Last November I was in a funk. I had found myself in visa limbo after living in Germany for many years, newly laid off, and facing a big decade birthday. I kept telling myself it would all work out, but the anxiety was eating me alive and an impending birthday demanding to be dealt with wasn’t making anything easier.

Luckily, I have a wonderful family to lean on. They organized a trip to Hamburg for a long weekend and I got to know the Tor zur Welt (“gateway to the world”) much better than fleeting trips in the past. We stayed in the infinitely Instagrammable Speicherstadt which I had shockingly never even visited, crossed beneath the Elbe River in a tunnel that opened in the early 1900s, gorged ourselves on Franzbrotchen and strolled the neon lights of the Reeperbahn with kids in tow. It was a glorious way to spend a big birthday weekend.

Within a little over a week of this trip I had a job offer, visa appointment and was breathing a lot easier in my thicker, older skin. It probably wasn’t Hamburg that did it and a lot more old-fashioned paperwork, but the trip didn’t hurt. So here is my guide to a long weekend in Hamburg; hardly exhaustive but it did the trick for me and my family.

Speicherstadt, Hamburg PHOTO: Erin Porter

(Disclaimer: Posts from my fellow former bloggers on this site aren’t nearly as kind to Hamburg; and rightfully so! Jane details getting pickpocketed off the Reeperbahn and Jessica her run-ins with prostitution. Hamburg is infamous for its seedy side, but in my experience it is much less dangerous than anywhere in the USA where I come from, and I find it all in good fun.)

Overview of Hamburg

Even though I’d been to Hamburg before, it was for shamefully short overnighters. On my first trip, five friends bought the Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket (who remembers this wonderful ticket deal?) and took the local regional train journey from Berlin to Hamburg, spent all night dancing, and literally skipped back to the train station to make it to a Hertha Berlin game that day. Ahhh, youth.

So while I had seen some wonderful parts of Hamburg, it didn’t even cover the essentials. We sought to correct this, but truthfully there is more to see. Hamburg is the second largest city in Germany with 5 million inhabitants and is its own city-state (like Berlin and bizarrely Bremen). While it is a famed port city, it is actually situated 110 kilometres (68 miles) from the North Sea. Ships use the Elbe River to reach the busy port in Hamburg which also has many tourist boats, ferries and port-side attractions.

Speicherstadt 

While I had of course seen the harbor, I had missed the warehouse district or Speicherstadt in Hamburg. We corrected that on this trip, staying among these brick giants. The area is touted as the largest warehouse district in the world with elegant buildings rising directly from the narrow canals. Built between 1883 and 1927, this area is a listed site since 1991 and on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2015.

It is actually no longer part of the port and is included with new development on the Großer Grasbrook to be part of HafenCity in the district of Hamburg-Mitte. Today, it is a go-to location for people taking beautiful pictures of Hamburg as well as tourist attractions like:

• Miniatur Wunderland – Home to the largest model railway exhibition in the world
• Speicherstadtmuseum – Museum on the history of the Speicherstadt
• Elbphilharmonie – The philharmonic which is nicknamed “Elphi” and beloved by locals and visitors for its stunning architecture, viewing platform and performances
• Das Deutsche Zollmuseum – German Customs Museum
• Spice Museum
• Hamburg Architecture Archive
• Fleetschlösschen – A truly charming cafe and bar where we had a fittingly delicious platter of fish & chips

Flakturm IV and Hamburger Dom PHOTO: Erin Porter

Hamburg Dom and Flakturm IV

A friend told me Hamburger Dom was a must-do since we were going during one of the times of year it was on and I had Flakturm IV already marked to see so we headed to the north end of the city to see both things.

It was one of the highlights of our trip.

The Dom is indeed held three times a year and is Northern Germany’s biggest public festival. Loosely described as a carnival, this festival attracts about ten million visitors per year. There are rides, yes, and tacky food stands and games. But there are also fountains and seemingly permanent structures and it goes on and on! It was out of my wildest dreams with massive jerky rollercoasters and terrifying fun houses and so many lights I think anyone with epilepsy should be forewarned from visiting. It was wild.

Flakturm IV (also known as Feldstraßenbunker) was shocking to see. The scale of this thing! It is massive with real trees growing out of the top. Like other bunkers in Germany, the former WWII bunker proved impossible to destroy so they thought of new ways to utilize it that include a club, a park, and it is a model of sustainable urban development.

Elbe Tunnel 

I read about this and simply couldn’t believe it was as easy to access as it sounded. A free tunnel beneath the Elbe River with great views back of the city? I was intrigued.

After wandering around the harbor looking at a ferry terminals and a tourist steamboat right out of the southern United States, we escaped the inevitable rain and found the elevator down to the tunnel. Beautifully tiled, this is a working passageways and travelers with a purpose delighted in ringing their bike bells as us gawkers. Once on the other side, we took an industrial elevator back to the surface and enjoyed a Fischbrotchen at Brücke 10 (must do) and admired the city through the misty rain. Perfection.

Reeperbahn

Reeperbahn Hamburg PHOTO: Erin Porter

The Reeperbahn in the St. Pauli district is the epicenter of sketchy Hamburg, but that is why it is so fun to visit. Known as the stage where the Beatles made the leap to international stardom (“I might have been born in Liverpool – but I grew up in Hamburg.” John Lennon), no weekend in Hamburg is complete without visiting this hazy, neon-filled strip.

It has strip clubs and sex shops and yes – gasp! – even prostitutes. Keep in mind prostitution is legal in Germany. On my youthful, no-sleep overnight we spent all our time here, largely at a tiny bar named Rosi’s where they played surfer rock and we didn’t stop dancing. On this much more mature outing we made a nostalgic stop at Rosi’s for a shot, but also visited the Astra St. Pauli Brauerei where they brew the city’s iconic small beers and is a huge quirky venue. I think it is nearly impossible to not have fun here.

This is merely how I spent my long weekend in Hamburg, but I still have barely scratched the surface, What do you consider must-dos when visiting Hamburg?