Quick Bike Tour in Hamburg: From Eppendorf to Strand Pauli

There are hundreds of bike tours around the beautiful city of Hamburg!

Bike tour Hamburg

I’ll share with you the one we took from Eppendorf to Strand through Hayns park, Alster and harbour. This route is very quick, safe and perfect for any sunny day in Hamburg.

Why am I mentioning the word ‘safe’ when talking about bike tours in Hamburg? Because I am a bike virgin! The last time I owned my own bicycle was like 20 years ago (if I don’t count 2 days in Lago di Garda) and I never biked through a city until now! So, when I made it from Eppendorf to Harbour, riding through the busy park like Hayns, popular lake like Aussenalster, crowded city centre and harbour, you can do it too! Where we started, what stops we took and what tips I can share with you for biking in Hamburg are all enclosed in this article.

Hayns Park and Gorgeous Leinpfand in Eppendorf

We started at the busy Lockstedter Weg street which is only 4 minutes away from the cosy and always chilled Hayns park. After we entered the Hayns park we crossed the very last bridge across the Alster river and turned right towards the beautiful Leinpfand. The view to the gorgeous channel and posh villas is worth of a little (Instagram) photo-shooting. You can find many people walking and hanging around the street, especially on an unusually sunny day like this.

Leinpfand Hamburg

I don’t like biking through Hayns park as it has many retarders along the pathway, it is quite busy, the pebble surface is very slippery, and the bridge is quite steep for my super amateur biking (lol). On the other hand, biking down the Leinpfand was super easy. It is one of those roads where you have fewer cars passing and it is very nicely marked for bikers.

Why did we pass the Leinpfand and didn’t just bike down the western route directly to Alster? It is just a nicer way with a lovely view to the channel. Otherwise, you could bike down the Heilwigstrasse but you’d miss the charm of this pretty area of Eppendorf.

Krugkoppelbrücke, Alster park and City Centre

Krugkoppelbrücke is a popular bridge with the view to the big lake of Aussenaslter, surrounding areas and the city centre. At the end of Leinpfand we turned left, stopped in the middle of the bridge for a few panoramic shots and turned right to the Alster park. As we were on bikes, we took the second path along the Harvesterhude Weg.

The first path which is directly next to the lake is for pedestrians and it is pretty slippery too. Here we got off the bikes and had a lovely break watching the white boats drifting the waves of Aussenalster. After a few minutes of catching some vitamin D we hopped on the ‘räder’ again and rode straight to the city centre. There it can get a little busier and you have to be very cautious about other bikers, cars, pedestrians and kiddos!

View from Krugkoppelbrucke hamburg Alster

At the end of the Alster we crossed two bridges — Kennedybrücke and Lombardsbrücke. And there we were, in the Hamburg’s city centre! The area around city’s lake Binnenalster was packed with people having a blast on a Sunday afternoon — the very first sunny Sunday after two weeks of raining hell in July. Yeah, it seemed like all Hamburg was out there!

Beautiful Alster in Hamburg

City Centre to Harbour by Bike

Biking around Binnenalster was pretty much alright but it got quite confusing afterwards. Even my boyfriend, born in Hamburg had a few struggling moments selecting the best path to harbour (he hasn’t been there for years). The easiest way is to go straight by Grosse Bleiche, turning left after crossing the Axel Springer Platz, right to Dusternstrasse, then just biking straight down Herrengraben and Stubbenhuk until you reach the harbour!

The ‘harbour park’ is a pedestrian area, so we got off the bikes again and carried through the Elbpromenade by walk dragging the bikes next to us. We saw a few people trying to bike it through, but it was pretty much chaotic. The harbour was crazily busy. After the walk we went up the St. Pauli Hafenstrasse and literally biked only 2 minutes to reach the fancy and famous Strand Pauli! Try to guess how thirty we were after an hour and half on the road (with stops).

Aster City Centre Hamburg

Strand Pauli and Park Fiction

There are some procedures before you enter the Strand Pauli during coronavirus. You need to register through a QR code – so be ready to have mobile data when planning to spend some time in one of the most popular ‘beach’ clubs in Hamburg. The queue wasn’t that long at the end, it took us around 6-7 minutes to get in. 98% of the seats were taken but luckily you can sit there almost everywhere so we just took some wooden stairs with a direct sunshine and enjoyed the pint of Erdinger! To be honest it was very fresh and windy for a mid July. It wasn’t definitely the hottest day of Hamburg summer but it is always a bit more chilly around the harbour – get ready for it.

The next quick stop was a cigarette break at another hot spot of the city – Park Fiction (I seriously thought it was called Pulp Fiction… don’t laugh). We took a few breaths of weedy air – the most popular action of the park is smoking weed, just to let you know. The place has a nice view to the cranes in the harbour and people say it is one of the best spots to catch a sunset in Hamburg!

Biking in Hamburg is Nice, but Stressful Sometimes

The way back was just too stressful for me as the city and Alster became even more crowded. My concentration was on the ‘highest speed’ and I had a few moments when I almost run into somebody or just ended up on the floor. Lord!

Otherwise, biking in Hamburg seems to be a lot of fun! There is so many gorgeous places to visit by bicycle. Everything is very nicely marked, there is low speed limit for cars and people behave considerably, without causing any ‘traffic jams’ or collisions.

Leinfand in Hamburg, swapfiet bike

Where to Get Your Bike in Hamburg?

I rented my first Hamburger bike from Swapfiets. It is a contract with no time limit and I can have it as long as I want. The monthly charge for my type of bike is €19.00 which is automatically taken from my card. Getting the bike was super easy — you just order the bike online with a pick-up date and then just pop-in, provide your ID card or passport, test the bike and then you just have fun!

Eppendorf to Strand Pauli through Harbour Takes 36 Minutes

What a lovely first bike tour in Hamburg it was! Passing the stunning district of Eppendorf, chilling at the lovely Alster and having a tasty beer at a beach club really made my day.

All the city trip took us around 4,5 hours and it was totally satisfying. The journey itself from Eppendorf to Strand Pauli is 36 minutes (without breaks) — you couldn’t do it any faster by taking a train or a bus.

I’m thrilled to explore Hamburg on bike and can’t wait for another bike tour! I hope you found here a few useful tips and inspiration for your next bike trip across one of the best cities in Germany and the ‘Schönste Stadt der Welt’ — Hamburg.

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