Daytripper from Hamburg Germany
July 5, 2016 12:35 PM Subscribe
I will be spending 4-5 days alone while wife is in a conference during the day in Hamburg Germany, Since the highlight of Hamburg seems to be a huuuge toy train museum (Miniatur Wunderland), I wanted to know if there are day trips (via train) I could take to neighboring cities/countries (berlin?, Paris?) that might be feasible or recommended to get the most out of my trip, but be able to get back at night.
As Rissa pointed out, there's quite a lot to do in Hamburg. If you do want to travel somewhere nearby, there are some interesting towns. Luebeck is one of the few towns in northern Germany with an intact medieval section, for instance.
posted by zenzicube at 1:03 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by zenzicube at 1:03 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
Hamburg is a lovely city - easily as rich as many capital cities.
One day-trip I'd make would be to the Nolde Museum (English version doesn't work). Not only for the art, but also for the landscape and the journey there.
Berlin is not that far away, but with the travel time, I really wonder what you would manage to see in such a huge city, you'd have to decide in advance what you are going for: art, or history, or whatever..
posted by mumimor at 1:13 PM on July 5, 2016
One day-trip I'd make would be to the Nolde Museum (English version doesn't work). Not only for the art, but also for the landscape and the journey there.
Berlin is not that far away, but with the travel time, I really wonder what you would manage to see in such a huge city, you'd have to decide in advance what you are going for: art, or history, or whatever..
posted by mumimor at 1:13 PM on July 5, 2016
Suggest you look at map and the visit Deutsche Bahn To see how to get there. Any number of pleasant towns in northern Germany. But unless you want very long, exhausting days I'd limit myself to places you can get to in less than 1.5 hrs.
posted by koahiatamadl at 1:17 PM on July 5, 2016
posted by koahiatamadl at 1:17 PM on July 5, 2016
If you're willing to take the travel time to another country, than an interesting and doable day trip (depending on your interests) could be to the islands of Heligoland in the North Sea. You can take a train to the coast - there's a few towns from which ferries leave - or take a boat directly from Hamburg. It's a cool island with some interesting history (Heisenberg! prehistoric! WWII-post WWII) if you want to walk around - you can walk around the entire main island - and there's some neat places to lunch if that's your thing.
posted by barchan at 1:19 PM on July 5, 2016
posted by barchan at 1:19 PM on July 5, 2016
Seconding a Hafenrundfahrt, preferably including the Speicherstadt. It takes about 1.5 hours, and you get to see the harbor and the canals in the old warehouse district. I took the Hafenrundfahrt Kompakt with this company and recommend it, but I'm not sure they do them in English, so ymmv if you don't speak German.
Hamburg is called "Venice of the North", and while it looks different from the city in Italy, Hamburg has even more canals and waterways, and many areas are worth exploring on foot, for example the Treppenviertel in Blankenese. You can also take a walk and see lots of sights starting in the inner city (Mönckebergstraße, pedestrian area) all the way to the port, passing the famous St.Michael's Church (Hamburger Michel).
Take a look at these attractions and see if anything strikes your fancy.
Fot day trips, I would also recommend Lübeck with its old town, Hanseatic history and picturesque houses and buildings. Lübeck is also famous for Marzipan, especially Niederegger. They have a shop/museum/cafe downtown and also sell excellent ice-cream.
Bremen is another Hanseatic city about an hour from Hamburg by train. It's smaller than Hamburg but also has lots to see in the inner city area, for example the famous Schnoor Viertel.
Let me know if you have any questions or need more suggestions, I grew up in the area.
P.S.: I've never been to Heligoland, but have heard that it's worth a trip - just wanted to point out that it's not in another country, but also part of Germany.
posted by amf at 1:26 PM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
Hamburg is called "Venice of the North", and while it looks different from the city in Italy, Hamburg has even more canals and waterways, and many areas are worth exploring on foot, for example the Treppenviertel in Blankenese. You can also take a walk and see lots of sights starting in the inner city (Mönckebergstraße, pedestrian area) all the way to the port, passing the famous St.Michael's Church (Hamburger Michel).
Take a look at these attractions and see if anything strikes your fancy.
Fot day trips, I would also recommend Lübeck with its old town, Hanseatic history and picturesque houses and buildings. Lübeck is also famous for Marzipan, especially Niederegger. They have a shop/museum/cafe downtown and also sell excellent ice-cream.
Bremen is another Hanseatic city about an hour from Hamburg by train. It's smaller than Hamburg but also has lots to see in the inner city area, for example the famous Schnoor Viertel.
Let me know if you have any questions or need more suggestions, I grew up in the area.
P.S.: I've never been to Heligoland, but have heard that it's worth a trip - just wanted to point out that it's not in another country, but also part of Germany.
posted by amf at 1:26 PM on July 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
oh yeah, Heligoland is in Germany, I meant more the amount of travel you might be willing to do, sorry if that wasn't clear. :)
posted by barchan at 1:32 PM on July 5, 2016
posted by barchan at 1:32 PM on July 5, 2016
Seconding Bremen: the center is smaller than Hamburg and totally walkable. There is also the Böttcherstraße, a nice Market place with Renaissance buildings, churches in various styles, the river front etc. etc., and it's just under an hour from HH by Intercity train.
posted by Namlit at 1:33 PM on July 5, 2016
posted by Namlit at 1:33 PM on July 5, 2016
[if you search for Heligoland in German, you will have to search for "Helgoland"]
posted by Namlit at 1:34 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Namlit at 1:34 PM on July 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Wow. Great suggestions! Thanks for the feedbacks, will be taking notes. Is travelling in Germany pretty English language friendly?
posted by edman at 1:39 PM on July 5, 2016
posted by edman at 1:39 PM on July 5, 2016
Seconding Lübeck. The Niederegger store is awesome and is great for gift shopping for the folks back home.
And yes, a lot of Germans know a decent amount of English. You'll do just fine.
Doesn't hurt though to learn the basic hello/goodbye/where is/how much/1-100 words.
posted by JoeZydeco at 1:42 PM on July 5, 2016
And yes, a lot of Germans know a decent amount of English. You'll do just fine.
Doesn't hurt though to learn the basic hello/goodbye/where is/how much/1-100 words.
posted by JoeZydeco at 1:42 PM on July 5, 2016
You can train to Copenhagen. Don't forget to check out the Beatles venue while your in Hamburg.
posted by bq at 2:21 PM on July 5, 2016
posted by bq at 2:21 PM on July 5, 2016
A 2hr 40 minute train ride from Hamburg Hbf (main station) will take you to Wolfsburg where you can do a Volkswagen factory tour and visit their museum. Factory is very close to Wolfsburg train station. Might be an enjoyable day out especially if you're interested in cars or industrial history.
posted by jacobean at 2:25 PM on July 5, 2016
posted by jacobean at 2:25 PM on July 5, 2016
Is travelling in Germany pretty English language friendly?
Let me put it this way: In preparation for a two-week choir tour of Germany and Austria, I took a semester of German 101. The very first time I tried to order a sandwich in German, the cashier immediately addressed me in English. I felt kind of bummed for the rest of the day.
posted by Faint of Butt at 2:26 PM on July 5, 2016 [3 favorites]
Let me put it this way: In preparation for a two-week choir tour of Germany and Austria, I took a semester of German 101. The very first time I tried to order a sandwich in German, the cashier immediately addressed me in English. I felt kind of bummed for the rest of the day.
posted by Faint of Butt at 2:26 PM on July 5, 2016 [3 favorites]
If you do go to Lübeck, be sure to check out the Museum of Theater Puppets.
I also really liked Bremen, but not quite as much.
Hannover is another city you could check out. There are several art museums and the Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum Hannover.
The other places to visit in that region I loved were German tourist traps, like Hameln (Hamlen, of pied piper fame), Goslar, or Bad Harzburg. Though those towns were mostly for German speakers, but I think they don't get much not German tourism.
posted by kendrak at 2:28 PM on July 5, 2016
I also really liked Bremen, but not quite as much.
Hannover is another city you could check out. There are several art museums and the Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum Hannover.
The other places to visit in that region I loved were German tourist traps, like Hameln (Hamlen, of pied piper fame), Goslar, or Bad Harzburg. Though those towns were mostly for German speakers, but I think they don't get much not German tourism.
posted by kendrak at 2:28 PM on July 5, 2016
Lübeck is pretty, and Bremen is, well, kind of worth seeing... but yeah what everybody said: stay in Hamburg. It's totally underrated. People are surprisingly friendly for north Germany, and there's great seafood. Also, since nobody's mentioned this: If you appreciate a charming dive bar, you've hit the mother lode. Hamburg used to be full of sailors looking for a good time, and it used to be very seedy and dangerous; these days it turned kind of touristy, but on the plus side you're unlikely to get stabbed in a dark alley... and the old places are still there.
Let me put it this way: In preparation for a two-week choir tour of Germany and Austria, I took a semester of German 101. The very first time I tried to order a sandwich in German, the cashier immediately addressed me in English. I felt kind of bummed for the rest of the day.
Faint of Butt:
Arrgh, all Germans do this. I used to do it too, and I never knew how annoying it was until my girlfriend told me to cut it the hell out... For whatever reason, Germans like speaking English too much to be polite about this, and that's really all there is to it. Everybody who grew up in the west (or, you know, is not old) had to take about 50 years of English in high school, and they never get to use it. So if an American even shows his face, we'll be damned if we let them have all ze fun. Doesn't matter if your German is perfect or if you're trying to read phonetic script straight from a guide book; it's not a reflection on your skills. Any identifiable trace of an accent will set us off, and there's apparently nothing anybody can do about it. Sorry!
posted by kleinsteradikaleminderheit at 4:08 PM on July 5, 2016 [7 favorites]
Let me put it this way: In preparation for a two-week choir tour of Germany and Austria, I took a semester of German 101. The very first time I tried to order a sandwich in German, the cashier immediately addressed me in English. I felt kind of bummed for the rest of the day.
Faint of Butt:
Arrgh, all Germans do this. I used to do it too, and I never knew how annoying it was until my girlfriend told me to cut it the hell out... For whatever reason, Germans like speaking English too much to be polite about this, and that's really all there is to it. Everybody who grew up in the west (or, you know, is not old) had to take about 50 years of English in high school, and they never get to use it. So if an American even shows his face, we'll be damned if we let them have all ze fun. Doesn't matter if your German is perfect or if you're trying to read phonetic script straight from a guide book; it's not a reflection on your skills. Any identifiable trace of an accent will set us off, and there's apparently nothing anybody can do about it. Sorry!
posted by kleinsteradikaleminderheit at 4:08 PM on July 5, 2016 [7 favorites]
I've actually found Germans are awesome to speak German to - I'm reasonably fluent but not great but people would be all wow! your german is fabulous! the sort of blush-inducing praise like my parents gave me back when I was learning to tie my shoes. So give it a go :-)
(In Switzerland though, yeah, if i open my mouth and they hear my aussie accented Hochdeutsch they instantly switch to English)
Nthing stay in Hamburg. There's a tonne to do.
posted by kitten magic at 8:00 PM on July 5, 2016
(In Switzerland though, yeah, if i open my mouth and they hear my aussie accented Hochdeutsch they instantly switch to English)
Nthing stay in Hamburg. There's a tonne to do.
posted by kitten magic at 8:00 PM on July 5, 2016
If you like theme parks, Heide-Park in Soltau, about 45 minutes south has what (is/was-a-few-years-ago) the steepest wooden roller coaster in the world. Plus a half-sized statue of liberty and a bunch of cool rides. Spend half a day there, then hit the Therme in town for chilling/sauna/salt-pools, if that's your thing.
posted by Seeba at 8:46 PM on July 5, 2016
posted by Seeba at 8:46 PM on July 5, 2016
Do you like airplanes? The Airbus Finkenwerder plant tour looked interesting. Couldn't go myself since my kids were too young at the time.
posted by JoeZydeco at 9:42 PM on July 5, 2016
posted by JoeZydeco at 9:42 PM on July 5, 2016
Response by poster: Thanks Much everyone for the input, Ill probably just hang out in Hamburg!
posted by edman at 11:36 AM on July 8, 2016
posted by edman at 11:36 AM on July 8, 2016
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Just off the top of my head:
- the Kunsthalle is a very good art museum
- If you like animals, take a trip to Hagenbecks Tierpark
- Go and visit Bergedorf - it's very pretty
- you can take boat trips around the harbour and around the canals
- if you like shopping, there's plenty in that department
- if you like history and old buildings, Hamburg is not short in that area either.
What are your interests? If it's not in Hamburg, I'm sure you wouldn't have to go as far afield as Paris to entertain yourself. North Germany has a lot to offer.
Btw, here's a list of attractions in Hamburg.
posted by Rissa at 12:57 PM on July 5, 2016 [4 favorites]