Hamburg Weekend Itinerary

This is an itinerary for 2 and a half days in Hamburg with younger children. We did this with children ranging from 2 to 10 years of age.

Day 1: 

• Kunsthalle Hamburg (10 a.m. - 6 p.m.; closed on Mondays)
• Planten um Blomen   (interactive plan of the park in German)

Day 2: 

• Fischmarkt (only open on Sunday; closes at 9:30 a.m.)
• Ferry ride
• Hagenbeck Zoo (at least from 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.) 

Day 3:

• Miniatur Wunderland (at least from 9:30 a.m. - 6 p.m.)

The Details!

Day 1: 

After breakfast we headed out to the "Kunsthalle Hamburg" (closed on Mondays). Since we were up early we opted to walk from our hotel (Holiday Inn Express Hamburg City Center) to the museum. We walked along the Aussenalster and it took about 30 minutes with the kids riding scooters.

View Hamburg in a larger map

We only stayed a couple of hours at the museum and walked over to the main train station (Hamburg Hbf) to have lunch. They have a huge selection of healthy and unhealthy foods in their food court which is on the left hand side as you walk in through the main entrance. On the first floor there is a supermarket where you can also get food and drinks. We stocked up on drinks here because it was cheaper than in the food court!

From the train station we caught the subway U2 in the direction Niendorf Nord and got out at Messehallen. Don't follow the signs to Planten um Blomen because you'll end up on a main road and it's not obvious where you should go from here. Take the exit "Sievekingplatz" and you'll end up right in the park itself. When you come out turn right and continue down the path and you'll see a huge playground which is where we spent a good part of our afternoon. The cafe is very close by and serves simple food. Further down the road there are trampolines and mini-golf. We finished up our afternoon by visiting the green houses (Tropenhaus or schaugewächshäuser). They were really good and were free. A bit of information that we wished we had known before is that the green houses have public toilets. These are neither marked on the maps nor sign boarded!

After this we headed to the university area (which is north east of the park) to find some dinner. There are plenty of dinning options in the area.

Day 2: 

Our second day was a Sunday and after a quick breakfast we took the subway down to the Elbe. We took the U3 from Lübeckerstr. in the direction of Hbf to Landungsbrüken. From there we walked out to the river and caught the ferry number 62. This took us to the Fischmarkt. Inside the huge building there is not much to see. It's a great place to get some breakfast if you haven't already and there are toilets on the first floor, just ask someone working there for directions. Outside the building walk back in the direction you came from and you will pass people selling all kinds of things! At last you will see a few fish mongers. Wait until around 9 to 9:15 and the vendors selling fresh food will start shouting and trying to sell off their ware!! 

The ferry makes a loop so if you want to see some of the harbour just get on the 62 and continue along the river. You don't need to get out at the end just stay on till it eventually gets back to Landungsbrüken. The ferry is the cheapest way to see the harbour because it is part of the public transport system. You can find other harbour ferry routes at this website: www.hadag.de/english/harbour-ferries.html 

After a nice relaxing morning we hit the zoo. To get there you need to take the U3 back to Hbf and then from there the U2 in the direction Niendorf Nord. Exit at "Hagenbecks Tierpark". The zoo is very good and likewise it is also rather expensive. Plan to spend the rest of your day there! 

We got back to the city in the late afternoon and ate at a fish restaurant (they have veggie options too) that turned out to be very friendly to our tiered and loud children!

Day 3:

Today we hit the Miniatur Wunderland. We reserved our tickets on-line to avoid the lines and got in without having to wait. It was quite amazing the amount of detail that they put into the exhibits. The kids had a lot of fun at the beginning but they didn't last more than 2 hours before they needed a break. No problems the cafeteria at the Miniatur Wunderland was very good and reasonably priced. We had some healthy pasta that they prepare as you order right in front of you again veggie options were available. Then we quickly walked through the rest of the exhibits. If you can hold out it could take the whole day to walk through this place but I doubt that that would be possible if you have children with you. The air gets a bit stuffy and the crowds a bit much. My advice: get there as soon as they open so that the kids can get a good view. 

After this we left Hamburg!!

A weekend in Hamburg, Germany with Kids - Technical Details

Hotel: 

1. Holiday Inn Express Hamburg City Center
   
   • Pros: you can sleep 2 adults and 2 children in one room; very close to the subway station;literally across the road from two grocery stores; restaurants nearby; free wi-fi and free breakfast. 
   • Cons: the beds are not comfy and once the sofa bed is down there is not much space to move.
   • Overall: A great location and price for a family of four.
2. Suite Novotel Hamburg City Hotel
   • Pros: you can sleep 2 adults and 2 children in one room; very close to the subway station; rooms are large with a screen to divide it into two sections.
   • Cons: books up really quickly.
   • Overall: better than the holiday inn if you can get a room. Not sure how the prices compare. Stayed here when our kids were really small and really loved it.

Transport: 

• Car: We drove into Hamburg. The hotel has it's own garage which costs 10 Euro a day but we found free street parking pretty easily down a side road on the same block. On the main street you have to pay for parking but most of the side roads seemed to have unrestricted parking. 
• Subway: While in Hamburg we almost exclusively used the subway. We bought a group day pass for 5 people and this worked out great. The subway can take you close enough to most places. 
• Scooter: My friend from Geneva suggested the scooters to us and they worked out perfectly. We took the kids scooters and they were happy to scoot along. I think for the first time there was no whining about how far they had to walk. Beware, at the fish market it is really difficult to ride the scooters because of the cobble stones. Otherwise we had no trouble. All the places we visited where we could not take the scooters in held them for us either at the coat check or at the gate. 
• Train: We didn't use the train but our friends did and they said that the trip from the airport to downtown Hamburg was a piece of cake. So getting the train is also not a problem. Almost all the subway lines run past the main train station. 

Itinerary will follow shortly (and maybe some pictures)!

Travelling with Children

Before we had children me and my husband loved to travel and we were determined to continue travelling despite the difficulties that arise from having little children. I will never forget the first vacation we went on with our 4 week old first born. We were camping around Big Sur, California and we left our poor child (unintentionally) in the tent all by herself when we went to brush our teeth. We just totally forgot that we had a child! We remembered her pretty quickly but it was certainly the beginning of our travels with children.

What we've figured out over the years is that the key is in the planning and you can't plan too much. We used to pack our vacations from dawn to dusk and make the most of every moment. We had to cut down by at least 50%. Kids need to be fed regularly and those short legs just can't manage a 4 hour walk across a city. Since the kids were of an age to understand and to care (around 4 years of age) we've always tried to have a theme to our journeys. Yes, of course it's an educational theme! Now that my oldest is 10 years old we have to find a different way to keep them occupied. Basically we have to find activities that interest them and of course for longer trips they have to keep a journal.

All of this takes a lot of time but believe me it is well worth the effort. To be on vacation and have grumbling kids who are bored out of their brains or tiered and hungry is a nightmare and makes it not worth going on vacation at all.
So here I've decided to keep track of our short and long vacations with the hope that they will be helpful to others who happen to be travelling in the same direction. Since it's summer I'll have to start with places we are going to but if and when I have the time I'll add in some blogs of places we've been and things we've seen.