Cheapest Hamburg Ho/Ho

[barante]

We spent three nights in Hamburg between two MSC cruises and one more after the final cruise. It is an incredible city, one of the greatest I have seen, and I have seen some from Rio de Janeiro to Cape Town.

 

Everyone's demands are different. I read various tripadvisor reports about hop on/hop offs and decided that the best way to go for us was to buy Hamburg cards entitling us to unlimited public transportation during the validity of the tickets. There was of course no narrative in any language. But that was no big problem if one does some googling, etc. By just riding without destinations, we got a good understanding of the whole city and not just some downtown landmarks.

 

One of the great benefits of ho/hoeing the Hamburg Card way is that the buses, light-rail and subway trains come very frequently whereas ho/ho buses circulate only so often. So if you step off and decide you want to move on, there is no dead time.

 

As to the best public transit route, our favorite is Bus 36 which runs from Berne to Blankenesee. Over that route you see various downtown attractions, such as Town Hall, Johannes Brahms Platz, etc. At the Berne end you see a variety of 1960s suburbs from the time when Germans, after destruction and shortages, thought their miracle had taken them to heaven.

 

The real showstopper comes at the Blankenesee end. The 36 route goes through St. Pauli, the Reepersbahn sin strip, then to Altona and within a few hundred yards of the Altona cruise port, then along the Elbe past an incredible collection of impressive mansions and villas, one fashioned after the White House. It goes through gardens, meadows and woods.

 

We did the 36 to kill time between our suburban (Ohlsdorf, near the airport) hotel checkout

and our evening flight first to Riga and then to Helsinki. The day was a rainy, dreary day. The 36 lifted our spirits.

 

One final trip: The most economic way for two or up to five people is to buy a group ticket. Even two constitutes a group. The ticket is up to five, but it's okay for even just one person to ride.