How safe is the area around Haupbahnhof in Hamburg

[Bmoneh 0]

So how safe is the around near the Haupbahnhof in Hamburg? Near the Goethe Institut. I will be mostly walking around and I was wondering how safe that zone of the city was.

 

What should I be careful with? Thanks.

[Guest]

Hi Bmoneh, if you mean Hühnerposten 1 then seedy but not unsafe in my experience. It's convenient location so good for someone starting out in Germany. If you buy a decent bike here and park it (pretty much anywhere in Hamburg) use a real strong lock (unlike I did). If you mean not attending that institute but rather staying at a hotel or hostel nearby then again seedy area but also a safe-enough (in my opinion) start.

[key79 0]

I spent the last summer in Hamburg. Although I lived in Altona, I was often at and near Hauptbahnhof area. As a woman walking alone anytime of the day and night I felt comfortable there. I felt it as a central location.

[vanwho 1]

A month ago, while apartment hunting, I stayed at a hotel by the ADAC just south of the Hbf. We walked there at night, and as others said, seedy, but not unsafe... for walking. Someone broke a window into a car in the hotel's parking lot to get a bag and sort of intimidated us as we saw the tail end of it happen. so there's that. if apartment hunting, one should shy away from the area methinks.

[sgdavies 0]

The place looks scary and intimidating with the drunks,addicts, and pros around, I go that way to get to Straits Cinema, and always am conscious of it, has the potential of something flaring up, and i'm a man, if I was you maybe carry pepper spray in your bag or and a high tone alarm to be sure.

[Darkknight 2,305]

The place is full of weird-o's, drunks, druggies, and all other sorts all time of the day but Esp. more so at night,

not to mention the noise. The entire area is best left avoided.

[keymone 5]

hi, i live in close proximity to hauptbahnhof for 3 years now (3 appartments: 7 minutes, 10 minutes and again 7 minutes walking time) right now in the direction of steindamm

 

never felt particularly threatened by anything but then it's also not a district i'm spending most time hanging around at night(schanze for the win!)

[Lool 258]

It seems safe enough but I avoid it when I can and wouldn't want to live around there. Tons of people in general, and tons of weirdos hanging out all the time. Just sitting around on the sidewalk drinking beer or tetra pack wine. Seems like an unpleasant place to kick back for the day, but what do I know.

[Miss_B 8]

Hey Bmoneh!

 

The truth is, Hamburg is a safe city. Period. Anytime of the day or night, it's safe. The area you're talking about is safe, but it's very busy. There are a lot of drunks, druggies, prostitutes and dealers hanging around there, but they don't really bother anyone. They may try to chat you up, but they're unlikely to harm you. And the area just looks dodgy at very late at night or in the early hours of the morning. During the day and evening, till about 11pm, it's business as usual.

[snowingagain 5,205]

What do you reckon about a 4 hour wait at Hamburg Altona, from about 2 am to 6 am.  I would not blink if I was with someone, but this trip I be on my own.   Alternative is to get Nahverkehr through the night, changing at Kiel and Husum.  But will these be packed with merry people after a night out, singing, with poor ventilation?   I would rather like to avoid getting Covid on my way to my holiday.  This would be midweek.

 

[Fietsrad 386]

On 21.11.2013 04:23:24, Miss_B said:

Hey Bmoneh!

 

The truth is, Hamburg is a safe city. Period. Anytime of the day or night, it's safe. The area you're talking about is safe, but it's very busy. There are a lot of drunks, druggies, prostitutes and dealers hanging around there, but they don't really bother anyone. They may try to chat you up, but they're unlikely to harm you. And the area just looks dodgy at very late at night or in the early hours of the morning. During the day and evening, till about 11pm, it's business as usual.

Are there a lot of police around, in uniform (or in plain clothes)?

 

I am rarely out after dark, but I know there are problems even in smaller towns, in Luebeck for example the drug scene is now near the train station (directly on the way you, and tourists, walk into town!), it used to be by the canal on the other side of the city. Many, probably most of these folks are harmless enough, but you never know. I (m) would take another route to avoid them.

[john g. 37,692]

Nowhere is totally safe.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62030919

Killings in a shopping mall in Copenhagen today.

[paulyg 81]

1 hour ago, snowingagain said:

What do you reckon about a 4 hour wait at Hamburg Altona, from about 2 am to 6 am.  I would not blink if I was with someone, but this trip I be on my own.   Alternative is to get Nahverkehr through the night, changing at Kiel and Husum.  But will these be packed with merry people after a night out, singing, with poor ventilation?   I would rather like to avoid getting Covid on my way to my holiday.  This would be midweek.

 

Those hours are perfect for a stop over in Altona, go grab a beer somewhere or even a whore for a couple of hours depending on your budget? If not just enjoy people watching, the time will fly by!

If you take the Nahverkehr I wouldn't worry about catching COVID; there are basically no tests needed for traveling anymore and it's not like it would actually make you ill.

 

[optimista 5,840]

15 hours ago, paulyg said:

... go grab a beer somewhere or even a whore...

Seems like an excellent way to get something really nasty. 

At last a bloke who admits (implicitly) to using a woman. I am really intrigued to know what happens in a man s brain when he sexploits a vulnérable person. Care to explain ? Absolutely serious question. 

 

 

15 hours ago, paulyg said:

 

[optimista 5,840]

15 hours ago, paulyg said:

... it's not like it would actually make you ill.

 

If you are lucky...

[alexunterwegs 542]

16 hours ago, snowingagain said:

What do you reckon about a 4 hour wait at Hamburg Altona, from about 2 am to 6 am.  I would not blink if I was with someone, but this trip I be on my own.   Alternative is to get Nahverkehr through the night, changing at Kiel and Husum.  But will these be packed with merry people after a night out, singing, with poor ventilation?   I would rather like to avoid getting Covid on my way to my holiday.  This would be midweek.

 

 

You could go into MacDonalds in Altona Hbf or the one at Hamburg Hbf for a few hours, where you'd be very safe. The one at Hamburg has security staff and there are police about. If you go outside Hamburg Hbf (on the main forecourt side) there are alchos, homeless, and probably those using substances. The police seem to have it well under control, as they've had a small surveillance hut there for years.  They probably like the scene to stay where it is, as that must keep it better under surveillance. 

I'm not sure though if the McDonanlds are 24/7.  Weekends they are definitey open very late to cater for the club goers. 

Altona is if anything safer, but you probably need to be in Hamburg Hbf if that's where your connection is. . 

[snowingagain 5,205]

26 minutes ago, optimista said:

If you are lucky...

My sons both had Covid recently, and sure, it was not that bad, did not end up in hospital.  But nah.  Would not want the fever, joint pain, hacking cough and, oh God, the diarrhoea when staying in a small tent in this heat.  I am disregarding his excellent Altona suggestions.  Beer, nearly always nice but I would probably fall asleep and miss trains,  and whores are not really my thing.  I am taklng the day train, which means an ICE and then an uncrowded IC.  If the connections work.

[tor 16,897]

well the area itself is... safe...but there will be nothing open at 2 a.m., that is of course not a shocker. 

Perhaps you could call a hotel and ask if they would cut you a deal to hang out in the lobby or something, or maybe an air bnb?

 

 

[snowingagain 5,205]

Thanks for ideas.   I have slept on benches in the night at the station before, when trains were disrupted, and there were lots of other people doing it.   I have never found it scary as some places in London, mainly becasuse it is so busy.  When it gets quiet and there is no one around is when it starts worrying for me.  But I have decided to get the day train.

 

BTW if anyone is used to sending  a bag or suitcase with DHL be aware that DHL have stopped this now.  It now has to be a box.  Or go as Sperrgut, which costs about 44 euro instead of 15.  Hermes still do it.  Similar price for 31.5 kg.

[paulyg 81]

9 hours ago, optimista said:

Seems like an excellent way to get something really nasty. 

At last a bloke who admits (implicitly) to using a woman. I am really intrigued to know what happens in a man s brain when he sexploits a vulnérable person. Care to explain ? Absolutely serious question. 

 

 

 

Wow what century do you live in? Who said anything about a women!