What different parts of Hamburg are like to live in — character, transport, green spaces, housing and honest trade-offs.
Hamburg is described here by its districts and the localities inside them. This page currently covers 7 districts and 6 localities.
There is no “best neighbourhood”: what suits you depends on your work, budget, family and lifestyle. We describe places — we do not score them.
Larger pins are districts, smaller ones localities. Every place is also listed below.
Map of neighbourhoods in Hamburg
District
Hamburg's westernmost district, running along the Elbe from dense, lively Ottensen, Altona-Altstadt and the Schanze to the villa suburbs of Blankenese and Rissen, with large estates and terraced houses in the north. It has some of the city's highest-income and lowest-income neighbourhoods side by side.
District
Hamburg's largest and greenest district by area, in the south-east, combining the small-town centre of Bergedorf with its castle, residential Lohbrügge and Neuallermöhe, and the farmland, greenhouses and dykes of the Vier- und Marschlande. Connected to the centre by S-Bahn.
District
The most densely populated of Hamburg's districts, reaching from the Außenalster and the university quarter through the busy Osterstraße area to green, family-oriented Lokstedt, Niendorf and Schnelsen. Well connected by U-Bahn and with large parks such as the Niendorfer Gehege.
District
Hamburg's central district, stretching from the old town, St. Pauli and St. Georg across the port to the Elbe island of Wilhelmsburg and residential Hamm, Horn and Billstedt. It has the best transport links in the city and very different neighbourhoods within a few stops of each other.
District
A large, mostly residential district north and east of the Alster, from upmarket Eppendorf, Winterhude and Uhlenhorst to Barmbek, Dulsberg and Langenhorn, with the Stadtpark, Ohlsdorf cemetery and the airport. Popular with young families and well served by U1, U3 and S1.
District
Hamburg's district south of the Elbe, from the urban centre of Harburg with its redeveloped inland harbour to the heath, hills and orchards of the Harburger Berge and the Altes Land. Lower prices than north of the river, a young and international population and direct S-Bahn links to the centre.
District
Hamburg's most populous district, running from urban Eilbek and Wandsbek through Bramfeld and the Alster valley to the village-like Walddörfer and Rahlstedt, the city's largest neighbourhood. Quiet, green residential areas popular with families, with the U1 as the main rail link.