Languauge problems in Hamburg
 

We're visiting Hamburg for 4 days this summer. I've done some research, and I'm beginning to worry that not being literate in German will be a problem. I contacted some tour companies in St. Pauli & they all offer tours in German. The only English tours would be private & very expensive. This is such a shame. The tours looked wonderful. We've traveled over many parts of Europe & langauge hasn't really been a issue, but now I'm beginning to worry....I do feel at such a deficit in speaking only one language...

Hi Elaine,

Perhaps you should contact the tourist board in Hamburg (http://www.hamburg-tourism.de/en/ser...info-hotlines/). I had a quick look at some of the tour operators in Hamburg and they say (unhelpfully, in German) that they offer tours in other languages by means of headphones (one company, for instance, has GPS-guided headphones so when the tour reaches a certain point, the corresponding information is played). The tourist board should be able to give you better information, and maybe even book you in to a tour when they find out what your interests are. I agree, though, it wasn't very easy to find this out in English. And there has to be some general tour offered in English - Hamburg is a major city, with lots of tourists from abroad, and quite cosmopolitan!

Try the Sandemann tour company. There were some other companies when I googled English walking tours in Hamburg, so you might want to check those too for prices.

http://www.newhamburgtours.com/

Hamburg can easily be enjoyed without a tour, there's not that many historical tourist attractions. Hamburg is just a pleasant, rich metropolitan to enjoy. What's nice is that it is a conglomeration of small towns so each district has its own heart/center. What are your interests? They only have 2 major museums, both are in downtown. They do have a Port/Hafen tour in English though it was limited (like once a day if I remember correctly). We took the german Hafen tour which was very informative and worth it. That said the one hour tour was enough for us, I can't see myself enduring a 3 hour tour sitting on the boat.

When I was there the tours I went on (harbor tour by boat and Rathaus tour) were in German. I wasn't actively looking for English tours, however, so don't know if they would have been difficult to find.

Thanks for the info. I have emailed the Sandmann tour company.