Germany · Old Town
Hamburg
A self-guided walking tour of the Hamburg Old Town, every street in one day.
Every street on the menu.
Every street in the Old Town of Hamburg is a line of dots you collect by walking it. I have been lying in one of them for six hundred years and I am still not finished.
At a glance
Plan your walk.
- Distance
- 23.8 km
- Time
- about 7 hours
- Streets
- 103
- Steps
- 7 streets with steps
- Start point
- Kirchenruine St. Nikolai
- Phone needed while walking
- no
- Works offline
- yes
- Expires
- never
The Old Town
Every street, drawn.
Every lane inside that line is a course. The circles are fruit.
Landmarks
What I would eat first.
Landmarks are fruit. The bigger the sight, the bigger the bonus.
Kirchenruine St. Nikolai 1,500 points
A tower 147 metres high, and hardly any church left around it. A glass lift takes you up in 40 seconds to a platform at 76 metres, and the whole level lies spread out below like a menu. Why the rest never came back, I will tell you when you are standing under it.
Chilehaus 500 points
The icon of the Kontorhaus district. Walk all the way round it, then stand at the narrow end and tip your head back. I know what it reminds me of. For once, it is not lunch.
Hamburger Kunsthalle 500 points
A house full of art, open since 1869. Somewhere inside, a man has been standing with his back to everybody for a very long time, looking out at the weather. Nobody has asked him to move. Nobody has asked me either.
Hauptkirche St. Petri 500 points
The market church, on one of the two highest points of the archbishop's town. 544 steps climb the spire to a lookout 123 metres above the streets. I would rather eat them than climb them. Somewhere on the way up is something you would not expect in a church tower.
Rathaus 500 points
Hamburg's town hall opened in 1897 and stands on more than four thousand oak piles, roughly where the old ridge runs to a point and ends. I counted them once. I had the time. Before you leave, walk through to the back. You will see why.
Evangelisch-lutherische Hauptkirche St. Jacobi 250 points
In 1769 this tower got the first lightning rod in Germany. I have only ever been struck by hunger. Inside, one of the instruments has a sense of humour. I am not telling you which.
Hammaburg-Platz 250 points
A small green square in the shadow of St. Petri, and the spot where the city started: a settlement of about 200 people. Two bites, if you take them slowly. Look at what stands around you before you cross it. None of it is there by accident.
Hauptkirche St. Katharinen 250 points
During the restoration of 2010 and 2011, workers came upon a medieval double doorway that appeared in no building plan and no church record. A door that kept quiet for centuries. Amateur, by my standards, but talented. Before you go in, look up at the top of the tower and ask yourself what it is made of.
Historische Häuser 250 points
Old merchant houses in a row along the Nikolaifleet, on a street that rides the crest of the old dyke and was first written down in 1304. A street served up high, like cake on a stand. One of these houses has a better tale than the rest. I am not saying which.
Laeiszhof 250 points
An office building at the Trostbrücke, Hamburg's oldest bridge. Walk round to the side that faces the water and look up at the roof. Somebody sits up there all day and never asks for lunch. I could not do it.
Eating
Actual food.
Hamburg cooks like a port. Sailors' dishes make up a large part of what it calls its own, and Pannfisch began as leftover fish for the harbour workers. So the thread here is not one famous plate. It is thrift, done well. I approve. I have never wasted a crumb.
Meat and fish
Two, not three. Hamburger Aalsuppe and the Fischbrötchen belong to the city too, but each has only two independent sources behind it, and I ask for three.
Labskaus
First among Hamburg's sailors' dishes: mashed potato with corned beef or salted meat and beetroot, served with a fried egg, beetroot slices and a rollmop. Not everyone's thing, as even Hamburg's own food guide admits. Five things on one plate. I call that sensible.
Sources: Hamburg Tourismus GmbH, Genuss-Guide Hamburg (SZENE HAMBURG), Mit Vergnügen Hamburg
Hamburger Pannfisch
Once the harbour workers' meal of leftover fish, mixed in the pan with crisp fried potatoes and served with a thick mustard sauce. The sauce had a job: hiding fish that had started to smell. Today the fish is fresh and the sauce comes on the side.
Sources: Hamburger Abendblatt (Funke), Nordische Esskultur, Mit Vergnügen Hamburg, hamburg.de
Vegetarian
One. Almost everything the city and its magazines list as Hamburg cooking is fish or meat. The other meat-free classic, braune Kuchen, is vegan in Kemm's original, so it sits with the vegan dishes. Rote Grütze is North German and Scandinavian, not Hamburg's alone.
Franzbrötchen
Hamburg's own pastry: a flat, buttery swirl of soft dough with cinnamon and sugar, out of the city's bakeries. There are even contests for it now. I would sit on the jury. Every round.
Sources: Nordische Esskultur, TRAVELBOOK (Axel Springer), t-online, Mit Vergnügen Hamburg, hamburg.de
Vegan
One. Hamburg's old kitchen runs on fish, meat and butter, and no other vegan dish has three independent sources behind it.
Braune Kuchen
Called cakes, but really biscuits: thin, crisp and spiced with cinnamon and cloves. Kemm's has baked its version since 1782, and across the North they are a Christmas bake. A biscuit wearing a cake's name. Fine by me: I eat both.
Buy Kemm's own, the blue bag on Hamburg's supermarket shelves: the maker says its recipe has always been vegan. Home recipes can use clarified butter or lard, so ask about the fat anywhere else.
Sources: Mit Vergnügen Hamburg, Genuss-Guide Hamburg (SZENE HAMBURG), Hamburg Tourismus GmbH, t-online Hamburg, Kemm'sche Kuchen
Late breakfast
Marshall Street Schopenstehl where locals go
Schopenstehl 30
An Australian-style café that roasts its own coffee, and a real hidden gem of the centre, says a Hamburg city magazine. Breakfast runs from vegan avocado bread to French toast. The buttermilk waffles come with house-made hollandaise. Hollandaise on a waffle. I like how this kitchen thinks.
- Mon08:00–16:00
- Tue08:00–16:00
- Wed08:00–16:00
- Thu08:00–16:00
- Fri08:00–16:00
- Sat09:00–16:00
- Sun09:00–16:00
Sources: European Coffee Trip, Falstaff, Mit Vergnügen Hamburg
Afternoon coffee
OMEN Café come for the one thing: the magazine floor upstairs
Mönckebergstraße 21
One floor above the café sits a whole floor of curated magazines to leaf through. The café below serves coffee, cake and snacks in a stylish, colourful room, three floors above Mönckebergstraße. A whole floor of paper, and I am only allowed to read it.
- Mon10:00–18:00
- Tue10:00–18:00
- Wed10:00–18:00
- Thu10:00–18:00
- Fri10:00–18:00
- Sat10:00–18:00
- Sunclosed
The café is inside the Thomas i Punkt store. Take the lift to the third floor.
Sources: European Coffee Trip, Mit Vergnügen Hamburg
Brühwerk Ferdinandstraße where locals go
Ferdinandstraße 40a
A coffee bar on Ferdinandstraße. A Hamburg city magazine sends anyone here who needs a dose of caffeine against the afternoon slump at the office or the stress of shopping. I never get an afternoon slump. Only an afternoon appetite.
- Mon07:30–17:00
- Tue07:30–17:00
- Wed07:30–17:00
- Thu07:30–17:00
- Fri07:30–17:00
- Sat09:00–17:00
- Sun09:00–17:00
Sources: European Coffee Trip, Mit Vergnügen Hamburg
Dinner
Laufauf the old one
Kattrepel 2
There has been a restaurant in the basement of the Montanhof at Kattrepel 2 since 1927, says the HafenCity Zeitung. Today it is rustic and cosy, with roast beef, steaks and Labskaus on the menu, and at lunch staff from Die Zeit sit among the tourists. Since 1927. For a cellar, a promising start.
- Mon11:30–22:00
- Tue11:30–22:00
- Wed11:30–22:00
- Thu11:30–22:00
- Fri11:30–22:00
- Sat13:00–22:00
- Sunclosed
Look for the steps down: the restaurant is in the basement. Its Labskaus also comes vegetarian or vegan.
Gasthaus an der Alster where locals go
Ferdinandstraße 65-67
An inn on Ferdinandstraße that cooks home-style: schnitzel and stew, and fish such as pike-perch fillet. The lunch menu changes every day, with special offers on top. A new lunch every day. Finally, a menu that keeps up with me.
- Mon11:00–23:00
- Tue11:00–23:00
- Wed11:00–23:00
- Thu11:00–23:00
- Fri11:00–23:00
- Sat11:00–23:00
- Sun11:00–23:00
Sources: Falstaff
Checked 6 October 2026.
Name origin
Why it is called Hamburg.
Hamburg is named after the Hammaburg, the castle the city grew out of. The Archäologisches Museum Hamburg reads the name as “castle in the wet lowland or bay” and says it points to a Saxon founding. On the burghers' medieval seal the town is spelled Hammenburch. Damp ground never bothered me. Pre-washed, like salad.
Sources: Archäologisches Museum Hamburg, Hammaburg-Platz würdigt historische Keimzelle der Stadt; Archäologisches Museum Hamburg, Mythos Hammaburg; Wikipedia (DE) - Landeswappen Hamburgs
Why here
Somebody stood here and decided.
The first settlers built on a tongue of high ground, up to 15 metres, that reaches from the east into the Alster lowland. The Alster loops round it from the north and the west, the Elbe runs to the south, and the whole thing sits in the triangle where the Alster flows into the Elbe: close enough to the big river to be reached quickly from the sea. The money came from trade over the Alster ford and through the harbour, and the first market place was today's Alter Fischmarkt. The ridge runs to a point and slips into the water roughly where the Rathaus stands now. This level holds two medieval towns: the archbishop's, up on the ridge, and the counts' new town of 1188, with its harbour on the Nikolaifleet, which roughly doubled it. Both belong to the district of Hamburg-Altstadt today. High ground, water on three sides: a bread roll in a bowl of soup. I see why they stayed.
Sources: Geschichtsbuch Hamburg (Behörde für Schule und Berufsbildung), Eine kurze Geschichte der Stadt; Archäologisches Museum Hamburg, Mythos Hammaburg; Geschichtsbuch Hamburg (Behörde für Schule und Berufsbildung), Hohes Mittelalter in Hamburg; Wikipedia (DE), Trostbrücke
Why then
When the first stone went down.
The first fortification went up in the 8th century, built by Wends or Saxons, and around 800 the ditch round their manor was filled in. No written source mentions the Hammaburg for that time: the ditch is older than any paperwork. The two famous founding documents are both doubtful. Hamburg was not founded in 834 by Ansgar; the charter that says so is apparently a forgery. And the Freibrief the count obtained from Emperor Frederick Barbarossa survives only as a document the Hamburgers forged themselves, around 1265. Firmer ground comes in 1188, when Count Adolf III of Schauenburg founded a new town beside the archbishop's, and in 1216 the Hamburgers united the two. Two forged charters, one honest ditch. I trust the ditch: nobody ever forged a hole.
Sources: Geschichtsbuch Hamburg (Behörde für Schule und Berufsbildung), Hamburg - eine Burg?; Geschichtsbuch Hamburg (Behörde für Schule und Berufsbildung), Frühes Mittelalter in Hamburg; Nordkirche (Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Norddeutschland), Ausstellung räumt mit Hamburg-Legenden auf; Geschichtsbuch Hamburg (Behörde für Schule und Berufsbildung), Eine kurze Geschichte der Stadt; Geschichtsbuch Hamburg (Behörde für Schule und Berufsbildung), Hohes Mittelalter in Hamburg
Who ruled
Everyone who thought they owned this.
I outlasted all of them. It is the one thing I am good at.
- 1111–1459
In 1111 the counts of Schauenburg were enfeoffed with Holstein and Stormarn, while the archbishops of Bremen stayed lords over Hamburg. In 1188 Count Adolf III founded the new town, in 1228 the archbishop handed his rights over the old one to the counts, and in 1292 they allowed the town to make its own laws. The line died out in 1459.
Sources: Geschichtsbuch Hamburg (Behörde für Schule und Berufsbildung), Eine kurze Geschichte der Stadt; Geschichtsbuch Hamburg (Behörde für Schule und Berufsbildung), Hohes Mittelalter in Hamburg
- 1510–1806
From 1510 Hamburg held its place as a Free Imperial City. The Reichskammergericht confirmed the status in 1618; Denmark, whose king had held Holstein since 1459, recognised it only in 1768. Meanwhile the citizens wanted a say: the Langer Rezess of 1529 wrote it into an agreement with the council, and in 1563 they took over the treasury. I would have gone for the pantry. It lasted until Napoleon's troops marched in, in 1806.
Sources: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (Handwörterbuch des politischen Systems der Bundesrepublik Deutschland), Land (Freie Hansestadt) Hamburg; Wikipedia (DE) - Geschichte Hamburgs; Geschichtsbuch Hamburg (Behörde für Schule und Berufsbildung), Eine kurze Geschichte der Stadt; Geschichtsbuch Hamburg (Behörde für Schule und Berufsbildung), Franzosenzeit in Hamburg
- 1806–1814
Napoleon's troops occupied Hamburg on 19 November 1806, and in December 1810 the city was annexed into the French empire. The French brought modern principles of administration and finance, and split the courts from the administration and the church from the state.
Sources: Geschichtsbuch Hamburg (Behörde für Schule und Berufsbildung), Franzosenzeit in Hamburg
- 1815–1918
In 1815 Hamburg was among the founding members of the German Confederation, a sovereign state, and from 1819 it called itself the Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg. A new constitution of 1860 put the Senate at the top, which is what the council was now called. Until 1871 it was a merchant city with a republican constitution, largely its own master; in the German Empire it stayed a city-state, with a seat and a vote in the Bundesrat.
Sources: Geschichtsbuch Hamburg (Behörde für Schule und Berufsbildung), Restauration, Revolution, Reform in Hamburg; Geschichtsbuch Hamburg (Behörde für Schule und Berufsbildung), Kaiserreich in Hamburg; Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (Handwörterbuch des politischen Systems der Bundesrepublik Deutschland), Land (Freie Hansestadt) Hamburg
- 1949–
By 1947 Hamburg had secured its status as a city-state, not least by pointing to its seaport. The Federal Republic arose in 1949 with eleven Länder, and the constitution Hamburg gave itself in 1952 says it plainly: the Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg is a Land of the Federal Republic of Germany. A city that is also a state. I am a stone that is also a stomach, so double jobs make sense to me.
Sources: Geschichtsbuch Hamburg (Behörde für Schule und Berufsbildung), Nachkriegszeit in Hamburg; Geschichtsbuch Hamburg (Behörde für Schule und Berufsbildung), Der Nordstaat - Schreckbild oder Chance?; Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg - Verfassung (hamburg.de, Stand 04/2023), Verfassung der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg (Stand 04/2023) p. 2; Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg - Verfassung (hamburg.de, Stand 04/2023), Verfassung der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg (Stand 04/2023) p. 6
The emblem
What the shield means.
A white castle with three towers and a closed gate on a red shield: that is how Hamburg's constitution describes its arms. They go back to city seals of the 12th and 13th centuries, and the oldest surviving seal, from 1241, already shows the castle with three towers and a gate. The middle tower with the cross is read as the medieval cathedral; the two stars over the side towers count as Marian stars, after the city's patron saint. Over the centuries the gate was drawn open, with and without a portcullis, and shut, and until the 18th century the castle was red on white. Today's colours rest on a Senate decision of 14 May 1752. Under French rule the arms and every other sign of the city were replaced or altered. And despite what many people assume, the Archäologisches Museum Hamburg says the castle is not the Hammaburg. Gate shut, towers up: my face when someone asks for a bite.
Sources: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg - Verfassung (hamburg.de, Stand 04/2023), Verfassung der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg (Stand 04/2023) p. 6; Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg, Senatskanzlei (hamburg.de), Hamburg Logo, Flaggen und Wappen; Geschichtsbuch Hamburg (Behörde für Schule und Berufsbildung), Hohes Mittelalter in Hamburg; Geschichtsbuch Hamburg (Behörde für Schule und Berufsbildung), Franzosenzeit in Hamburg; Archäologisches Museum Hamburg, Mythos Hammaburg
Emblem: Public domain — official coat of arms (Wikimedia Commons)
Three facts
Three things I know about this place.
The Binnenalster, the lake along Ballindamm, is a dammed river. The Alster was held back to drive mills: first around 1200 at the Untermühle, where the Trostbrücke is today, then on a bigger scale between about 1230 and 1235 by the Reesendamm, where Jungfernstieg runs now. A whole river held back to turn some mill wheels. I respect a landscape rearranged for a snack.
Sources: Stiftung Historische Museen Hamburg, Kein Bier ohne Alster
From 1912 the run-down Gängeviertel here were cleared, and in their place rose the first pure office district on the European continent: the Kontorhaus district, World Heritage since 2015. Opposite the Chilehaus, the Sprinkenhof's façade is covered in bold relief medallions of Hamburg motifs, gulls among them, and the Hamburg arms. A whole district built for desks. Nobody asked me. I would have built it for lunch.
Sources: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg, Behörde für Kultur und Medien (hamburg.de), Beschreibung Kontorhausviertel; Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg, Behörde für Kultur und Medien (hamburg.de), UNESCO-Welterbe
The Trostbrücke over the Nikolaifleet is the oldest link between the two medieval towns, and it is first named in 1266. On its railing stands Ansgar, with “Erzbischof von Hamburg”, archbishop of Hamburg, chiselled at his feet. He arrived as a respected cleric but no archbishop, says the Archäologisches Museum Hamburg, and later took over as bishop of Bremen. The monuments office sees no need to correct the stone: the words were carved when nobody doubted his role. Stone does not take corrections. I would know.
Sources: Hamburg Tourismus GmbH, Trostbrücke; Wikipedia (DE) - Trostbrücke; Nordkirche (Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Norddeutschland), Warum Hamburg seinen „Erzbischof Ansgar“ verloren hat; Archäologisches Museum Hamburg, Mythos Hammaburg
Street words
What the names on the signs mean.
- Twiete
- North German for a narrow passage or lane. Altstädter Twiete, Brandstwiete, Mattentwiete, Steintwiete: this level is full of them. I slurp them like noodles.
- Fleet
- A navigable canal running through the town. Where another city would put a street, Hamburg put water: the Nikolaifleet, the Katharinenfleet. I stick to the bridges.
- Brücke
- Bridge. Trostbrücke, Zollenbrücke, Hohe Brücke, Holzbrücke: this level has plenty, and every one of them is chewy.
- Damm
- A dam or causeway, which in a city this wet is a street with a second job. Ballindamm, Reesendamm, Mönkedamm.
The size of it
Walk it in a day: Hamburg in numbers.
Counted from the streets in the level itself, not from a guidebook.
- 103streets
- 1,250dots
- 19.3km of street
- 23.8km on foot
- 6.8hours at a stroll
Nearby
Old Towns close to this one.
The game
Your first city is free.
Cobble Gobble is a walking game for iPhone. Claim any city as your free one. Every other city is a one-time purchase you keep for good, Family Sharing included, and a city you own plays fully offline.