Hamburg has a great choice of stylish design hotels and hip hostels. The immense Gastwerk, in a year-old red-brick former gasworks in Bahrenfeld, western Hamburg, falls between the two, with a laid-back, welcoming atmosphere, minimalist loft-style rooms and stark industrial decor of steel girders.
The comfy leather sofas, cosy bar and Moroccan-inspired spa add warmth. This innovative hotel group also offers other fashionable alternatives around town, such as Superbude in St Pauli and 25hours in HafenCity. The biggest crowds gather round a replica of Hamburg airport, where every few minutes a model Lufthansa plane glides along the runway, miraculously taking off.
Saskia Brachmann opened her friendly diner 10 years ago, a pioneer of a new generation moving into the quarter. The food is fabulous - Schwabian homecooking from south Germany.
Hamburg, like many places, is in the grip of a craft beer revolution, and the first address to check out should be this sprawling brewhouse. Cosy in winter with a log fire, it has a loud and noisy beer garden in summer that adjoins the vast steel vats of the brewery.
The in-house brewer, Ratsherrn , has half a dozen ales on tap, from pilsner and a hoppy pale ale to malty rotbier and seasonal brews. And the helpful beer sommeliers have assembled a menu of more than 60 craft beers from across the world.
