Germany Guide
Hamburg
Arrival
Served by domestic and international carriers, Hamburg airport ( 
040/507 50, 
www.ham.airport.de ) is around 8km north of the centre. The canary-yellow Airport Express leaves from a stop outside Terminal 1 (every 10–15min 4.45am– midnight; 25min; single €5, return €8; 040/227 10 60, www.jasper.de ), for the Hauptbahnhof. Alternatively bus #110 links the airport to S/U-Bahn station Ohlsdorf (every 10min 5.40am–12.40am), and bus #52 goes to Bahnhof Altona (every 30min 5.50am–10.30pm). A taxi to the Hauptbahnhof costs around €25.
The most useful of Hamburg's four train stations are the Hauptbahnhof, a fifteen-minute walk east of the Rathaus and a short way west of St Georg, and Bahnhof Altona in the west of the city. Depending on their direction of approach, some services also call at Bahnhof Dammtor north of the centre or Bahnhof Harburg in the south of the city. The ZOB (bus station) is just southeast of the Hauptbahnhof on Adenauerallee. Though far from dangerous compared with other European cities, Hamburg demands basic city sense around the Kirchenallee exit of the Hauptbahnhof despite efforts to clean up the area in the past decade. A large police presence keeps hassle at a minimum but this – and nearby Hansaplatz – are not places to linger at night. Incidentally the main safety issues around the Reeperbahn are pickpockets and belligerent drunks.
If you're arriving by car be aware that car parks are expensive in the centre – a large harbour-side car park east on Hafenstrasse, east of St-Pauli-Landungsbrücken, is a cheaper alternative – although most hotels provide parking at reduced costs. If you leave a car in the suburbs check and recheck that your chosen spot is legitimate. Towing companies demand a ransom of around €400 to release cars from a pound in Rothenburgsort on top of charges for the parking incurred in the pound itself.