Winter Trip to Hamburg

A couple of weeks ago, I visited the beautiful city of Hamburg in Germany for the first time. Despite the frigid weather in February where temperatures were as low as 10 degrees Fahrenheit, I had a blast exploring the city and there were so many stunning photo opportunities. On the first day, we took a stroll through the city center and we stepped into a quaint cafe to enjoy two cups of hot Rooibos and Peppermint tea.

For the evening, we had some traditional currywurst at Edelcurry, which was right across from the Renaissance Hamburg Hotel that we stayed at for the first couple of nights. Germany is known for their currywurst, which is a sausage dish cut into slices and seasoned with curry ketchup and typically served with fries.

The following day we ventured out to the Fischmarkt in the early morning for breakfast and they served a ton of delicious fried foods and hot sandwiches that warmed the soul. We walked around the city center again on the 2nd day to capture lots of photos of the industrial urban charm of Hamburg. For dinner, we dined at Neni restaurant for some ecletic, Eastern Mediterranean cuisine combined with typical North German harbor and fish dishes.

One of my most favorite locations that we got to visit in Hamburg was the Alter Elbtunnel for a fun (and free!) experience. It was the original tunnel built for connecting two parts of the city across the Elbe and it’s straight and long. You can walk through it and come up at the other side with a tremendous view of Hamburg. From the other side, you can see St. Pauli, the harbor, Hafen City, and lots of church spires as well. To get to the tunnel, you can either take the stairway or elevators. The elevators are clear so you can see all the mechanisms of the elevator as well as the cool carvings on the wall and ceilings.

On Day 4 of our Hamburg trip, we moved to the Raphael Hotel Walderhaus and visited the Elbphilharmonie plaza. In general, the architectural aesthetic of Germany is very modern and industrial looking and the Elbphilharmonie building is considered to be one of the best and most beautiful concert halls in the world.

For lunch, we grabbed a bite at Flamm Hus for some classic wafer-thin German pizza with spiced créme fraîche and original Alsatian ingredients. I typically cut back on my dairy intake due to health reasons, but the pizza here was so delicious that I had a whole pizza to myself! I’ve even tried recreating the dish I had at Flamm Hus after I flew back to the states.

During the afternoon, we went to the Miniatur Wunderland, which is definitely a must visit tourist location (in my opinion). Miniatur Wunderland is the worlds largest miniature model showcasing full replicas of entire cities with a level of detail that is pretty mind-blowing.

Every last bit of the models was breathtakingly designed, and each section was filled with hidden details and Easter eggs. You can easily spend hours here ogling over every detail of all the city models built in this exhibition. The entire place has a day/night cycle with sunrises and sunsets indicated by colored lights and it’s also interactive featuring buttons you can press to trigger some action like causing airplane take-offs, open buildings, prompt volcanic eruptions, and more.

For our second to last day at Hamburg, we had lunch at the Better Burger Company for some very delicious burgers with endless toppings and a large variety of sauces. Afterward, we ended up walking inside and around the town hall, which was the most beautiful building of old classic architecture in Hamburg.

After 3 days of snow, Planten on Blomen was completely covered in white, making the garden look like the ultimate winter white wonderland. Although no flowers were blooming, the snow made it such a beautiful sight to see and stroll through and it really was a great way to conclude our Hamburg trip. We dined at Ban Canteen for dinner, which served refreshing Vietnamese food that was light on the palate with simple flavors.