Living in Germany for the past 3.5 years has given us the luxury of travel to many places in Europe, however, we have scarcely investigated in our own adopted home country. Each spring, Stuttgart hosts the Hamburg Fish Festival. We have attended each year, for wonderful seafood and fellowship with many of our friends. As we were planning travel for 2025, a weekend in Hamburg made our list.
There is a direct train option from Stuttgart to Hamburg, so we chose this for better relaxing versus flying. We packed warm clothes, cameras, and brought sandwiches, books, and movies for our 5-hour train journey. As we traveled north, the scenery became increasingly more wintery. Landscapes of snow-covered fields and frozen ponds flew past our windows, and we wondered if our destination would be considerably colder than we thought.
Hamburg is the second-largest city in Germany, and sixth-largest in the EU. Situated at the mouth of an estuary to the North Sea, Hamburg’s canals and rivers are criss-crossed by 2500 bridges, and it has the largest warehouse district built on wooden pile foundations. The city has survived Viking, Polish, and Danish invasions, fires, wars, and pestilence, and is now the 3rd largest port in Europe.
Hamburg in January
Temperatures were a reasonable 30 F, but the damp and wind made it feel much colder. We had one super foggy day, and one day of sun. Both weather situations made for interesting photos.
Sights of Hamburg
Miniatur Wunderland, a very popular tourist attraction, has the largest model railway system in the world. Over 1200 trains, 10,000 vehicles, and almost 300,000 miniature figures depict scenes from countries around the world. Squeezing through the crowds to each display to take photos, we marveled at the intricate displays. It’s a truly amazing miniature world, but it would be more enjoyable if they could find a way to space out the number of visitors.
Planten un Blomen is a large city park with an ice skating rink, full of action and laughter as skaters of all ages and skill levels gave it their all to the beat of disco tunes.
St Michael’s Church has one of the largest statues of the Archangel we have ever seen.
The bell tower can be seen from around central Hamburg, as long as the fog is not too thick. Inside, we lit a candle and admired the bright white walls and the artwork.
Hamburg’s Seafood Market is small and only open on Sunday mornings from 06.00 to 10.00. Be careful how you get there, it’s really best to avoid the drunken crowds, and the filthy sidewalks, as a night of partying in the Reeperbahn section wraps up.
There is a Beatles Plaza, a square dedicated to the famous group, as Hamburg was a place they played in their early days. Some theorize that their repetition of multiple shows per day here is why the band became so good. Unfortunately, the Plaza is disappointing, not much to see besides trash, as it is located in the Reeperbahn area.
A Friend in Hamburg
Genuss Speicher is a coffee museum and experience in the warehouse district. We met up here with a friend who we met on our travels in Albania. Kevin at Hut to Hut Trekking Tours happened to be in Hamburg for the weekend, and was kind enough to meet us and tour us around. He showed us some of his favorite photo spots, as well as some of his favorite Hamburg treats.
Foods of Hamburg
A specialty in Hamburg is the Franzbrötchen, a cinnamon roll type of pastry. At St. Pauli Piers you can book a spot on a boat tour and there are some cute touristy shops. You must also try a Fischbrötchen, a pickled herring sandwich, very delicious! Wash it down with a local beer, Astra. Working our way through Kevin’s recommended snacks, we next visited the Portuguese section of town for a tasty pasteis de nata, a custard tart.
Hamburg and Berlin each claim to have the best currywurst, a sausage snack in a tomato sauce. Kevin directed us to Schmitt Foxy Food, a hole-in-the-wall in the Schanzenviertel neighborhood, where the classic curry wurst was indeed excellent. There was depth and silkiness to the sauce, and some spicy paprika added great flavor.
Of course the hamburger did not originate in Hamburg, but it seemed right to have one anyway. Irish Pubs tend to do a great burger, and we are always on the lookout for a pint of Guinness, so we found The Irish Rover. The hostess graciously gave us a table for 90 minutes before it was needed for a reservation. Counting ourselves lucky, we warmed up over Guinness Stew, a very good burger, and a few pints.
Still, our best meal in Hamburg was at Beyoglu Kebap House. Our table was in front of the open kitchen grill, and we were enthralled with the speed and efficiency of the grill master as he moved the hot coals, and roasted meats and vegetables, at an incredible pace. We love dinner and a show! The Turkish mixed grill plate is one of our favorites. It comes with perfectly grilled meats and vegetables, served with bread, rice, and multiple flavors of dips and spreads.
return journey
Once on board our high-speed train, we warmed up and settled in with our books for our 5-hour ride home.
After exploring Hamburg for a long weekend, we both agree that a visit to the Hamburg Fish Market Festival in Stuttgart is a shorter train ride and almost as much fun.
4 responses to “Weekend in Hamburg, Germany”
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I didn’t know Beatles played in Hamburg. I’d love to do a train trip, it’s been too long since my last train trip. I mean, a longer train trip instead of taking a flight
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The train is so much more relaxing, for sure! 🙂
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I used to only take trains in Germany at one time. But they are a little less punctual now, so there are routes on which I prefer to fly
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We agree, the punctuality of German trains are better than many others, but we set our expectations for delays and then try to stay flexible! 😉
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