[Hamburg] Need help with choosing these hotels

Hi, tommy,

First I would suggest looking at the reviews. I like Motel Ones and Holiday Inns, and usually those are good hotels to stay at. They are consistently clean, comfortable and reasonably priced.

However, I would strongly consider removing the HYPERION Hotel Hamburg from your list. For one thing it's further out, but for another, it has very bad reviews on Google (3.1 stars as opposed to the other two, which have 4.1 and 4.4). I don't believe everything I read on Google but I do look at the reviews overall, and a hotel with a rating that low would stay off my list.

That said, I would also consider removing the Holiday Inn, as it is much further out than the Motel One. You can get to places using public transportation, but it's more of a pain because of the location. I like the convenience of being able to walk to a hotel from the city center.

So my choice would be the Motel One. I looked at it on Google Street View and it looks nice, it has public transportation right outside if you need it, and is right next to a large park. I have not stayed at this one, but have stayed at other Motel Ones in Germany and have always been pleased.

Another hotel you might consider is Premier Inn, which has 4-5 locations in Hamburg. They are usually located in decent neighborhoods, and the Premier Inn Hamburg City Center is fairly central to everything. They also might be a bit cheaper than Motel One.

Thank you for that.

However, I would strongly consider removing the HYPERION Hotel Hamburg from your list.

I did look at the google ratings and the reviews as well. They all seems to have pretty positive reviews but I didn't get a good sense of the character of the neighbourhoods. Hyperion was also highly rated at 4.4 out of 4.5K reviews https://g.co/kgs/zvnKtja, could you have been looking at a differnt location? But I take your point that it is a bit further out.

Motel One did have a handful of comments saying the area is not the best (which i assume is because of its close proximity to the main central train and bus stations) and just wanted to get a second opinion given most of the reviews were quite favorable.

I'll look at Premier Inn as well, thank you.

I am not familiar with any of these particular hotels in Hamburg. I like Motel One as a chain , have stay with them elsewhere.

In Hamburg I stay near the area of Hamburg central station, on Kirchenalle, one of the exits of Hamburg Hbf. The hotel is Hotel Fürst Bismarck" a 3 star establishment. Prices vary even in the summer which is the time I've spent there. Basically, Hotel Fürst Bismarck is located across the street from Hamburg Hbf.....very convenient with public transport.

Steindamm is a couple of minutes walk from the hotel and the Kirchenallee exit, going right.

Motel One did have a handful of comments saying the area is not the best (which i assume is because of its close proximity to the main central train and bus stations) and just wanted to get a second opinion given most of the reviews were quite favorable.

I stayed near that area when I was there, and it's a bit rundown but honestly I had no problems (and I'm a solo female traveler). I liked the convenience and there were quite a few good restaurants around including a wonderful Turkish restaurant.

I would check out Fred's recommendation above as well. He travels to Germany a lot and knows some good budget lodgings.

None of these from the location. You aren't near anything you want to see. If you can find something not directly on the Reeperbahn but near Landungsbrücken or something near the Michel, those are probably the best options.

Thanks

The hotel is Hotel Fürst Bismarck" a 3 star establishment.

Unfortunately the hotel does not have rooms for the dates I'm after, but i'll look in that area. But I was of the opinion to stay away from the main central station has it can be a bit sketchy, is that not the case for germany?

I stayed near that area when I was there, and it's a bit rundown but honestly I had no problems (and I'm a solo female traveler).

OK thats good to know. Do you know whether the ubahn station in the area is safe at night given its underground.

If you can find something not directly on the Reeperbahn

Is that part of the Reeperbahn? When i looked on google maps metro one is about a one hour walk away.

One might see the area around Hamburg Hbf in that way. Comparing like with like Hamburg Hbf immediate area is still better than the worse I have seen relative to train station areas, and I have a lot of Hbf to compare with all over Germany.

I am not interested in how others rate or size up a particular Hbf area in Germany, sketchy or not is basically irrelevant to me. Other factors are more important to consider.

So the Reeperbahn is a street. It's also the party and red light district as well as a club and musicals district. The Reeperbahn S-Bahn station is right beside Beatles Platz / Große Freiheit on the western end of the street. It's quite safe despite the seedy reputation (other than pickpockets), but it is very loud, so not a place I would book a hotel (also, you would need to sift out the pay by the hour places ;) ). Get one or two blocks off the main strip, though, and you can find something cool. Particularly on the eastern side of the Reeperbahn, closer to the Spielbudenplatz / Landungsbrücken / Millerntor / U Bahn St. Pauli. That side is far less seedy feeling, and Landungsbrücken is definitely a place you will want to visit. So east side of the Reeperbahn (east of Davidstraße).

Not sure what you think the Reeperbahn S-Bahn is an hour from--it's about 3km from the Hbf (less from the Rathaus) and of course to get there you wouldn't walk--you would take the S-Bahn. But you can walk from the Rathaus to the Reeperbahn pretty easily in half an hour, with sites along the way.

If you are looking at a map of Hamburg, you will see that there is a ring from Landungsbrücken to the tip of the Alster, the Hbf, and back down to the river. Roads, parks and trainlines make it a VERY clear ring on either a satellite or street map. Be inside that ring, and you will probably be pretty satisfied with the location--all of it is close to public transport, close to something cool, and in almost surely a clean, decent, mostly quiet-at-night neighborhood.
**Incidentally, the ring is actually where the old city fortifications and entry points were. There are numerous places with the name "--tor" in that area--Steintor, Millerntor, Dammtor . . . . Tor means gate. These were the city gates. The park is called the Wallanlagen--the hills that were part of the old fortifications ("Wall" in German is actually a protective hill). So the ring is a clear demarcation of the city of Hamburg from back in the day.

Sorry i still don't see how the hotels are on the Reeperbahn, its quite far away from it

https://imgur.com/a/PcIS6dl

They aren't. I said move toward that direction, not that the hotels you had chosen are near there. I think you misunderstood. My comment was that I didn't like any of the locations you had chosen (based solely off location, since that's what you asked--the hotels are probably fine or even good). I said you should look at some of the locations I suggested.

Do you know whether the ubahn station in the area is safe at night given its underground.

Honestly, tommy, I didn't really take the UBahn as I like to walk. That said, the UBahn stop closest to my hotel (Hotel City House on Pulverteich) was the Hauptbahnhof (Sud) and didn't look scary. It was about a 5-6 minute walk from the hotel. My hotel, by the way, was fine and very reasonably priced. I had to book something at the last minute as my other hotel fell through, and found that one a few days before I got there, but it worked for me. It was certainly clean and comfortable, and the staff was very pleasant and helpful. The room was small but not terribly so.

Here are a couple of other threads from this forum that discuss hotels in Hamburg and areas, so you might want to review them. They are all recent (last 2 years). One thing to keep in mind is that the nicer the neighborhood, the higher the price. You haven't given a budget, but it sounds like you are trying to keep the costs down.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/germany/recommendations-for-hotel-in-hamburg
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/germany/hamburg-confusion-restaurants-and-hotels-not-close-together

Ok thank you guys