Getting There By Air:Hamburg Airport Tel: (040) 50750.
Website:
www.ham.airport.de Hamburg airport lies 8km (5 miles) north of the city center. Facilities include a bank, bureau de change, post office, ATMs, and Wi-Fi. There are good business facilities, several restaurants, bars and cafes plus a variety of shops with a brand new retail plaza under construction (to open late 2008).
The S-Bahn (suburban rail network) line S1 operates every 10 minutes between Hamburg Airport
and Hamburg's central railway station/Hauptbahnhof. Public buses run to different parts of the city. An alternative is to take the yellow Airport Express bus, run by
Jasper, direct to the main railway station/Hauptbahnhof. These leave every 15 to 20 minutes (journey time - 25 to 30 minutes). Night bus 606 runs from Terminal 2 to Hbf and Rathaus U-Bahn station in the city center.
There are taxi ranks in front of Terminal 1.
Lübeck Airport Tel: (0451) 583 010.
Website:
www.flughafen-luebeck.de Lübeck Airport is 8km (5 miles) south of Lübeck, which itself is 59km (37miles) northeast of Hamburg.
A dedicated
Ryanair bus runs from Hamburg Hbf to Lübeck Airport and back, to coincide with flights (journey time - 75 to 85 minutes). Bus 6 runs to Lübeck Hbf via the town center (journey time - 20 to 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:Germany is covered by an excellent and extensive system of major roads (prefixed ’B’) and motorways (prefixed ’A’ for Autobahn). There are no tolls or speed limits on the Autobahnen but a maximum of 130kph (81mph) is recommended. Speed limits are 130kph (81mph) or 100kph (62mph) on major and minor roads outside the cities and 50kph (30mph) in built-up areas. Traffic drives on the right. Seat belts must be worn at all times and children under 12 are forbidden to travel in the front seat without a child restraint.
National Express (tel: 0870 580 8080, in the UK; website:
www.nationalexpress.com) runs a regular coach service from London to Hamburg.
If you want to take your car to Hamburg from the UK, you will have to take the
Eurostar to Calais or Brussels and drive for a further 763km (477 miles) or 588km (365 miles) respectively.
The main German automobile association is
ADAC (website:
www.adac.de).
Emergency breakdown service: ADAC (tel: 01802 222 222).
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: 0870 518 6186, in the UK; website:
www.eurostar.com). For more journey details go to
www.seat61.com/Germany.htm#Hamburg.
Getting Around:Public TransportHVV (tel: (040) 19449; website:
www.hvv.de) runs an excellent integrated system combining rapid transit rail, regional rail,
buses and harbor
ferries. 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. You must buy tickets for the U-Bahn, S-Bahn and all regional trains in advance. There are no ticket barriers, but 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 you can buy 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. You can buy all travel-only tickets from automated ticket machines at the stations or from bus drivers.
TaxisThe following are reputable companies:
Das Taxi (tel: 221 122),
Hansa Taxi (tel: 211 211) and
Taxiruf Hamburg (tel: 441 011).
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: (040) 5075 2314; website:
www.avis.com),
Budget (tel: (040) 5075 3811; website:
www.budget.com),
Europcar (tel: (040) 500 2170; website:
www.europcar.com),
Hertz (tel: (040) 5935 1367; website:
www.hertz.com),
National/Alamo (tel: (040) 5075 2301; website:
www.nationalcar.com or www.alamo.com) and
Sixt (tel: 01805 262 525; website:
www.e-sixt.com).
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The Columbus World Travel Guide has been published for 26 years and is sold in over 90 countries worldwide.
Word Travels is a comprehensive travel guide covering hundreds of cities and holiday resorts in more than 125 countries.
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