Hamburg Tourist And Financial Services

Tourist Offices: Hamburg’s main tourist offices supply free English-language maps and pamphlets. All sell the Hamburg Card. The Hauptbahnhof office, in the Wandelhalle (the station’s main shopping plaza) near the Kirchenallee exit (☎040 30 05 12 01; www.hamburg-tourism.de), books rooms for a €4 fee and shares a space with the local transportation resource (HVV). Open M-Sa 8am-9pm, Su 10am-6pm. The Sankt Pauli Landungsbrücken office (☎040 30 05 12 03), between piers 4 and 5, is often less crowded than the Hauptbahnhof office. 0pen Oct.-Mar. daily 10am-5:30pm; Apr.-Sept. M, W, Su 8am-6pm, Tu and Th-Sa 8am-7pm. The English-speakers on the Hamburg Hotline (☎040 30 05 13 00) book rooms (€4 fee), sell event tickets, and answer questions. Open daily 8am-8pm.
Tours: Information booths for many tours are located at the Sankt Pauli Landungsbrücken and in the Hauptbahnhof.
- Top-Tour Hamburg (☎040 641 3731; www.top-tour-hamburg.de). Double-decker buses leave from the Kirchenallee exit of the Hauptbahnhof for landlubbers (Top-Tour) and the St. Pauli Landungsbrücken for the nautically inclined (Maritim-Tour). The ambitious may combine the two in the all-encompassing Gala Tour. Buses leave every 30min. daily Apr.-Oct. 9:30am-5pm; fall and winter tours every hr. 10am-3pm. If a sight seems intriguing, you can hop off anytime for a look and catch the next bus. English-language tours upon request. €14, students €11.50, children free.
- Stattreisen Hamburg, Kuhberg 2 (☎040 430 3481; www.stattreisen-hamburg.de). Offbeat 1-2hr. themed walks, with titles like “Reeperbahn by Night,” “Merchants and Catastrophes Downtown,” and “Neon-lights, Seedy Bars, and Catholics in St. Pauli.” Most tours are given in German; however, English-language tours are offered on a less frequent basis. Call for times and locations. €7-46.
- Alster-Touristik (☎040 357 4240; www.alstertouristik.de), on Jungfernstieg by the Außenalster. See Hamburg as the swans do. Walk to the Außenalster or take the U1 or U2, or S1 or S3 to “Jungfernstieg” and follow the swan signs. 50min. boat rides around the lakes. Tours leave daily late Mar.-Oct. every 30min. 10am-6pm, €10, under 16 €5. Winter tour with cocoa through Nov. Group discounts. Also offers more expensive trips through the city’s canals as well as a 3hr. tour to Bergedorf.
- Stadtrundfahrten Hamburg (☎040 792 8979), at the Hauptbahnhof’s Kirchenallee exit, offers similar routes to Top-Tour at a slighty higher price with tours of the city, harbor, museums, and riverside. Look for red double-decker buses or a small train. Apr.-Oct. daily every 30min. 9:30am-5pm; Nov.-Mar. daily every hr. 10am-5pm. Adult €15, with Hamburg card €13, under 12 free.
- Jogging Tours (☎01631 73 87 80; www.touristjogging.com). Work off that wurst. A variety of jogs around the Altstadt, St. Pauli, or the Neustadt 7-10km. €35 for 1 person, €51 for 2. Call for points of departure, times, and possible English tours.
Consulates: Most consulates flank the ritzy neighborhoods on the western shore of Außenalster, Harvestehuder Weg, and smaller streets branching off of them. Canada: Ballindamm 35 (☎040 460 0270), between Alestertor and Bergstr. U1 or S1-3 to “Jungfernstieg.” Open M-F 9:30am-12:30pm. Ireland: Feldbrunnenstr. 43 (☎040 44 18 61 13). U1 to “Hallerstr.” Open M-F 9am-1pm. New Zealand: Domstr. 19 (☎040 442 5550), on the 2nd fl. of block C of of Zürich-Haus. U1 to “Messberg.” Open M-Th 9am-1pm and 2-5:30pm, F 9am-1pm and 2-4:30pm. UK: Harvestehuder Weg 8a (☎040 448 0320). U1 to “Hallerstr.” Open M-Th 9am-4pm, F 9am-3pm. US: Alsterufer 27/28. (☎040 41 17 11 00). S11, S21, or S31 to “Dammtor.” Open M-F 9am-noon.
Currency Exchange: ReiseBank (☎040 32 34 83), 2nd fl. of the Hauptbahnhof near the Kirchenallee exit, arranges money transfers for Western Union, cashes traveler’s checks (1.5% commission, charges €6.50 to cash 1-9 checks, €10 for 10 checks, and €25 for 25 checks, and exchanges currency for a fixed charge of €3-5. Open daily 7:30am-10pm. ReiseBank also has branches in the Altona and Dammtor train stations as well as in the Flughafen. Citibank, Rathausstr. 2 (☎040 30 29 62 02), U3 to “Rathaus.” Cashes traveler’s checks, including AmEx. Open M-F 9am-1pm and 2-6pm. For better rates, try one of the dozens of exchanges and banks (most of which are open M-F 9am-5pm) near the Hauptbahnhof or downtown.