I'm currently piecing together my trip to HAM this April for a convention on the 17th. It seems that I'll be open for 5 days and am looking for any new ideas on what to do during my stay. I've been thinking about taking a trip down to Bremen and maybe do some city hopping around the country but I haven't firmed anything up yet. Any fellow traveller care to share some ideas?

This thread is good starting point:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=656630

I know the Hamburg area fairly well - will put my thinking cap on overnight for more suggestions!

I'd consider a day trip to L�beck - short train ride - and get some Marzipan over there

I remember, on the Fischmarkt there's a great Cocktail bar ...

St. Pauli (red light district) walking tours are great ^

and of course .. a harbor cruise

As Hamburg is the second largest town in Germany there are so many ways to spend a few days at leasure - it really depends on your interests:

That�s a good one. L�beck has a very nice old town area, nice beaches (depends on weather) and of course the famous Marzipan.

Not only one. As you�re too early to enjoy the beachclubs, I recommend the Au Quai in "Gro�e Elbstra�e", the IndoChine in "Neum�hlen" or the rooftop bar in the hotel "Hafen Hamburg" for a classic drink with unbeatable harbour views. In Gro�e Elbstra�e are also many good restaurants in different styles.

Many other things to do:

- hop on hop off city tour for first orientation
- harbor cruise
- alster lake cruise
- walk through "speicherstadt" (the old freeport) and new and stylish port city area
- walk through "Blankenese", Hamburgs little Italy when you have good weather.
- visit one of the many museums like "Hamburg History Museum", "Art Hall", "Spice Museum" and so on.
- from end of March (22nd) to middle of April there is "DOM" in Hamburg - big party and action park on "Heiligengeistfeld".
- there are many musicals in the city
- nice side trip destinations by train or car are L�neburg (old town), Bremen (more or less like Hamburg - only smaller) and as mentioned above L�beck.
- if you�re a firsttimer in Germany consider a day trip to the capital Berlin. Highspeed-Trains are running every hour - traveltime is 90 minutes.

For an overview and an event-calendar: main tourist information is in the central station.

If you�re not familiar with the surroundings, don�t enter the reeperbahn district by night alone. It�s not really dangerous but can be an expensive experiance - afterwards you will know the northgerman word "kobern" very well ;-) - better join an organized tour or ask the concierce at your hotel.

http://www.hamburg.de is availlable in english and gives you many more suggestions.

Somewhat off the beaten track... but one of my favourite places in the Hamburg area is a little town called Ratzeburg. Unfortunately it's not quite as easy to get to as Lübeck or Bremen as there are no direct trains (you need to change at Büchen - or detour via Lübeck or Lüneburg)

Couldn't find any information in English, but there are some pretty pictures at www.ratzeburg.de - click on "Stadt Region" (left-hand side of page) then "Ratzeburg Ansichten" (top right-hand corner) (The site uses frames, hence no direct URL for the pretty pictures)

L�beck, of course. For another day trip to a pretty, romantic old town much different from L�beck, let me recommend Celle: http://www.celle.de/index_2.phtml?La=2&start=1
Celle can be reached by IC train on the main route to Hannover in about 45 minutes.

Thanks all for the recommendations! L�beck, Ratzeburg, and Celle do look like excellent ways to see what's nearby and I'll be looking more into the three. One thing I definitely try and to is the day trip to Berlin as, indeed, it is my first time in the country. Since it is just 90 minutes, I believe I'll be able to spend a day or two there. ^

Have a nice trip and a pleasant stay. Timetables, informations and prices for your rail-trip to Berlin:

http://www.bahn.de/p/view/internatio...l_guests.shtml

If you are into nature and a bit of luxury I would suggest a visit to Sylt. Really nice island with very nice hotels, long beaches and good dining options.
here is the link to it www.sylt.de
In spring its stil a quiet place not so over crowded like in summer.

That might be true - if it would not be the week after eastern.

Traditional travelling time! And one of the high seasons of Sylt.

You may not have enough time, but here is a two-day itinerary that I would highly recommend:

Day 1 - take an early train to Lübeck, spend the day sightseeing there, stay overnight

Day 2 - take a boat ride from Lübeck to Rothenhusen (River Wakenitz), then another boat across the lake from Rothenhusen to Ratzeburg. I don't know how the connections work out in April, but if you have a wait in Rothenhusen there is a nice lakeside restaurant there, and some scenic walks. Spend the rest of the day in Ratzeburg, take a late train back to Hamburg.

More information:

http://www.wakenitz-schiffahrt-quandt.de/
http://www.maiworm-schiffahrt.de/
http://www.schiffahrt-ratzeburg.de/

(The first two are in Geman only)

There are two "Wurstbuden" on the M�nckebergstrasse, try a "Currywurst" there, very good.

Also a must for tourists: Hafenrundfahrt, Speicherstadt and Minaturwunderwelten

Another possibility - a triangle trip as follows: ICE train from Hamburg to Berlin (about 99 minutes). One full day overview visit to the capital city. Then, ICE train from Berlin to Wolfsburg (about 65 minutes). Half-day visit to Autostadt, a wonderful visitor attraction adjoining the Volkswagen HQ/main factory, featuring the products of the VW Group (VW, Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley, SEAT, Skoda). Then return to Hamburg (ICE train, about 120 minutes).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autostadt

http://www.autostadt.de/portal/site/www/

I hope I don't offend anyone by saying this - but one of the most fun things my husband and I (American tourists) did in Hamburg was go to a sex show in the Reeperbahn. It was like a Broadway musical - except everyone was naked (although the men were wearing condoms). This isn't like Las Vegas. It's real sex - and group sex at that. The plot was very easy to understand even though we didn't speak German .

There were women in the audience who approached men and left with them. My husband followed them once - trying to find the men's room - and discovered that there was a brothel attached to the club. Not our cup of tea. But the show itself was great fun.

If you have any interest in doing this - I have one BIG cautionary statement. Many of these places aren't very nice - or very honest. We asked the concierge in our hotel (Intercontinental) if he could recommend any which were ok - and he said (at the time) that there were only two. He sold tickets to both . At the place we went to - there was a fixed price which included one drink - and no one pressured us to have another. We also asked the concierge to recommend a restaurant in the area. He said only one was ok. It was a family Italian restaurant. Food was ok - nothing great - but we had fun chatting with the staff in Italian.

Note that the night we went - a group of Japanese men staying at the hotel arrived back about when we did. Accompanied by the police. They had gone to a place *not* recommended by the concierge - had bought lots of drinks for women - and wound up with a multi-thousand dollar bill which they refused to pay. Then the club owner called the police.

Anyway - I think this is an interesting thing to do - but it should only be done with the advice of someone who is very knowledgeable about the area. Robyn

Yeah, Reeperbahn is a must, went there for the first time in Feb., on a cold Monday, almost nobody on the streets, except some whores (yes, they want to be called whores). There are many places that women aren't allowed to enter (like Herbertstrasse and a "Laufhaus", an advise to all ladys: DON'T EVEN TRY IT). I haven't been to a show or a stripbar, like the famous "Dollhouse", but it still was an impressive experience, all places do have one thing in common though: all are very expensive (expect at least 10€ for a beer). Anyway it is a part of Hamburg, and as a tourist you shouldn't miss it. But my friend from Hamburg recommended Thursday till Sunday.