How I fell in love with Hamburg
“We travel, some of us forever, to seek other places, other lives, other souls.” – Anais Nin
Hello my friends! Last month I visited Hamburg with my mum in partnership with Voyages Emile Weber ! It's my first time here and I need to say, the city rocks !! Different interesting quarters, best public transport organisation I've ever seen, shopping heaven for hipsters and luxury lovers, rivers, lakes, art, music,...
Our short holidays started easily. No need to take the taxi at the airport, the train takes you directly to the centre! Arrived at the main train station, we just needed to cross the street to reach our hotel (too good to be true, right?). During our stay we walked a lot and took a few random bus or tram rides to go with the flow.. This is how we discovered lovely Altona, my favourite neighbourhood so far! Here is a little guide including sightseeings, coffee shops, shopping spots, a crazy beach bar and other must-go and see's. I hope you'll like it!
SPEICHERSTADT
Speicherstadt is the largest warehouse district in the world and is located in the port within the HafenCity quarter. It's a collection of brick warehouses connected by canals, a must-see in Hamburg during the day and night! It's very quiet in this area, no party mood.. This day it was very cloudy and I really liked this slightly spooky situation.. :D Can you imagine how busy it was here in the past when goods from all over the world passed through these storage areas? Glad the area has been preserved..
ALTONA
One of our random bus trips took us to Altona - a colourful, edgy quarter full of independent boutiques, cocktail bars and coffee shops. Sometimes you need to enter a private courtyard to discover lovely details of the neighbourhood ! I loved discovering small fashion boutiques selling French, German or Scandinavian labels. I found pretty cool things at L'Ephemere and Mascha Clothing! Altona is my favourite place in Hamburg because I didn't feel any stress in this area. People spend much time outside and are not in a hurry. It's also very green! People say that Altona is the new hot-spot of Hamburg.. :)
KLIPPKROOG
coffee love in Altona
I really wanted some tea and you should know that I love hunting cute interiors so when we arrived in the quarter, I quickly made an online search for a nice coffee shop in the area and found Klippkroog! A lovely place where people work and meet. I loved the ambiance and interior design, it makes nice pictures ;)).
NEUER WALL
luxury and more
Walk around the Inner Alster lake and you'll find many beautiful shopping spots like the Jungfernstieg and Neuer Wall which are the best places in Hamburg to discover luxury brands, famous designers. As soon as I saw & Other Stories on the Neuer Wall, I ran to buy new shoes... Yep, I love this store! A few steps away, you'll find the Rathaus or Town Hall which dominates the skyline of the area. Arrived at Jungfernstieg, which stretches along the shore of Inner Alster, we decided to take a tour on the water..
ALSTER LAKES
The Jungfernstieg is very crowdy on a sunny day! People sit around the lake and enjoy the view with an ice-cream, love it ! We decided to explore the surroundings on the water.. It's fascinating how many people, children included, do water sports ! Popular activities are canoeing, sailing and stand up paddle boarding. The tour took us on the water along the Inner Alster and Outer Alster. We discovered a few beautiful villas and many bridges! Hamburg apparently has more bridges than any other city in the world and more canals than Amsterdam and Venice combined.
BOTANICAL GARDEN
Not far away from the Inner Alster we came across a beautiful parc, the Botanical Garden. A beautiful, peaceful spot where people sit on white wooden armchaires dispersed through the park and enjoy the sound of nature.. We saw mini turtles, ducklings, butterflies.. :D And of course I needed to take a photo in front of this beautiful flower hedge (so proud of this shot, thanks mummy).
THE HOTEL
Europäischer Hof
Europäischer Hof - our hotel which I loved ! As I told you above, it's located just in front of the main train station which makes checking-in and out as well as daily trips uncomplicated.. We had a large room and the breakfast was amazing.. Pancakes, waffles, fresh omelettes, many fruits.. And, free public transport tickets are included during your stay! 10 minutes away from our hotel, we found the cute ship restaurant Alsterschiff Galatea. It was a funny feeling when I realised that the ship was swinging slightly :D The food was good and the ambiance intimate and romantic due to the lights of the ship and the quiet surrounding darkness.
STERNSCHANZE
The craziest quarter we've been to is Sternschanze also called Schanze, a hipster place. Hipster alarm 3000 - the shops, the dress code, the coffee shops - pure hipster spirit. The street art lining the walls is heavy metal.. No wall of the neighbourhood has been spared, graffiti everywhere! My favourite fashion store over here: Edited. Other shops I discovered and liked: Fräulein Wunder and Kauf Dich Glücklich. We had coffee at Less Political and Asian lunch at Mikawa!
STRANDPAULI
beachvibes
For our last evening in Hamburg, we went to the Landungsbrücken or St. Pauli Piers located in St. Pauli on the banks of the Elbe river. We had no time to explore the neighbourhood deeper but we found an amazing beach club (recommended by my friend Sarah, thank you Sarah, can't wait to shoot your wedding soon ;))) ). The name of the beach club - Strandpauli. Full house, cocktails, sand, good music, hippie style, a photobooth.. - perfect !! The ambiance over here is very relaxed, people dance, sit one the sand, drink mojitos and have a great time! I didn't expect to see so many visitors!! It's definetely a local must-go spot! As you can see in the photos below, it looks very artistic !
SPOT SUMMARY
SHOPPING
- Edited
- Fraulein Wunder
- Kauf Dich Glücklich
- Mascha Clothing
- L'Ephemere
- & Other Stories
HOTEL
- Europäischer Hof
COFFFE SHOP
- Klippkroog
- Less Political
Many thanks to Voyages Emile Weber for sending me to this exciting city..! // All photos were taken with Fuji X-Pro 2