2 Days in Hamburg: Hamburg Itinerary

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This 36-hour Hamburg itinerary makes for a packed itinerary of the German city.

36 Hours in Hamburg: (Jump To)

Day 1: Evening Arrival

We arrived in Hamburg and checked into our hotel, The ARCOTEL Rubin Hamburg, in the early evening. We picked the hotel because of its proximity to the main train station in Hamburg. The walk to our hotel took less than 10 minutes. The central location of the hotel ended up being extremely useful, as we barely ever needed to jump onto the metro. Our room also had a great sunset view of the city skyline.

Evening Dining and Walking in Jungfernstieg

After settling in we decided to take an evening stroll to the Jungfernstieg, a lakeside shopping and dining promenade in a historic part of Hamburg. Sadly most of the shops were closed by the time we arrived. That didn’t stop us from taking a walk around Lake Binnenalster to view the fountains and the beauty of the old buildings lit at night.

Hamburg City Hall reflection at night Hamburg Germany

We decided on pizza and pasta from La Prego for dinner. The food was inexpensive and ended up being one of our favorite dinners while in Germany, despite being devoid of sausage or schnitzel.

Hamburg LGBT Nightlife

After dinner, we wanted to check out the Friday night LGBTGIA+ bar scene. Our first stop was M&V bar. It’s a beautiful bar with a long wooden bar and wooden booths. The interior was packed, so we ended up hanging out on the sidewalk tables out front. It seemed like a bar that caters to groups of friends.

From there we stopped by Bellini Gay Bar. From the street, you take a few steps down to enter the small bar. It must have been an off night because there were only three other people in the place. They seemed friendly, but we chugged our drinks and headed to our final stop of the evening, Daniel's Company Bar, a fun place with music, a dance floor, and a packed friendly crowd. After enjoying a comically small shot, we decided to head back to our hotel.

Day 2: Breakfast

We started Saturday morning with an amazing breakfast at Mutterland, a cafe and bakery near the main train station. We opted for a table for a full sit-down breakfast, but you could easily grab a coffee and pastry to-go from the shop.

Using the Hamburg Card

We stopped to buy a “Hamburg Card” from the tourist information station at the central train station main entrance (It’s also sold by many hotels). The card gets you unlimited U/S-Bahn Train, bus, and ferry rides. It’s available for up to five days. They sell an individual pass or a group pass which works for up to 5 people. Additionally, you save on attraction tickets in the city. The savings aren’t spectacular (The website says “up to 50% off, but it ended up being a euro or two savings at each stop) We probably broke even, but it was well worth avoiding the hassle of buying a separate transit card. If you’re traveling with a group of five or for multiple days the savings could really add up.

Visiting Spicy’s Gewürzmuseum

Next up was a visit to Spicy’s Gewürzmuseum, a fun little museum dedicated to spices and the spice trade in the dockside warehouse district. We saw the entire museum in under an hour. From there we wandered around the unique architecture in the area in search of Harry's Hamburger Hafenbasar, a quirky museum of oddities on a boat in the harbor. The museum had literally sailed away by the time we got there, but a nice man on the dock said it would be back “someday.”

St. Nikolai Memorial window Hamburg Germany

Climbing the St. Nikolai War Memorial

Once the tallest building in the world, The Church of St. Nicholas was largely destroyed by bombing during World War II. The main tower of the church was left standing and has been converted into a memorial. St. Nikolai Memorial now stands as a memorial and a place for visitors to contemplate the impact of war. An elevator ride to the top of the tower (still the fifth tallest church tower in the world) offers views of Hamburg.

Exploring Hamburg Harbor

From there we hopped onto the subway to Stintfing, an observation deck above the station that offers views of the Hamburg Harbor. We took a harbor-side walk passing some touristy shops which were largely skip-able. I think this is where cruise ships disembark for the day, it definitely had that feel.

Maximum Chocolate at CHOCOVERSUM Chocolate Museum

Most of the guides I read before visiting Hamburg listed our next destination as a “must-see.” CHOCOVERSUM Chocolate Museum was the biggest disappointment of the day and became a running joke for the remainder of the trip. A guided tour starts with decorating your very own molded chocolate bar, and from there, you’re guided through a massively boring and long tour about everything you never needed to know about chocolate manufacturing. The tour was so long and boring that multiple members of our tour group made excuses to leave early. Some just disappeared like in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We would have absolutely left early too, except they don’t give you the chocolate you made until the very end of the tour. I stayed for the chocolate.

Dinner: Best Brewpub in Hamburg

Having cheated with Italian food the night prior, we decided to make up for it with a visit to Gröninger Brauhaus, a hearty German brewpub for dinner. The restaurant is located in a basement surrounded by glistening brass fermentation tanks. We were seated at a tiny table next to a stone wall. We ordered what can be best described as a pile of meat on a board to split. The board included roast pork, meatloaf, Nuremberg and Gröninger sausages, pork ribs, potato salad, and cabbage salad. It was the German feast of my dreams.

Visitng Miniatur Wunderland

We booked 8 p.m. tickets online in advance for Miniatur Wunderland. This gigantic model railway exhibit was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. The intertwined trains traveled through recreated miniatures of famous destinations of every continent of the world. There was even an airport where the airplanes really took off! We spent nearly two hours here and would have probably stayed longer if it wasn’t closing time.

Miniatur Wunderland Hamburg Germany Airplanes

From there we headed back to the ARCOTEL Rubin Hamburg via subway to make sure we had enough rest for the following day at Heide Park Resort.

After a full day at Heide Park, we took the late-night subway to explore the Red Light District. The infamous neighborhood has some epic neon lights but is otherwise not very interesting. (though I’m sure you could find a good time if that’s your goal).

This is part of our Two Week Germany Itinerary.