It’s a fine spring day as we leave Bremen for Germany’s second largest city, Hamburg. Although the motorway network has other ideas to our notion of a quiet drive, bringing plenty of traffic and queues. Nonetheless, a city stay in Hamburg is in our minds and we’re not going to give up.

Luckily there’s a motorhome parking area on the waterfront, in the heart of St.Pauli, making an overnight stay relatively simple. However, we know it’s extremely popular, so to ensure a parking place, we have to be there sharpish.

By late morning, we’re navigating the approach road to the parking area, arriving to discover just one place remaining. A friendly attendant greets us at the entrance, makes a few deep sighs and hand signals before disappearing momentarily.

She’s soon back at our van, waving us through, happily sharing the news of us being able to park in the one space available.

Driving in, we find rows of motorhomes and a few cars too. The parking is just a basic mixed parking area where motorhomes are able to park up for a very reasonable €12.50 overnight fee. It’s cash only and we just about have enough change to pay the fee.

Super convenient for exploring – A city stay in Hamburg

After lunch we’re ready to go off exploring on foot. The good thing about this location is how easy it is to walk everywhere. It’s the usual sort of situation, where the motorhome area isn’t particularly pretty but the convenience more than makes up for it.

Starting off along the waterfront brings us to a series of bars and restaurants lining the River Elbe. Although it’s relatively quiet during the day, this area comes alive by evening.

Beyond the walkways are numerous boating piers, ferrying passengers to various points across the city. It’s a hive of activity. Out on the water the boats of various sizes, from vast cargo ships carrying stacks of containers to small pleasure craft. Everything that floats seems to be out on the water.

Hamburg has Germany’s largest port, the 2nd largest in Europe and largest rail port too. The cranes, boats and containers in the hub of porting life are clearly on display in this vast commercial scene. No wonder Hamburg is known as ‘The Gateway to the World”.

UNESCO Listed

Beyond the walkways of the waterfront we arrive at a network of canals and former brick warehouses. This is HafenCity and the Speicherstadt, the world’s largest contiguous warehouse complex and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

It’s where old meets new and meandering the streets of the old industrial buildings brings the imagination alive. Building of these buildings began in 1883 and a series of bridges crossing narrow canals link the rather wonderful brick warehouses.

Merging with the traditional architecture is a new, modern area. Here we arrive at the Westfield shopping centre and cruise ship port. It’s a busy area with quirky shops and plenty of cafe life, unbelievably, there are over 170 shops here and numerous restaurants in 13 buildings, covering the size of 10 football pitches!

The Townhall and a lake

We may be finding our way around on foot but that’s not always everyone’s choice of exploring a city. For those preferring transport we do notice plenty of the usual Hop On Hop Off buses as well as public transport across the city.

By the time we reach the Rathuasmarkt or townhall area, our feet are becoming a little weary. Hamburg’s town hall was destroyed by fire back in 1842, so the one we see today is the replacement, opened in 1897.

Following a canal through the Alster leads to elegant arcade walkways from where we soon notice a large water spout within a rather big lake.

To be honest, we didn’t know Hamburg had so much water, let alone a lake. Binnenalster is actually a large lake right in the middle of the city. It’s here where we rest our feet at a waterfront restaurant, taking a table on one of the many outdoor seating options on offer.

There’s a good chance here to rest a little and enjoy views of the lake which was created by damming the Alster River. Sipping an Earl Grey and taking an opportunity for a toilet stop has us ready to step back into the city streets.

Designer shopping and a submarine

Our walk back through the city brings us to designer shops and pedestrian streets offering various stores to those wanting a spot of shopping.

For us, window shopping every now and then fits the bill. Otherwise our meandering takes us through the city streets, passing places of worship, parks and office buildings.

Before we know it we’re able to see the waterfront from where we began our city tour on foot. Crossing back to the water brings us to the floating dock of Landungsbruken, a series of walkways which will lead back to the camper parking.

Before retreating to the camper, we walk through the parking area to another well known Hamburg site – the Fish Market. This brick built building sits beside the water, offering tall windows along its walls with filigree ironwork providing interesting detail.

Just beyond sitting in the water is a submarine, one of the largest non-atomic in the world. Once part of the Russian Navy, this U-434 was built in 1976 and was in use until 2002. It’s now a museum, offering visitors an insight into life on board during the Cold War.

Is a city stay in Hamburg worth a stop?

Our motorhome parking option in Hamburg provided a perfect stop for visiting this bustling city with relative ease.

This trip was part of a much larger road trip to Norway. Since we were more or less passing en-route north, this was a good opportunity to see Germany’s second largest city. Hamburg is officially known as the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg by the way!

It’s always a bit tricky in the campervan, working out if it’s worth going to a city. Thankfully, most of the time we’re glad we did! Hamburg was no exception. It’s always good to get a variety of destinations under our belts and ticking off another European city just adds to the expanding list of those seen.

Travel is an education and exploring Hamburg was a way to learn more and immerse ourselves in experiencing the historic and modern sights available.

Motorhome Parking, Sankt Pauli Hafenstraße valid from arrival until 9am – €12.50 on our Thursday visit. We paid the attendant, parking machine was also at the parking.

Ferry crossing – Hull to Rotterdam in April