one of three city-states. It is led by a governing mayor. Situated in the north, Hamburg is also unique as a German city due to its status as a major port/maritime trading hub. Hamburg is a historical "Hansastadt" or member of the Hanseatic League of maritime trading cities. Hamburg is the first city where the Beatles played outside of the UK. Hamburg is also famous for its Reeperbahn, a street in the famous St. Pauli district. On Friday and Saturday nights, the streets are lined with prostitutes that love to go after single men...quite aggressively I might add. Finally, situated in the north of Germany, Hamburg lies at the crossroads of both east and west, connecting The Netherlands with Berlin, Poland, and beyond as well as north and south, connecting Germany with Denmark.

In my next post, I will offer some more suggestions on what to do in and around Hamburg.
Click to expand...

Posts like this is what makes (made?) ATOT a great forum :thumbsup:
 
GTaudiophile

GTaudiophile

Lifer
Oct 24, 2000
29,767
33
81
While your employer is paying for your hotel accommodations, have you inquired into transportation? At the very least, they should provide you with a travel card/Reisepass that will grant you access to all local transportation options like bus and subway. At a minimum this pass should be valid within the entire city of Hamburg. If you're lucky, it will also cover regional transportation. Obtaining such a pass should be one of your first orders of business. Additionally, you should become intimate with the subway transit map. It will be your lifeblood to the city and region.

I would recommend checking out the official Hamburg Tourism website.

Another good resource would be to connect with the Expat community in Hamburg via forums like this one.

As for activities/things to do while in Hamburg...

-Take a harbor tour by boat/visit the Harbor+Warehouse districts.
-If you are into museums and if you have German heritage, be sure to check out the Ballinstadt museum about German emigration to the United States.
-Not to be missed is the famous Miniatur-Wunderland.
-Look into taking an Airbus factory tour.
-Visit the Altona district of Hamburg to get a little more ethnic flair.
-Visit the baroque St. Michaelis Church.
-Of course the famous Reeperbahn/St. Pauli/Beatles Memorial area.
 
GTaudiophile

GTaudiophile

Lifer
Oct 24, 2000
29,767
33
81
Travel options outside of Hamburg...

For this, I suggest getting intimate with the excellent www.bahn.de website.

To the north, nearby you have Lubeck, Germany.
Further north, Billund, Denmark is not far (LegoLand).
Even Copenhagen is easy if you want a LONG day trip or a weekend trip.
To the southeast, Berlin is a very easy trip by train but Berlin is its own unique can of worms. You could stay there for months and not scratch the surface...nor want to leave.
To the west, Amsterdam is not far at all.

Off course, if you get into discount airlines like Air Berlin, then trips to places like Munich, Prague, Paris, Vienna, etc. also become easy. Treat Europe as your playground as much as you can.

And while it is not for everyone, especially puritanical Americans, Germany offers the best/healthiest/most modern/comprehensive spa culture in the world. Here are some of the health/wellness/fun spas in the Hamburg area.
 
Chapbass

Chapbass

Diamond Member
May 31, 2004
3,145
93
91
Man, GT, thanks for the awesome info! Glad I asked now, as I now have a few days to look over all of this stuff!

Seriously, excellent posts!

Even got rossman to post, theres a first for one of my threads I think :)
 
Chapbass

Chapbass

Diamond Member
May 31, 2004
3,145
93
91
GTaudiophile said:
On April 28, I would HIGHLY recommend catching a home game for the Hamburg SV Bundesliga team in their home stadium.

Buy tickets here.
Click to expand...

Definitely going to need to do this, as I'm a big Football/Soccer fan and would enjoy seeing another club besides the Chicago Fire (though I have seen them have some friendlies against some solid clubs, most notably AC Milan). We'll have to see how the finances do :)
 
GTaudiophile

GTaudiophile

Lifer
Oct 24, 2000
29,767
33
81
In regards to ethnic food in Germany, you are typically quite safe with Italian, Greek, and Turkish. Chinese/Asian to a slightly lesser extent. Other then American fast-food chains, I would avoid places that advertise "American" cuisine like steaks, tex-mex, etc.
 
GTaudiophile

GTaudiophile

Lifer
Oct 24, 2000
29,767
33
81
Of course, as soon as you locate your living accommodations, find the nearest supermarket and have fun!!! Pick from dozens of varieties of German beer at around $.75-$1.00 per half-liter bottle. Enjoy the fresh meats and cheeses! And the breads!!! Wow! And the chocolates! Food items are so much better and fresher there....and much cheaper than here in the US.

Just learn how to recycle all the packaging appropriately...into the correct container.

Drinking tap water is also fine. Otherwise, you mostly find carbonated mineral water.
 
Chapbass

Chapbass

Diamond Member
May 31, 2004
3,145
93
91
Interesting. Good to hear about the groceries, as I'll be trying to not spend a ton of cash. Still, I'm working out a hopefully decent sized per diem from my employer, so hopefully I'll be able to try some places.

Also good to hear about greek places being there. As I'm of greek ancestry, it would be nice to have some places that are a little closer than america. Still, the obvious choice is German food, which I'm sure my coworkers will take me to plenty of :D.
 
H

HydroSqueegee

Golden Member
Oct 27, 2005
1,709
2
71
GTaudiophile said:
While your employer is paying for your hotel accommodations, have you inquired into transportation? At the very least, they should provide you with a travel card/Reisepass that will grant you access to all local transportation options like bus and subway. At a minimum this pass should be valid within the entire city of Hamburg. If you're lucky, it will also cover regional transportation. Obtaining such a pass should be one of your first orders of business. Additionally, you should become intimate with the subway transit map. It will be your lifeblood to the city and region.

I would recommend checking out the official Hamburg Tourism website.

Another good resource would be to connect with the Expat community in Hamburg via forums like this one.

As for activities/things to do while in Hamburg...

-Take a harbor tour by boat/visit the Harbor+Warehouse districts.
-If you are into museums and if you have German heritage, be sure to check out the Ballinstadt museum about German emigration to the United States.
-Not to be missed is the famous Miniatur-Wunderland.-Look into taking an Airbus factory tour.
-Visit the Altona district of Hamburg to get a little more ethnic flair.
-Visit the baroque St. Michaelis Church.
-Of course the famous Reeperbahn/St. Pauli/Beatles Memorial area.
Click to expand...

-Not to be missed is the famous Miniatur-Wunderland.
-Not to be missed is the famous Miniatur-Wunderland.
-Not to be missed is the famous Miniatur-Wunderland.
-Not to be missed is the famous Miniatur-Wunderland.

this.
 
K

keird

Diamond Member
Jan 18, 2002
3,714
9
81
Warm, fresh, pretzels are available at every bakery.

***critically important: mustard is called 'senf'***

Also buy this beer, if you can find it.
 
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