What to do in Hamburg when it's raining

aaaalright, sometimes it's raining in Hamburg. Ok, it's raining most days between October and April and also also in between every now and then.

 

But it's really not as bad as people think. If there is one thing, that's good about Hamburg's weather: The city offers a huge range of activities for rainy days. There are loads and loads of shops, museums and places where you can see the rain running down the window panes.

 

Returning from Bangkok, I was freezing for the first couple of weeks (think 40°C difference in temperature. Sorry Fahrenheits, I have no idea how much that is for you ) and very happy to have some indoor activities to warm up right in front of my door step.

Picture by Gabriele Diwald 

Here are my personal top three:

Go Shopping at Pick'n'weight

Pick'n'weight opened last year at Hamburg's neuer Pferdemarkt, attracting the hipsters from the adjacent Schulterblatt, right around the corner from my favourite café Herr Max and my favourite hotel Superbude (btw also great places to spend a rainy day).

Picture by Pick'n'weight

The store is selling vintage clothing by the kilo while rocking a retro interior design.

 

Due to the massive window front, the store is far from a dark and slightly smelly basement one might expect from a kilo store. With a trendy 50's style CI, the store makes clear that this is a place for hipsters willing to spend more on vintage clothes than on something new and that this is more than just another vintage store.

Picture by Pick'n'weight

By sorting the clothes by their colour, the massive shop on 500 square meters appears surprisingly structured. Old pipes hung from the ceiling or attached to the walls serve as racks and different objects were used as shelves like old wine boxes, coffee sacks or an old wardrobe.

 

Scarves are wrapped around most pillars, giving nice touches of colour everywhere and a massive light installation in the middle of the room spreads a 2001-like even lighting, combined with industrial lamps highlighting the racks.

Picture by Pick'n'weight

This is a place to spend hours on a rainy Saturday with your best friend, going through colourful clothes and trying on as much as you can.

Where:

Pick'n'weight

Beim Grünen Jäger 16

20359 Hamburg

 

How to get there:

walk from U3 Feldstraße


Drink at Clouds

Clouds is a restaurant and bar on the top floor of “tanzende Türme”, the rather new building by Hadi Teherani in Hamburg's red light district.

Photo by Clouds

If your restaurant is located on the 23rd floor, everything is about the view!

So the designers of Formwände made sure not to distract the guests inside, but to emphasize the skyline.

 

All furniture is made of dark leather and wood, giving the place a very high-end but still comfortable feel.

There are beautiful wine racks on the window front, that are lit so lightly that they match the surrounding skyline perfectly.

They kept the entire restaurant quite dark, only using light spots on the tables, to make sure there are no reflections that could disturb your view.

Photo by Clouds

There even is a roof terrace (for the sunny days).

There are day beds to relax, caramel coloured seats are arranged around the glass front and again the designers made sure that everyone got a little bit of that view.

 

The food is all about meat and you can get impressive steaks there, that are cut right in front of you on a little rolling table, but they didn't forget about the vegetarians either.

Photo by Clouds

This is a great place if you want to impress someone on a rainy date or your parents when they are in

town. 

Where:

clouds – Heaven’s Bar & Kitchen
Reeperbahn 1 // 20359 Hamburg

 

How to get there:

Take the U3 to St. Pauli

 

How much:

about 50€ for dinner+drinks


Workout at Holthusenbad

This public pool was designed by Fritz Schumacher and opened in 1914. If you've used the subway in Hamburg, you've probably seen it driving by Kellingshusenstraße.

 

When it was opened, the building was supposed to be more than just a pool, that's why a library and even a registry office were included.

 

The decorations and roof inside remember of baroque times and the pastel ceiling underlines the fairy tale appearance. Their outdoor pool is illuminated at night, making this massive red-brick building look like straight out of a movie.

To make the whole thing even more fun, twice an hour they turn on a wave machine with surprisingly high waves in the indoor-pool.

 

This building is absolutely stunning and -even if you not that much into swimming – worth visiting for the architecture.

Photo by Jens Fliege

Ps: On Fridays there is a candle light illumination for couples and I've heard that some of them get pretty "friendly" there. Hence: I'm not going there on Fridays and I'll also skip Saturdays in the future. Every other day of the week, I love this pool.

 

 

Pps: If you're not a keen swimmer, you could also check out my favourite Yoga Studio in Hamburg.

Where:

Holthusenbad

Goernestraße 21

20249 Hamburg

 

Opening times:

9am to 11pm (!!)

 

How to get there:

it's right in front of U Kellingshusenstraße (U3 or U1)

 

How much:

starting from 6€ for one hour for an adult


Add on: visit the underground

I've mentioned these two places before, but figured dry underground activities shouldn't be missing in a list about stuff to do when it rains:

the old Elbtunnel

This tunnel connects the city centre with the harbour. Apart from its cool architecture (think mosaique tiles and elevators for cars), it's worth to walk through to get to the other side and overlook the city.

Check out the full post about the Elbtunnel here

Subway Hafen City Universität

a subway station with a full on light show? Do I need to say more??


Where to stay

High End

Did you know that you can actually stay IN the new Elbphilharmonie?

Click here for current rates at The Westin Hamburg


Budget

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