Gay Hamburg
› Overview
› St. Georg
› St. Pauli
Hamburg Gay Travel Guide & Map 2021
Upcoming Events in Hamburg
Vogelball 2021: annual queer masked ball and open-air party at the Hamburg Gay Pride weekend.
Tickets: from 33 €
From 16:00 @ Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg
-› facebook.com/VOGELBALL
MS DOCKVILLE 2021: annual festival for music and visual arts.
@ Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg
-› msdockville.de
-› facebook.com/dockville
| 19 – 24 October 2021
32nd International Queer Film Festival: Germany's biggest and oldest LGBTI film festival with more than 15 000 visitors in various cinemas throughout Hamburg.
-› lsf-hamburg.de
-› facebook.com/lsf.hamburg
Barceló Hamburg
Hotel. ****, from 100 €
Stylish, modern hotel, located between the city center, the Binnenalster Lake and the gay area in St. Georg. With fitness room and sauna.
@ Ferdinandstraße 15
Hamburg 20095
S: Hauptbahnhof, U: Hauptbahnhof Nord, Mönckebergstraße
About Hamburg and its gay life
The Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg – Germany's ›Gateway to the World‹ – is the second largest city in Germany after Berlin, and also an independent state. It is located about 100 km southeast of the North Sea along the river Elbe and has the largest seaport in Germany. Because of the port, the pent-up river Alster and the numerous canals and smaller rivers Hamburg is one of the cities in Europe with the most bridges.
The settlement history of Hamburg began with the Saxons in the 4th century BC. In the 9th century a castle named Hammaburg was built in this place, from which the name Hamburg derived. In the 12th century the settlement was given the port law (Hafenrecht) and special trade privileges which allowed Hamburg to develop into a flourishing commercial center during the Middle Ages. As a member of the Hanseatic League it evolved into a world trading center in the 16th century. In 1558 the first German stock exchange opened in Hamburg, in 1678 the first German opera house followed. Even the decline of the Hanseatic League could do the city no harm, it is still the largest economic center of northern Germany.
Hamburg was hit by numerous disasters that changed the town strongly: the great fire of 1842, the cholera epidemic in 1892, the bomb raids in 1943 during the Second World War and the flood of 1962. Many historic buildings were destroyed or subsequently demolished and new ones were built. Hamburg is in constant upheaval. With HafenCity a complete new district is currently conjured up out of nothing. The most infamous site in this complex is the Elbe Philharmonic Hall (whose completion date has been delayed several times).
One component of the new HafenCity is the historic warehouse district. It was built from 1883 and is the world's largest warehouse complex built on oak piles, and with its neo-Gothic brick architecture it is definitely worth a visit. And indeed the whole port area with its many attractions – such as the Hamburg fish market every Sunday, the harbor birthday celebration in May or the flying visits of many large cruise ships – is a magnet for visitors. Just around the corner, in the St. Pauli district, is Europe's largest red-light district, the famous Reeperbahn.
Hamburg's gay life is concentrated in the St. Georg district, especially in and around the street Lange Reihe, the main shopping street and promenade with numerous relevant cafés and boutiques.
Annual highlights and queer events in Hamburg are the Hamburg Gay Pride (CSD) in early August, the Leatherparty in summer and the queer film festival in October.