CURRENT POPULATION: 1,754,000
% POP GROWTH: 1 %
CITY AREA: 755 KM2

CITY DENSITY: 2,324 INH/KM2
GDP PER CAPITA: €21,900
DIALLING CODE: +49

WITH FRIENDS
RESTAURANT MARSEILLE
GROSSE ELBSTRASSE 164
TEL. 040 4130 7221
French classics, such as bouillabaisse, feature heavily at this aptly named restaurant by the harbour. Fresh local seafood is also a speciality – it’s best enjoyed from the pavement tables.

ENTERTAINING A CLIENT
CUCINA D’ELISA
ROTHENBAUMCHAUSSEE 101
TEL. 040 451 072
This unassuming and homey Italian restaurant, smack in the heart of the aristocratic Harvestehude, boasts regular dishes, such as tagliatelle with Umbrian black truffles, as well as an extensive menu of weekly specials.

CLOSING THE DEAL
GOLDFISCH
ISEKAI 1
TEL. 040 5700 9690
A modern canalside restaurant that serves Hamburg’s freshest Mediterranean and German cuisine to a rarefied clientele of advertising executives and artists, Goldfisch has a rotating monthly menu that’s popular all year round.

STYLE
RIVER KASEMATTEN
ST PAULI FISCHMARKT 28-32
TEL. 040 4677 9936
With its russet-coloured velvet wall coverings and boxy suede banquettes in deep browns, this former jazz club turned restaurant and lounge is the darling of the trendy set.

RELAX
20UP BAR
BERNHARD-NOCHT-STRASSE 97
TEL. 040 311 190
Perched 20 storeys above the hustle and bustle of St Pauli in the Empire Riverside Hotel, this stylish bar features top-notch cocktails as well as sweeping harbour and city panoramas, courtesy of David Chipperfield’s magnificent double-height windows.

BESPOKE
HOTEL LOUIS C. JACOB
ELBCHAUSSEE 401-403
TEL. 040 8225 50
Nestling among wharf dwellings along the banks of the River Elbe just 10 minutes from the city centre, Hotel Louis C. Jacob sits in the leafy residential neighbourhood of Blankenese. This refined hotel has 78 luxurious rooms and suites, furnished with stylish bespoke period furnishings, antique oak floorboards and one of the largest private art collections in the country, including 500 works by painters and graphic artists of the 19th and 20th centuries. There is also a Michelin-starred restaurant headed by chef Thomas Martin, a warm clubby bar and library and a spa.

VALUE
KUKUUN ARTHOTEL
SPIELBUDENPLATZ 22
TEL. 040 314 393
Each one of the few rooms in this quirky budget hotel was designed by a different young German artist. They range from John Gehrt’s Moonlight Serenade (an azure-coloured space) to Maria Kaebernick’s aptly named Cherry Blossom to Julia Hennings’ All Green Scape. Two modern apartment-style rooms offer a low-key alternative.

BUSINESS
LE ROYAL MÉRIDIEN HAMBURG
AN DER ALSTER 52
TEL. 040 21000
Along the leafy shores of the Aussenalster, with a buzzy rooftop restaurant, this stylish hotel boasts 284 rooms and suites. They feature 42in plasma TV screens and extensive entertainment systems, not to mention a 450m2 subterranean wellness centre.

Hamburg is a club sports paradise. There are tennis clubs, golf clubs, yacht clubs and then there’s Netzwerk-Badminton (www.netzwerkbadminton.de) an upmarket club for badminton enthusiasts. Located in Winterhude, it has nine courts, which can be rented out in 45-minute blocks for €16 (£14) two weeks in advance. After your game head to the bar where you can enjoy a refreshing wheat beer on tap.

Thanks to its scenic lakefront setting and its immaculately paved flat roads, Hamburg’s downtown is the perfect place for inline skating. Each Tuesday from 8pm-10pm (www.tuesday-late-skate.de), devotees can enjoy a 2km or 3km car-free loop of the city centre along the famed Jungfernsteig boulevard and around the picturesque Inner Alster Lake, accompanied by music on their journey.

On better weather days, there are few places as alluring as the leafy wine garden at Lehmitz Weinstuben (www.lehmitz-weinstuben.de). Lined with flowering plants and populated by Eimsbüttel’s clued-in oenophiles, this discreet Hamburg institution has been in existence since 1927. It features a wide selection of wines as well as Swiss and German delicacies, such as the house special, cheese fondue.

Hamburg boasts a total of 11 Michelin-starred restaurants – more than any other German city – making it a mecca of international cuisine.

WORDS BY FARHAD HEYDARI