Altona travel guide

Altona, Germany

By the Travel Wiki editorial team

Altona

Introduction

Altona, also known as Hamburg-Altona, is the westernmost borough of the German city-state of Hamburg. It sits on the right bank of the Elbe river, which shapes the district's geography and its outlook toward the water.

Getting there

Altona and St. Pauli are well connected to the rest of the city by public transport, with several S- and U-Bahn lines running between these districts and the central part of Hamburg. If you are arriving by train from elsewhere, Altona railway station is a useful point of entry; it is the second biggest station in Hamburg after Hauptbahnhof in Mitte.

If you are driving, Altona and St. Pauli are easily reached from the A7 north of the Elbe.

Getting around

Altona is a borough of Hamburg, and its transport is part of the city's wider public network, so you do not need a car to explore it. The practical key is the HVV (Hamburger Verkehrsverbund), which coordinates operators, zones and ticketing across the region. One valid HVV ticket covers S-Bahn, U-Bahn, bus, tram and ferry within the zones you have paid for, and transfers are allowed without buying a new ticket. If you arrive by rail, Altona railway station is likely to be your entry point: it is a major interchange in the western part of the city, connecting S-Bahn, U-Bahn and bus services in one place, with several S- and U-Bahn lines linking Altona and neighbouring St. Pauli with the centre.

Both rapid transit systems serve the borough. S-Bahn lines including S1, S3 and S7 fan out from Altona towards destinations such as the airport, Poppenbüttel, Wedel, Blankenese, Neugraben, Pinneberg, Aumühle and Bergedorf, while the U3 stops near Altona heading towards Barmbek. Buses are often the most useful way to reach the waterfront and the districts around the station:

The Bf. Altona bus stop is a short walk from the station, with the Große Rainstraße stop a few minutes further. Services run from early morning until late, so late-evening travel is generally feasible. Ferries are part of the same HVV network, making the river crossing to Övelgönne and the Elbe waterfront straightforward to combine with a bus or rail trip. Fares are zone-based, using a ring system, and the price depends on how many zones you cross. The Einzelfahrschein is valid for a limited time with transfers allowed inside your zones but not return trips; the Kurzstreckenticket is cheaper for very short journeys with no transfers; the Tageskarte gives unlimited travel in your chosen zones for 24 hours from validation, and a Gruppen-Tageskarte covers up to five people for the same period. Weekly and monthly passes suit longer stays, and the Deutschlandticket covers local and regional transport across Germany, including Hamburg. Paper tickets usually must be stamped in an Entwerter before they are valid, found on platforms, at bus doors or at shelter entrances; buying from the driver on many bus routes counts as validation, and app tickets are time-stamped when activated. Inspectors can board without warning, often in plain clothes, and travelling without a valid ticket carries an on-the-spot fine. Use a zone map or an app such as the HVV app or DB Navigator to work out which zones you need. Taxis are available, and the station area is a natural place to find them, but for most visitor journeys within Altona the S-Bahn, U-Bahn and bus network will be quicker and cheaper, so treat taxis as a fallback for late nights, heavy luggage or destinations off the main routes.

Altona is a walkable borough: the historic centre, Altona-Altstadt, sits right by the station, and Ottensen, St. Pauli and the Elbe waterfront are close enough to explore on foot. The network is dense enough that you can combine walking with short hops rather than relying on a single mode for every trip. From Hamburg Airport, the S1 line serves the airport directly and also serves Altona, so you can travel between them without changing to a different mode on a single HVV ticket covering the relevant zones. If you are driving, Altona and St. Pauli are easily reached from the A7 motorway north of the Elbe, but once you are in the borough the public transport network is usually the simpler way to get around.

Where to stay

St. Pauli's youthful character and party-friendly facilities mean you'll find plenty of youth hostels here, while the local hotels mostly serve business visitors attending the trade fairs. In the Schanzenviertel, a trendy quarter, hostels such as Schanzenstern and Instant Sleep Backpacker Hostel offer beds, with the latter also providing a kitchen. Near the Reeperbahn you'll find AO Hostel Reeperbahn, and Superbude St. Pauli sits in a cool area with hip shops and bars close to the football stadium. Kiezbude, converted from an old brothel, offers clean and convenient rooms that may remind you of their former purpose. Further south along Altona's riverbank, accommodation comes with a view and a price to match. For something more comfortable, mid-range options include the NH Hamburg City with its modern suites, the small Stadthaushotel, the Egon Hotel Hamburg City and Hotel-Hamburg-Altona. If you're after a splurge, the East Hotel is a designer property with one of the best lounges and bars in town, while the Empire Riverside Hotel in St. Pauli, designed by David Chipperfield, gives every room a floor-length panoramic window with a view. The Radisson Blu sits next to the Botanical Gardens by Dammtor station, with upper floors looking out over the city and gardens, and connects to the Conference Center Hamburg and the fairgrounds. Campers have few options in Hamburg, but Elbe Camp is beautifully located right on the Elbe river and is great for ship spotters.

Food & drink

Given the character of this part of the city, affordable eateries are easy to find. For a classic Hamburg experience, head to the St. Pauli Fischmarkt, where eating bread with fish is a tradition, especially very early on a Sunday morning — whether it counts as breakfast or an after-party snack depends on your inner clock, but the fish was caught in the Nordsee during the night. Joker on the Reeperbahn is good for a quick bite before going out; try the Oriental Chicken. In Blankenese, Lühmanns Teestube is a friendly local café with light fare, local specialties, pies and baked goods, and a Cornish tea with fresh scones worth trying. Feldstern near U-Feldstraße is a cozy pub and restaurant with affordable German food, outside seating in summer and a weekday lunch menu. Ristorante Borsalino in Schanzenviertel serves pizzas, fresh pasta, meat dishes and a four-course menu, with reservations recommended. Kombüse mixes Mexican food with Hamburg punk and alternative culture, using fresh ingredients with vegan, veggie and meat options and a huge range of hot sauces.

For döner, try Köz Urfa just outside the Altona train station, Lokmam on Susannenstraße — popular with Turkish diners and a short walk from Sternschanze — or Pamukkale Grill and Restaurant, one of the oldest döner stores in Hamburg, with both a takeaway bistro and a restaurant. Falafel options cluster near S-Sternschanze: Falafel factory and Falafelstern on Schanzenstraße, and Azeitona on Beckstraße, where you can also get other oriental food and smoke a shisha. Mid-range choices include Bullerei, a modern steak restaurant at Sternschanze station, and Delta Bistro, tucked on an intermediate floor within a wholesale storehouse, with a surprisingly cozy atmosphere, high-quality meat and fish plus some vegetarian dishes, and huge portions. For a splurge, Fischereihafen-Restaurant on Große Elbstraße offers an excellent view of parts of the port and the river Elbe.

On the drinking side, note that glass bottles are banned in St. Pauli from Friday night until Monday morning; alcohol is still permitted on the street, and vendors can still sell drinks in cans or plastic bottles. Live rock venues include The Academy and Molly Malone on Hans-Albers-Platz, Lehmitz and Molotow/Top Ten Bar on the Reeperbahn, Knust on Neuer Kamp, and Headcrash on Hamburger Berg. For electro and club nights, consider Baalsaal next to Spielbudenplatz, Uebel und Gefährlich in a former World War II bunker on Feldstraße, and Tunnel on Große Freiheit. Cafés worth knowing are Cafe Klatsch, La Tazza d'oro and the tapas bar MarYSol in Ottensen, while the Schulterblatt area in Schanze has many bars and cafés, often with Portuguese or Spanish background. Among the bars, Christiansen's Fine Drinks & Cocktails is an award-winning cocktail bar; BPSchanzen1 is a tiny bar with different DJs; Gun Club is a grungy but friendly punk cellar bar known for its Mexikaner shot; Komet and Eldorado both deal in 1950s–70s music in period settings; Shebeen is a cheap and cheerful St. Pauli FC hangout; Washington-Bar is covered in Hunter S. Thompson quotes with a small dance floor and an excellent gin and tonic selection; and Zur Ritze, down a small alley near the Beatlesplatz, is almost always open.

What to see and do

Altona's history reaches back nearly as far as Hamburg's, but little of it survives in the built landscape. The Altona-Altstadt holds few traces of the old town; to find what remains, head north up Max-Brauer-Allee and explore the streets branching east, where Lornsenplatz is especially pleasant. Much of the district is green and residential, dominated by post-war construction of limited interest. If you would rather seek out preserved historic buildings mixed with newer ones, make for the riverbank south of Bahnhof Altona, passing the district's town hall and museum. The Altonaer Museum covers the cultural history of Altona, Hamburg and northern Germany, while the Altona City Hall, built in 1898 when Altona was still a separate city, is an impressive building with Italian Renaissance influences. At Dockland you can climb 136 steps to the roof for a view of the harbour; the six-storey glass and steel structure is shaped like a parallelogram, reminiscent of a ship's bow. Further out, the Altonaer Volkspark, once the city park of independent Altona, has been left in a more natural state than Hamburg's Stadtpark, and on its northern edge stand the Volksparkstadion, home ground of HSV, and the multi-purpose Barclaycard Arena. Around the harbour, the Landungsbrücken are the most touristy stretch of Hamburg's waterfront, with piers linked by bridges that rise and fall with the tide, souvenir shops, restaurants and snack bars, and the sailing ship Rickmer Rickmers to visit. These old passenger docks were where many emigrants from eastern Europe left for the Americas in the 19th century; today they serve as the departure point for harbour tours and public ferries, and the stroll eastwards along the water towards HafenCity is very pleasant. Moored near the Fischmarkt is U-434, one of the biggest non-nuclear Soviet submarines, open for guided tours. The Alter Elbtunnel, completed in 1911, links both banks of the Elbe: a lift or stairs take you down into one of its two long pipes, with water overhead, and at the far side you climb back up. The tunnel is decorated with ceramic maritime motifs and is free for pedestrians and bicycles day and night. Nearby, the Museumshafen Oevelgönne displays historical boats. In Sankt Pauli, the Reeperbahn is the district's defining street, a centre of nightlife and the city's red-light district, where you will find everything from vaudeville to bars and sex shops, and where shopkeepers give serious, open advice on sex-related articles. It is relatively safe and decidedly touristy, and plenty of people come for dinner, live music, theatre or musicals; you may be approached by prostitutes, and if you are not interested, simply ignore them. The local football club, F.C. St. Pauli, has a leftist, antifascist fan base and plays in the 2nd Bundesliga — if you can get a ticket for a match, don't miss it. Three times a year the Hamburger Dom, a large fair, is held on the Heiligengeistfeld. The Panoptikum is a wax cabinet with a history of over 125 years, the oldest in Germany, though in its current location only since the 1950s. The Flakturm IV, a World War II bunker on the Feldstraße, is visible from far off and now houses media companies and a dance club on its upper floor, while the Sankt Pauli Museum and the St. Pauli Archiv, which arranges themed walks around the district, document local history. Among the streets and squares, Hafenstraße was a squatters' stronghold in the 1980s, and some squats remain. Beatles-Platz honours the Beatles with a sculpture, and clubs where they played in the early 1960s, including the Indra and Star Club, are in the area. Grosse Freiheit is a pedestrian street packed with bars and clubs, crowded and best avoided late on weekends but harmless on weekdays. Hans-Albers-Platz holds a memorial to the actor who helped make the Kiez famous, and Herbertstraße, the epicentre of the red-light district, runs parallel to the Reeperbahn behind gates at both ends — adults only, with photography strictly banned. Spielbudenplatz takes its name from the entertainers who once put on shows there for sailors from around the world.

Three days in Altona

Day one: Start in Altona itself, getting your bearings around the station area before heading down toward the Elbe. The waterfront at Neumühlen is the natural first stop, and from there you can follow the river on foot or use the Fähre to cross toward St. Pauli. In the evening, stay in Altona rather than crossing into Mitte - the neighbourhood has its own character and is easier to enjoy without rushing.

Day two: Use the HVV network to explore the western edge of Hamburg. The S-Bahn runs from Altona out through Othmarschen, Klein Flottbek and Rissen toward Wedel, while the line to Blankenese gives you a different view of the Elbe. Buses connect many of these places where the Bahn does not, and Teufelsbrück is a useful point for the river. If you want a longer ride, continue to Wedel rather than turning back at Blankenese.

Day three: Head east and north using the same HVV ticket. Routes from Altona reach Bahrenfeld, Eidelstedt and Langenfelde, while the S-Bahn links toward Hauptbahnhof, Berliner Tor and Barmbek. For a change of pace, the lines out to Poppenbüttel, Aumühle and Bergedorf show you Hamburg beyond the centre, and the ZOB near Hauptbahnhof is the hub if you prefer buses. Both the Bahn and the buses run frequently, so you can shape the day around what you find rather than a fixed schedule.

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