Where to stay in Hamburg?

Hamburg is not just a place you visit. You can also wake up in the morning to a completely different city right outside your window. That is precisely why the question “Where to stay in Hamburg?” is less trivial than it might sound at first. Do you want to stay right in the heart of Hamburg’s city center and set off toward Binnenalster, Jungfernstieg, Rathaus, and shopping? Or do you want your very first view in the morning to sweep over the Elbe, Port of Hamburg, and St. Pauli? During my stay in Hamburg, I deliberately tried out both perspectives: at Conrad Hamburg in the historic Levantehaus in the city center, and at Empire Riverside Hotel Hamburg on Bernhard-Nocht-Straße between the harbor and St. Pauli.

It is not just about location and rooms, either. Both hotels demonstrate in very different ways how powerfully hospitality, culinary excellence, and urban experience in Hamburg can interact.

The Conrad Hamburg is located in the historic Levantehaus right in the center of Hamburg. Behind the historic facade, the hotel combines Hamburg's commercial and design history with contemporary luxury hospitality. The location is especially exciting for a classic city break: downtown, Mönckebergstraße, Rathaus, Jungfernstieg, and the Alster are all easily accessible from here. My impression: luxury here is conveyed less through demonstrative opulence and more through space, tranquility, materiality, and detail. That makes the Conrad appealing both for a short Hamburg city trip and for guests planning a longer stay.

The dining concept here is also remarkable. Culinary arts are understood as an integral part of the hotel experience. At GRETA OTO Hamburg, the focus is on Latin American-inspired flavors. The restaurant works with sharing plates, among other concepts, pairing the cuisine with creative cocktails. I find the reinterpretation of a classic luxury hotel ritual particularly charming: instead of traditional afternoon tea, they offer Afternoon Coffee & Pâtisserie. Specialty coffees are paired with sweet and savory creations by pastry chef Roshlee Cardoso. Currently, this format is offered Friday through Sunday in the afternoon at the Conrad Bar. That might sound like a small detail at first, but it reflects something fundamental about modern luxury hospitality: traditions can be excitingly translated for modern times. And the hotel delivers culinarily in the evening as well. For me, the bar is just the right spot for a digestif or that “just one more drink” that so often turns into a longer conversation.

A standout tip in its own right is the breakfast at Conrad Hamburg. My expectations were truly exceeded. The selection goes far beyond what is commonly understood as a classic hotel breakfast: alongside continental favorites and numerous fish specialties, there are international elements and hot dishes. In addition to the buffet, freshly prepared à la carte dishes can be ordered; it is precisely this combination of buffet and kitchen that elevates the breakfast considerably. For me, it almost turned into a mini culinary morning tasting menu.

My tip: If you enjoy a leisurely breakfast, make sure to set aside plenty of time. After all, a good hotel breakfast isn't just fuel before sightseeing—it can be part of the journey itself.

Then the perspective shifts, and quite radically so. The Empire Riverside Hotel is one of those places where the location itself is part of the hotel experience. Right in St. Pauli between the harbor, the Elbe, and the Reeperbahn, the bronze-clad tower by British architect David Chipperfield rises above the city. Depending on the room category, the view sweeps across the harbor, the Elbe, and the city. The higher-floor Upside rooms, for instance, are located between the 12th and 20th floors and offer guaranteed panoramic views; in the Riverview rooms, harbor views through floor-to-ceiling panoramic windows are part of the concept.

My impression can be summed up quite simply: If you want to experience Hamburg visually, this is the place to be. Ships, cranes, water, and the changing light over the harbor feel almost like part of the room's furnishings. Instead of discovering the city only after leaving the hotel, here you gaze right into the heart of it straight from bed.

Location also plays to its strengths at breakfast. Breakfast is served in the restaurant waterkant, starting the day with views overlooking the harbor. It is precisely this combination that has its charm: you sit in a design hotel in the morning while outside, the Port of Hamburg is already hard at work. Breakfast with ships instead of a skyline, you might say. Breakfast here felt less staged to me than at the Conrad. But that is exactly why the two properties are so hard to compare: at the Conrad, the culinary offering is a core part of the experience itself; at Empire Riverside, Hamburg takes the leading role at breakfast. If you want to head out afterward, you are practically already in the thick of it: St. Pauli, Landungsbrücken, the harbor, and the Reeperbahn are right on your doorstep.

Culinarily speaking, the Empire Riverside certainly doesn’t stop at breakfast. In the evening, the Restaurant waterkant becomes the stage for modern Nordic cuisine. The restaurant features an open show kitchen where guests can watch the preparation firsthand. The menu includes fish and seafood as well as meat and vegetarian dishes. For me, that fits the location perfectly: harbor, fish, open kitchen—reinterpreted with a modern touch.And once again, Hamburg remains visually part of the evening. You are not sitting in some enclosed hotel restaurant; you keep a genuine feel for the place.

On the ground floor, David's Bar & Lounge awaits with an adjoining fireplace lounge. The name is quite literally a geographic statement: the bar overlooks the eponymous Davidstraße, the harbor, and the Blohm+Voss docks. The menu includes coffee, wine, long drinks, and cocktails. DAVID’S at Empire Riverside For me, this is the uncomplicated part of the house: arrive, sink into an armchair, have a drink, and then decide whether the evening continues in the restaurant, out in St. Pauli, or 20 floors up.

And then, of course, the Skyline Bar 20up. On the 20th floor and roughly 90 meters above Hamburg, you look out over the harbor and the Elbe. That makes the bar not just a dining component of the hotel, but almost an observation deck with a cocktail menu. My tip: head up just before sunset. First, the light over the harbor changes. Then, the lights below turn on one by one, and Hamburg suddenly takes on a completely different drama. Skyline Bar 20up and restaurants The beauty of it: 20up doesn't just work because of its view. Cocktails, wine, and the bar atmosphere make the venue an integral evening part of the hotel concept. But let's be honest: when Hamburg lies before you from nearly 90 meters up, even the finest drink faces serious competition.

Because in theory, you hardly need to leave the hotel to experience multiple sides of Hamburg in a single day. Breakfast with a harbor view in the morning, a drink at DAVID’S in between, Nordic cuisine at waterkant in the evening, followed by a cocktail at 20up. And the moment you step outside, you're right in the heart of St. Pauli. For me, the Empire Riverside is therefore less of a classic “luxury hotel” and more of a Hamburg experience with rooms: urban, immediate, slightly rougher around the edges than the Conrad, and precisely for that reason, the perfect complement.

In conversation with Enrico Ungermann, General Manager of the Empire Riverside, it quickly becomes clear that a hotel today doesn't thrive on architecture, rooms, or location alone. He sees one of the greatest challenges in attracting good staff and, above all, keeping them passionate about the property long-term. His own leadership style has also changed fundamentally over the years. “It’s not always top-down, but about tackling issues together and embracing input from the teams.” I find his stance on the often-quoted phrase “the customer is king” particularly noteworthy. For him, hospitality doesn't mean appreciation should only flow one way: “We are service providers, but not servants.” A sentence that might sound sharp at first, but behind it lies an essential shift in the industry: if you want to retain great hosts, you can't just talk about service quality for guests, but also about respect for the people who make that service possible in the first place.

Anyone visiting Hamburg for the first time might now ask: Which of the two hotels is better? I would frame the question differently: Which Hamburg do I want on my doorstep in the morning? I would choose the Conrad Hamburg if downtown, the Alster, shopping, a generous sense of space, international luxury hospitality, and an exceptionally refined culinary breakfast experience are top priorities. The Empire Riverside Hotel is my pick when harbor views, St. Pauli, the Elbe, nightlife, and that unmistakable maritime Hamburg feeling take center stage.

And if you have several days, you can simply do what I did: split your stay. Because switching hotels becomes almost like shifting perspectives: first Hamburg City, then Hamburg Harbor. And perhaps that is the very best answer to where to stay in Hamburg: not just where you sleep well, but where you experience the city the moment you wake up.