In 1960 a young band from Liverpool came to play a series of nights in the St Pauli area of Hamburg, which was best known for its dockers’ pubs, nightclubs and strip bars. The Beatles, then comprising five members and all in their teens, were sent across by their manager to earn some money and hone their skills. It undoubtedly worked!

Living in what they described as a store cupboard, with no hot water and limited hygiene facilities, they played for four hours daily (six at weekends) at the Indra Club on Große Freiheit in the city’s Reeperbahn district, probably Europe’s best-known red-light zone after Amsterdam.

For that they received the princely sum of 30 Deutschmarks (£2.50 per person) a day, but it allowed them to practice their technique and develop as live performers. “We had to learn millions of songs because we’d be on for hours,” George Harrison later said. “Hamburg was really like our apprenticeship, learning how to play in front of people”.

Over the next couple of years they moved to play in other bigger venues in the area: the Kaiserkeller (where they met future drummer Ringo Starr), the Top Ten Club and the Star Club. Their last appearance in the city was on New Year’s Eve 1962, by which time they had already made their entry into the British charts.

As young men dropped into a strange city with temptation on every doorstep, it’s fair to say they made the most of their time in St Pauli. As John Lennon once said “I was born in Liverpool but I grew up in Hamburg.”

Fab Five landmarks

In recognition of the city’s role in helping shape the most famous band of all time, the square where the Reeperbahn meets Große Freiheit has been renamed Beatles Platz and features a 29 metre image of a record in the paving, together with five steel hollow sculptures. There are numerous plaques in the area indicating where the Beatles played and lived.

A spotlight on the group’s early years doesn’t exactly showcase Germany’s second biggest city in the most favourable light, as the St Pauli area is still fairly seedy. It hasn’t changed too much in the last 60 years and still features a variety of late night venues along the Reeperbahn.

There are a couple of ways to follow the Beatles experience in Hamburg. The Beatles Tour runs for three hours daily every Thursday-Sunday, with a tour guide who grew up in the area in the 50s and 60s giving his own personal recollections of what it was like for the Beatles to perform back then.

For a more individual experience self confessed Beatles super-fan Stefanie Hempel has been showing tourists around the local sites for over 15 years. Her tour is interwoven with Beatles tunes knocked out on her ukulele and finishes with a selection of their greatest hits on the Beatles Platz.  Her tour comes highly recommended by Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn and head of the Beatles fan club Freda Kelly.

The role the city played in the formative years of a band that went on and conquered the world gives Hamburg an important part in rock n roll history

St Pauli FC, situated in the Hamburg suburb of the same name, is a football club like no other in Germany. Whilst all German football clubs are deeply embedded within their respective towns and cities and are sources of civic pride (or disappointment), St Pauli has a bond with its neighbourhood which is completely unique.

The area in which it is located is not the prettiest. It’s not far from the industrial docks on the Elbe, in a residential area which is a stone’s throw from the infamous Reeperbahn and Hamburg’s Red Light district. No other club in Germany has its stadium in such an urban working environment.

Its five principles, which were passed by the club’s congress in 2009, includes one which states ‘St Pauli FC is the club of a particular city district and it is to this that it owes its identity. This gives it a political and social responsibility in relation to the district and the people who live there.’

As a result it’s the most ‘political’ of all the clubs, with a strong link to radical (though not revolutionary) left wing ideology, and it was the first one in Germany to ban right wing nationalist activities. The club is avowedly anti racist, anti sexist and anti homophobic. Two of the stands have the following permanent banners ‘Kein Mensch ist illegal’ (no one is illegal) and ‘Kein Fußball den Faschisten’ (No football for fascists).

Like a lot of clubs, it has a museum within the stadium. However unlike other museums it doesn’t feature a single trophy, because the club has never won anything. The museum was installed when a new stand was built in 2010; the police wanted to relocate their nearby station into the stadium…but the fans refused, coming up with the idea of a trophy-less museum to fill the space instead.

The club emblem, of a skull and crossbones, sums up its rebellious ethos, perfectly at ease with going against the prevailing winds of popular opinion. The story goes that it was adopted after the drunk lead singer of a local punk band (and fan) brought a skull and crossbones flag to a game in the early 1980s. Fittingly the teams runs out at the start of each game to the accompaniment of AC/DC’s Hells Bells.

Despite its lack of sporting success the club regularly features among the best supported teams in the second division. Games are permanently sold out and tickets are very rarely available for general sale. A full house of 29,500 generates an unbelievable atmosphere, helped by the fact that 60 percent of the stadium consists of Stehplätze (standing areas), a far higher proportion than other grounds in the top three divisions.

The lack of sporting success doesn’t bother the fans. In fact to a certain extent it probably strengthens the bond between club, fans and the community. They are fans of its ideology and ethos, more than they are fans of the football team, and commercial decisions are often taken with a view to their effect on fan sentiment, rather than the need to win.

So if you want a footballing experience where there is so much more going on than just the events on the pitch, St Pauli is the place to go…good luck in getting hold of a ticket though!

I was born and raised in Hamburg 51 years ago, and although I have lived and studied in other German states and in Italy and Austria, a relationship eventually brought me back to this city.

The city district I particularly love is Altona. With its mix of old and new architecture, it is an edgy place, with a diverse population including creative types from all over the world. It is open-minded, unconventional and politically active, and there are lots of bars and cafes. Along with its neighbour St Pauli, there are lot of community enterprises here, as well as squatter enclaves, charity parties, and even churches which offer meditation and dance classes. It is also close to the Elbe river with its harbour and parks. On a summer’s evening a particular pleasure is to head down to the Elbe beach to watch the sunset from the beach bar Strandperle.

Of course I do also go downtown for my social life, sometimes to Le Lion, for excellent cocktails, right in the shadow of the Rathaus. But the place which takes cocktails to another level is the Chug Club, on Taubenstrasse in St. Pauli, the traditional entertainment district, a place which has cleaned up its act greatly in the last few years. The Chug Club is incredibly hospitable, and its menu features flights of cocktails, five tasters at a time.

Afterwards, for dinner, I might go to Clouds, for its fantastic view of the city and the harbour. The restaurant is up on the 23^rd floor of the so-called Dancing Towers, a distinctive skyscraper right by the Reeperbahn in St Pauli. The food up here is good, although it can be expensive.

If I am downtown during the day I will sometimes pop into Daniel Wischer by the Rathaus, where it offers very good value for money despite its central location. The speciality here is fresh fish, and I love the cucumber salad.

An unusual option, especially when the sun goes down, is the Kleinhuis Restaurantschiff,  located on an old ferry boat on the Elbe river in Ottensen, right by the landing stage where the regular number 62 ferry arrives from Landungsbrücken.

And finally, a really reliable old friend is the Burger Lab, back in Altona. It’s a cool place, very uncomplicated, not part of a chain, and with good staff. I love it, and in summer I am here once a week.

It always faintly annoys me when I’m confronted with the perception of German food abroad, i.e. that it’s not the country’s forte. It simply doesn’t mirror my own German food reality. Maybe that has to do with the fact that I was born in the 1970s and therefore lucky enough to bypass grimmer times in the nation’s food history.

In general, I’ve always eaten well in Germany and am used to a wide variety of dishes that go far beyond the Bratwurst and Sauerkraut myth. (Although I like both!) German contemporary cooking is a completely different affair, lighter and betraying the influence of different types of cuisine, from Mediterranean to Asian. Similar to their British counterparts, Germans have become a nation of foodies where you can’t switch on the TV without finding some kind of cooking programme on one of the channels, and publicity-minded chefs are happy to show their faces on the screen.

Eating, food and restaurants are topics du jour. People like to talk about food, to spend money on cookery items and books, and you should see what they cook up on ‘Das perfekte Dinner” (‘The perfect dinner’), the German equivalent of ‘Come Dine with Me’. It’s more sophisticated than what the British contestants come up with, if I may say so, and the German participants take the whole thing very seriously. Maybe a bit too seriously sometimes, the Brits are far more entertaining.

But then again this is probably how you achieve excellence in the end, by really committing yourself to accomplishing the best, as exemplified in the latest German Michelin guide which puts the country at number two behind France when it comes to three-star restaurants. There are nine three-star chefs, and 32 two-star restaurants as compared to just 18 two years ago. Berlin is not only the country’s capital but also its culinary centre with 16 stars, followed by Munich with 13 and Hamburg with 11.

And there’s still this curious little corner in the Black Forest, called Baiersbronn, where seven Michelin stars are divided between three chefs. One of them, Harald Wohlfahrt, is exceptional in the sense that not only is he an extremely modest individual (Gordon Ramsay must be his idea of hell), but he has also held his three stars for 20 years now without interruption. No mean feat. Interestingly, Thomas Bühner, Klaus Erfort and Christian Bau –  three-star chefs themselves and names to remember –all trained with Wohlfarth, as have another three two-star chefs now cooking in Sylt, Lübeck and Hamburg.

Wohlfahrt’s ‘Schwarzwaldstube’ restaurant seems to have become something of a talent factory which is good for German cuisine. Maybe one day the word will spread abroad as well.

More information on Baiersbonn

German local radio stations have recently been handed just the kind of news story they need for feel-good music shows as the nights draw in: the nation may still be gloomier than most European countries (as we’ve reported in a previous blog), but Germans are nevertheless officially happier than they have been for a long time! Whether in Berlin or Bochum, Brandenburg or Bavaria, your average radio listener under the shower is singing along that bit more enthusiastically, soaping up that bit more insouciantly than he/she was just five years ago, back when Volkswagen was more famous for management junkets with prostitutes than award-winning ads with Darth Vader.

According to the Glücksatlas study by the German post office, out of all these jolly Germans, the very happiest are in Hamburg, with the study citing attractive average incomes, good overall job satisfaction, and the wide range of cultural activities on offer as the driving forces behind these Hanseatic high spirits.

As a Hamburg resident of three years’ standing, I can certainly confirm that life here is good. The large, busy harbour and the thriving service industries mean that there’s certainly money sloshing around the place, and there are plenty of people who move to the city precisely for the purposes of finding interesting, one-off jobs they couldn’t get anywhere else. Germany’s hospital for tropical illnesses and the University clinic attract the best and brightest medical students, whilst major publications such as Spiegel and Zeit are still produced up here.

There are some other factors in the happiness equation, too, like the expansive lake in the city centre and the (for Germany quite unusual) proximity to the coast; the range of architectural gems, the cosmopolitan restaurant scene, and the vibrant nightlife.

Beyond that, Hamburg has something that not many cities have, something it’s hard to put your finger on: the city is more than the sum of its parts. Just like Berlin or, on a wider scale, London, Barcelona and New York, Hamburg is a city people aspire to live in – especially the young, creative and well-qualified crowd.

But this has an impact on the one aspect of Hamburg life that doesn’t make for a high happiness quotient as far as I’m concerned: finding somewhere to live. Flat-hunting in Hamburg is one of those soul-destroying experiences in which you are made to feel your own inadequacies, as the best flats go either to people with very high salaries or those with connections to the arrogant coven of estate agents.

Yes, for those looking for even just mildly affordable, non-scabby accommodation, Hamburg is no cakewalk. Not that that seems to make anyone seriously consider moving: as the local radio presenters say every morning, we are, after all, in der schönsten Stadt der Welt – the most beautiful city in the world.

Brian’s Germany blog is called Lostindeutschland 

People in the north are all reserved, the typical Rheinländer (i.e. someone from Cologne) is forever in a good mood, Berliners are famously rude, Swabians (whose home is partly in Baden-Württemberg and partly in Bavaria), are super stingy and Bavarians think they’re better than the rest. There are lots of regional stereotypes within Germany. But are they true?

As always with clichés, it’s a mixed bag. There wouldn’t be a stereotype in the first place if there hadn’t at some point been a justification for inventing it, right? On the other hand, you can’t put a whole group of people in one big bag, tie it up and put a label on it. However, let’s have a closer look at some of the things that Germans think about other Germans.

People from Hamburg, as a prototype for northerners, are reserved, introvert, maybe a bit arrogant and nose-in-the-air. Funnily enough, they’re also always said to be the most British in Germany. No comment. Hamburg certainly has a bit of a soft spot for all things British or rather, what is conceived to be British. There’s a Polo Club, an Anglo-German club and you definitely won’t have a problem finding some typical British attire (Barbour jackets, anyone?). From my personal experience and as someone from the southwest of Germany who’d obviously be more than happy to believe that the northerners are all stuck-up, my encounters with Hamburgers and the like were (almost) all refreshingly pleasant. Good sense of humour, nicely on the dry side, down-to-earth people.

As for Berliners being rude, well, let’s such put this down to the famous Berliner Schnauze, literally ‘Berlin gob’, and their way of expressing things in a sassy and brash way. They just like to say it as it is. Straightforward, very direct, and sometimes, well yes, maybe that can come across as a bit harsh. From my personal experience with Berliners they also have a certain way of, how should I put it, not engaging if they don’t want to. A little story to illustrate what I mean:  A friend of mine recently got in a cab in Berlin asking to be taken to a certain hotel and the cab driver – for whatever reason – just couldn’t be bothered apparently and told him “Sorry, this hotel doesn’t exist.” – “Well, but I’ve been in the past, more than once. So, could you please … ?” – “No, there’s no hotel of that name.” Or as many Germans would say: only in Berlin. If the Berliner doesn’t want to, he doesn’t want to. End of.

When it comes to the Swabians, I can’t really comment on their alleged stinginess. (I’d rather say in general that Germans are fairly sensible when it comes to money and like to have savings). What I can say, however, after having spent two years working in Stuttgart is that they’re without doubt the most orderly, in particular when it comes to things like rubbish, recycling, cleaning the communal parts of apartment buildings, pavements and the like. Let me just mention one word in this context: Kehrwoche (the week when someone has the duty to clean the communal areas). It doesn’t get more Swabian. Anyone who’s ever had any contact with this, will know what I’m talking about. And for the rest of you, consider yourself blessed. Let’s just say they’re very serious about anything that can be summed up under ‘cleaning up’. Not putting the right piece of rubbish in the right place can come close to a major offence.

Me, I’m from the Palatinate region in the Rhineland-Palatinate, and I’d say we’re fairly easy-going people, influenced by our proximity to France, our wine and our pleasant climate. And not surprisingly, we’ve got our very own local stereotypes, about our next door neighbours in the Saarland, Germany’s smallest federal state. We like to look down on them as the ‘little ones’ who don’t really know what’s going on and speak a very funny dialect. But then again, I’m sure there’s a region somewhere in Germany which thinks exactly the same about the area where I come from.

For the cheapest airfares to German cities and worldwide go to www.flighthub.com

German life is not complete without a piece of good cake, accompanied by a cup of coffee. The endearing tradition of sitting down for Kaffee & Kuchen in the afternoon simply needs to be explored by every visitor. No matter where you go, be it big city or small town, you’ll find an abundance of cafés.

They come in different styles to suit all kinds of tastes. The proper old-fashioned ones where you’re bound to end up sitting amidst a collection of female pensioners having their Kaffeeklatsch (get-together for a gossip over coffee and cake). These ones often have the best cakes, by the way. Or the more contemporary version for younger crowd who are still not too cool to appreciate some lovely sweets. Fact is, Germans need their cafés. It’s part of their life and a social fixture just like the pubs in Britain. By the way, every café is also a good lunch or dinner option if you’re not after a proper restaurant experience. They all feature a selection of either snacks or more elaborate dishes.

Here are a few café suggestions in the north:

Café Niederegger, Lübeck

Niederegger is the German home of marzipan in the hanseatic town of Lübeck where the sweet almond paste has been produced since 1806, exported world-wide now. The café is a bit of a shock to the system – so much cake, such big pieces. Signature cake is the Niederegger-Nusstorte (nut cake). And the integrated shop sells any kind of marzipan variety you can think of and beyond. Passion fruit marzipan anyone?

Café Niederegger, Breite Straße 89, 23552 Lübeck, www.niederegger.de

Café Paris, Hamburg

As the name promises, a little bit of Paris in Hamburg, right in the town centre. Former slaughterhouse from 1882 converted in 2000 into a stylish place including Art Nouveau ceiling. Always crowded, slightly posh clientele.

Café Paris, Rathausstraße 4, 20095 Hamburg, www.cafeparis.net

Café Koppel, Hamburg

Very friendly location with an alternative touch, organic products, 100% vegetarian and delicious cakes. Try something called Traum der fliegenden Krokodile (dream of the flying crocodiles) and you’ll find yourself confronted with some home-made chocolate cake, vanilla ice-cream and cream. Located in a nice backyard, quirky mixture of furniture. Part of the Koppel 66 complex (house for art and culture).

Café Koppel, Lange Reihe 75/Koppel 66, 20099 Hamburg, https://cafekoppel.de/

Café Canale, Hamburg

A special tip for all the canoeists out there, this café is situated on the Mühlenkamp canal in Hamburg’s Winterhude district and upon ringing a bell you’ll get your coffee to go right into your boat. In order to enjoy cakes such as rhubarb-strawberry with butter crumbles, take a proper seat in this friendly and unpretentious café in an otherwise very upper-class area of Hamburg.

Café Canale, Poelchaukamp 7, 22301 Hamburg, www.cafecanale.de

Lühmann’s  Teestube,  Hamburg

The cake portions are massive here, famous for their different kinds of cheese cake (German style, of course!). If you come too late in the afternoon, they might all be eaten away already. Since the couple who run it originally started out with an import and export business focusing on British product, they also serve cream tea with home-made scones or different sorts of pies. B&B also possible.

Lühmann’s  Teestube, Blankeneser Landstraße 29, 22587 Hamburg, www.luehmanns-teestube.de

Getting There: International airports at Hamburg and Lübeck. International rail connections to Hamburg are via Cologne from Brussels (Thalys), which connect with the Eurostar from London. See our Travel page for airlines, rail and tour operators.

Staying There: our recommended hotels are here for Niedersachsen, here for Hamburg, and here for Schleswig-Holstein.

The name is confusing, even for Germans. Dom is ‘cathedral’, but the Hamburger DOM has little of the spiritual about it, unless you count the clear stuff that comes in bottles – and the fact that this festival takes place in a region of Hamburg called Heiligengeistfeld, or Holy Ghost Field.

The DOM is north Germany’s equivalent of Munich’s Oktoberfest, but this Hamburg festival comes in three sections, spring, summer and winter, each a month long, which together attract nine million visitors. Unlike the Oktoberfest, where a large proportion of the celebrants are from overseas, the Hamburger DOM is essentially a German affair, a magnet for German families and teenagers, the latter particularly keen to do stuff they wouldn’t normally do.

The story behind the name is interesting. The festival was first recorded in 1329 as a Christmas Market in the marketplace around the Cathedral, where it was a mix of traders, artisans, jugglers and showmen who waylaid the populace en route to prayer. It proved very popular, reconvening for new seasons in spring, summer and autumn. When the weather turned foul the traders got into the habit of seeking refuge in the cathedral itself, a move that prompted the Archbishop to try to ban such sacrilege. He was met with a storm of protest from his congregation, and was forced to expressly allow the traders to remain in the Dom during Hamburger Schietwetter (shit weather).

The DOM is north Germany’s equivalent of Oktoberfest

Eventually the Cathedral had decayed so much it had to be torn down, and the festival was relocated, but it kept its name. Today the market element has been rather eclipsed by the growth of roller coasters and big dippers, brass bands and beer tents, although there is still local produce on sale. Seasonal highlights include a medieval fort and a witches’ village during the spring DOM, cowboy action in a Wild West town during the summer DOM, and Advent magic in medieval costumes during the winter DOM.

The DOM isn’t the only big funfair in northern Germany. In Bremen, the Bremer Freimarkt brightens up dull days towards the end of October, attracting more than four million visitors over 17 days, and is famous for its smoked eel and Schmalzkuchen (small, freshly fried doughnuts). Meanwhile at the end of June Hanover stages a marksmen’s funfair called the Schützenfest, where more than 5,000 contestants compete based on their rifle shooting abilities. The festival parade, with more than 10,000 participants and 100 bands is 12 kilometres long, the longest parade in the world.

Getting There: International airports are at Hamburg and Lübeck. International rail connections to Hamburg are via Cologne from Brussels (Thalys), which connect with the Eurostar from London. See our Travel page for airlines, rail and tour operators.

Staying There: our recommended hotels are here for Niedersachsen, and here for Hamburg.

More information on the Hamburger Dom.

Miniatur Wunderland is a permanent exhibition that attracts over a million visitors a year, matching Berlin’s Pergamon Museum or Mad King Ludwig’s castle at Neuschwanstein. As these numbers suggest, it is far more than just a giant train set. Its setting, in aristocratic brick warehouses in Hamburg’s old harbour, is well chosen, not least because this whole area of Hamburg is being redeveloped into a German version of London’s Docklands, spearheaded by a hugely ambitious cultural centre called the Elbephilharmonie, designed in the shape of a wave.

The Speicherstadt is not far from the new cruise ship terminal, so it is appropriate the Miniatur Wunderland’s miniaturised landscapes are very international, arranged continent by continent. They have been created with an imagination and an attention to detail that will outstrip the expectations of even the most geeky, anoraky, trainspottery kid, as well as bring out the inner child in the most grumpy adult.

The trains are an excuse for an extravaganza of story-telling

But Miniatur Wunderland is not really about trains, all 800 of them. Essentially, the trains are just an excuse for an extravaganza of story-telling, and the beauty is in the accurate representation of reality, and in the quirky detail. Blink and you’d miss the couple making love in the middle of a field of sunflowers. Blink again and you’d miss another couple making out in the Alps, this time being photographed by a voyeur while another man makes away with their underclothes. And then there’s the Red Bull diving team, hurling themselves off the model Speicherstadt itself, a world within a world.

The German section is understandably strong, but so also are the Swiss, the Scandinavian and the American, along with their most iconic landscapes, such as the Matterhorn and the Grand Canyon. And then there are the push-buttons. The one that makes the drinkers in a beer garden clink glasses, the one that works the lights on a fire engine attending a hole in the dyke near Amsterdam and another one that sets off a shark attack in underwater Florida. And so on.

Wunderland has its own diurnal rhythm. Stage lighting produces dusk, then night, then dawn, and 300,000 tiny bulbs light up offices, houses, vehicles (the computer-controlled even have working brake lights), ships and station platforms.

Meanwhile the traffic moves down the roads, aircraft come and go from the airport, the ships move round the harbours and the trains keep their own mysterious timetable. It really is like spectating on a parallel universe. Captivating stuff.

www.miniatur-wunderland.com

Getting There: International airports at Hamburg and Lübeck. International rail connections to Hamburg are via Cologne from Brussels (Thalys), which connect with the Eurostar from London. See our Travel page for airlines, rail and tour operators.

Staying There: our recommended hotels are here for Niedersachsen, and here for Hamburg.