Getting There By Air:Hamburg Airport Tel: (40) 50 750.
Website:
www.ham.airport.de Hamburg airport lies 5 miles (8 km) north of the city center.
You can fly direct to Hamburg from all London airports and most major provincial airports in the UK. The cheapest flights are usually provided by
German Wings, from Gatwick (tel: 0870 252 12 50; website:
www.germanwings.com) and
Easyjet, from Bristol (tel: 0905 821 0905; website:
www.easyjet.co.uk).
British Airways (tel: 0870 850
9 850; website:
www.ba.com) and
KLM (tel: 870 243 0541; website:
www.klm.com) provide scheduled flights.
An HVV Airport Express bus, no. 110, connects with the railway system (S1 and U1 lines) at Ohlsdorf station. It runs every 10 minutes with a 10-15 minute journey time. The stop is outside Terminal 2 and the fare includes the onward journey to the city center. You can pay on the bus or buy your ticket from the information office at the airport in the arrivals area. An alternative, depending on whereabouts in the city center you are staying, is to take the yellow Airport Express bus, run by Jasper, which goes direct to the main railway station/ Hauptbahnhof (Hbf). If you are not sure which is most convenient ask at the airport information office. These leave every 15 to 20 minutes and the journey time is 25-30 minutes. The service runs from the airport to Hbf from 0545 until midnight, and from Hbf to the airport from 0440 until 2120. The bus stop is between Terminals 1 and 2. When the service finishes for the evening a nightbus, no. 606, runs from Terminal 2 to Hbf and Rathaus U-Bahn station in the city center. A direct rail link from the airport to the city center should be in operation from 2008.
There are taxi-ranks in front of Terminal 1.
Lübeck Airport Tel: 451 58 30 10.
Website:
www.flughafen-luebeck.de Lübeck Airport is 8km (5 miles) south of Lübeck, which itself is 59km (37miles) north east of Hamburg.
Ryanair (website:
www.ryanair.co.uk) fly to Lübeck from Stansted. A dedicated Ryanair bus runs from Hamburg Hbf to Lübeck Airport and back, to coincide with flights. The journey takes 75-85 minutes. Bus no. 6 (at bus stop 5) runs to Lübeck Hbf via the town center, with a journey time of 20-30 minutes.
Taxis are available from outside the terminal building and are an option if you are staying in Lübeck (journey time around 20 minutes), but would be very expensive to hire to Hamburg.
Getting There By Road:Anglia-Lines Coach Travel (tel: 0870 608 8806; website:
www.anglia-lines.co.uk) runs a daily coach service from London to Hamburg.
DFDS Seaways (tel: 08702 520 524; website:
www.dfdsseaways.co.uk) operates a car ferry from Harwich to Cuxhaven, about 125 km (75 miles) from Hamburg. The boat departs Harwich at 1600 and arrives in Cuxhaven at 1130 the next day. An alternative is to take the
Eurostar to Calais and drive east for 763km (477 miles).
The main German automobile association is
ADAC (website:
www.adac.de).
Emergency breakdown service: ADAC: 89 22 22 22
Getting There By Rail:Trains from all over Europe run to Hamburg, terminating at the main central station Hauptbahnhof Sud (Hbf), its satellite Hauptbahnhof Nord or at Altona, Dammtor, Bergedorf and Harburg. All are connected to the U-Bahn (underground railway) and S-Bahn (overground light railway) network.
There is no direct rail link between the UK and Hamburg. If you want to do the trip in the same day, you will have to change at Brussels and Cologne. If you take an overnight train, you only need change once, at either Paris or Brussels. For both options contact
Eurostar (tel: 08705 186 186; website:
www.eurostar.com). For more journey details go to
www.seat61.com/Germany.htm#Hamburg Getting Around:HVV run an excellent integrated system combining rapid transit rail, regional rail,
buses and harbor
ferries (tel: (40) 19 449; website:
www.hvv.de). You will spend most time on the
U-Bahn (
Unterbahn, underground railway) and
S-Bahn (
Schnellbahn, rapid transit light railway) interlinked network. Each line (there are four main U-lines and four main S-lines) is designated by a color and number. On both the trains and buses clear signposting, indicator boards and on-board announcements make sure you know in which direction you are moving and what the next stop is. Tickets for the U-Bahn, S-Bahn and all regional trains must be purchased in advance. There are no ticket barriers, however if you are caught by an inspector without a ticket you will be fined heavily.
You can buy individual tickets per journey but if you are around for a day or more it is worth investing in an All Day ticket; which offers unlimited travel for one adult and three children under the age of 15. The
9AM Day Card offers the same but is only valid after 0900. There is also a three-day ticket valid for unlimited travel by one person throughout the Greater Hamburg Area.
The
Hamburg Card, which can be purchased at the tourist office, gives unlimited travel first class on all public transport in the Greater Hamburg area and also grants free or reduced-price admission to many top attractions and excursions. All travel-only tickets can be bought from automated ticket machines at the stations or from bus drivers.
TaxisThe following are reputable companies:
Das Taxi (tel: 22 11 22),
Hansa Taxi (tel: 211 211) and
Taxiruf Hamburg (tel: 44 10 11).
Car HireDriving into Hamburg has all the drawbacks of driving and parking in any other major city and is not recommended. Note that if you do drive you can leave your car free-of-charge at one of the
HVV park-and-ride facilities (see
www.hvv.de for more information) at rapid transit and regional rail stations which avoids the hassle of finding an inner-city driving and parking.
Car hire operators at the airport include
Avis (tel: (40) 5075 2314; website:
www.avis.com),
Budget (tel: (40) 5075 3811; website:
www.budget.com),
Europcar (tel: (40) 5002 170; website:
www.europcar.com),
Hertz (tel: (40) 5935 1367; website:
www.hertz.com),
National/Alamo (tel: (40) 5075 2301; website:
www.nationalcar.com or www.alamo.com) and
Sixt (tel: 01805 26 25 25; website:
www.e-sixt.com).
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