Hamburg’s Red HOHO Bus: Routes & Tickets

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Hamburg’s hop-on hop-off bus drops you off at a UNESCO World Heritage Site that didn’t exist on the list until 2015. The Speicherstadt, the world’s largest contiguous warehouse complex at 260,000 square metres, sits on stop number eight of a 21-euro day ticket. You can ride past it five times if you want.

This is a guide to booking that ticket without overpaying or boarding the wrong line.

Red double-decker hop-on hop-off buses parked in Hamburg
The red Doppeldecker is the workhorse of Hamburg sightseeing. Most visitors confuse the two main lines (A and G) at booking time. Line A is the one you almost certainly want.
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In a Hurry? My Top Three Picks

1. Line A 1-Day Ticket, around $24: the classic 20-stop loop. The one you book if you only book one thing.

2. Bus + Harbor Cruise Combo, around $50: 1 day on the bus and a port cruise from Landungsbrücken. Best value if you’d book a harbor boat anyway.

3. Bus + Alster or Harbor Cruise, around $44: picks one of two cruises on the day. The lake option is gentler and prettier than the working harbor.

St Pauli Landungsbrucken piers in Hamburg with red brick clock tower
Landungsbrücken is the main starting point and the most useful stop on the line. If you board here, sit on the upper deck on the right side for the harbor views as the bus pulls away. Photo by Dietmar Rabich / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

What the Hamburg Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Actually Is

One company runs almost everything red and double-decker in Hamburg: Die Roten Doppeldecker. Translation: the Red Double-Deckers. They operate Line A (the main 20-stop city loop) and Line G (the smaller 18-stop loop that stretches up to the Außenalster). Most other “hop-on hop-off” listings you’ll see online resell tickets for this same fleet.

The full Line A loop takes 90 to 100 minutes if you don’t get off. Buses come every 10 to 30 minutes depending on the time of day. The audio guide runs in 11 languages and is GPS-triggered, so the commentary lines up with what you’re actually looking at. German plays out loud. Everything else (English, French, Russian, Italian, Spanish, Danish, Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, Portuguese) goes through headphones at your seat.

Day ticket validity is one calendar day. That means a 9am board and a 5pm board both count as the same day. It does not roll over 24 hours. Plan your starts accordingly.

Hamburg Speicherstadt brick warehouses along a canal
The Speicherstadt is the headline reason to take the loop. Get off at stop 8 (Speicherstadt/Auf dem Sande) and walk for 30 minutes before reboarding. The brick warehouses are best from canal level, not from the bus seat.

Line A vs Line G: Which One to Pick

Hamburg double decker sightseeing bus on a city street
The buses look identical from the outside but the routes don’t overlap completely. Always check the line letter on the front before boarding; passengers swap occasionally and end up doing half a different loop.

If you only have a day in Hamburg, book Line A. It’s the bigger loop, the more frequent loop, and it covers the postcard list: Landungsbrücken, Speicherstadt, Elbphilharmonie, HafenCity, the Rathaus, the Reeperbahn, and the Außenalster. Twenty stops, all the things you’d be embarrassed to miss.

Line G is what you book on day two if you really want to get out to the lake and the more residential northern districts. It overlaps with Line A in the centre but has stops near the University, Planten un Blomen park, and the Außenalster villas that Line A only skirts. Buses are less frequent. If you’re optimising for one ticket, this isn’t it.

Some operators sell a Line A + Line G combo. Skip unless you genuinely want to do both, which means a half-day on each.

Where to Board (and Where Not To)

Two main starting points:

St Pauli Landungsbrücken (Bridges 1-2): the harbor pier strip, served by U3 and S1/S3. This is where most visitors board. You’re a five-minute walk from the Old Elbe Tunnel and the harbor cruises depart from the same waterfront, which makes it the natural pick if you’ve bought a bus + cruise combo.

Hamburg Landungsbrucken skyline harbor port
The Landungsbrücken stop puts you in the middle of the harbor strip – boats, the Cap San Diego museum ship, and a row of fish-roll kiosks. If you arrive 20 minutes before boarding, that’s how to fill the time.

Hauptbahnhof / Kirchenallee: right outside the main train station, on the Kirchenallee side. If you’re coming in by ICE from Berlin or by S-Bahn from the airport, this saves you a transfer.

Hamburg harbor skyline with boats and cranes
The Landungsbrücken side of the loop is where the city earns its “gateway to the world” nickname. Working container terminals run all day across the river, and you can watch them from the upper deck for free.

You can board at any of the other 18 stops too. The buses don’t sell tickets in person at every stop and some drivers wave you off, so book online before you leave the hotel. A QR code on your phone is faster than rummaging in your wallet on a moving bus.

What You Pay (And Where the Discounts Are)

Standard Line A walk-up prices, in euros, from the operator:

Adult day ticket: 21 €. HamburgCard holders: 18 €. Children 6-14: 12 €. Kids 5 and under ride free. Family ticket (1-2 adults plus children up to 14): 44 €. Students, apprentices, and over-65s: 18 € with proof.

If you’re buying through GetYourGuide, prices float around $24 for the standard adult ticket, which is the operator price plus card processing. The advantage is free cancellation up to 24 hours before, which the operator’s own website doesn’t offer.

The HamburgCard is worth checking only if you’re already planning to use public transport heavily. It bundles the U-Bahn, S-Bahn, ferries, and a stack of museum discounts. If your week looks like “bus, museum, bus, restaurant, walk”, a one-day or three-day card pays for itself.

The Order I’d Use the Loop In

Most people board, ride one full circuit to “see what’s there”, then start hopping off. That’s a wasted hour. Here’s the order I’d actually use a Line A ticket in.

Board at Landungsbrücken around 10am. Ride one stop forward to St Pauli’s Reeperbahn just to get the geography in your head, then get off at stop 8, Speicherstadt. Walk through the warehouse blocks, peek into the Miniatur Wunderland queue (book that separately and in advance, never walk-up), and rejoin the bus.

Speicherstadt at evening from Poggenmuhlenbrucke with reflections in canal
The Speicherstadt photographs much better at dusk than midday, but the bus stops running before the lights come on. If you want this shot, hop off late afternoon, walk to the Poggenmühlenbrücke, and head back on foot to Landungsbrücken. Photo by Thomas Wolf / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Get off at HafenCity / Elbphilharmonie next. The Plaza viewing platform of the Elbphilharmonie is free and gives you a 37-metre-high panorama for nothing. You do need a timed Plaza ticket on busy days; pick one up at the entrance kiosk or online.

Reboard, ride through to the Rathaus area, get off, eat lunch in the Old Town, then jump back on for the run up to the Außenalster and the longer residential stretch on the way back.

Hamburg Town Hall and canal on a cloudy day
The Rathausmarkt at the back of the Town Hall is where most riders rejoin the bus after lunch. The canal-front cafes here are pricier than the side streets; walk one block north for half the bill.

You’ll have used the ticket maybe four times by the end of the day. That’s the point of buying it.

Hamburg Speicherstadt warehouses bridge architecture
The bridge crossings inside the Speicherstadt are where the warehouse blocks photograph best. The bus passes them too fast for a clean shot – this is the kind of frame you only get on foot.

The Three Tickets I’d Book For This

1. Hamburg: Line A Hop-On Hop-Off Sightseeing Tour: around $24

Hamburg Line A red double-decker hop on hop off sightseeing tour
Line A is the default Hamburg ticket. The 20-stop loop hits every name attraction in the city, and the audio in 11 languages means you don’t have to fight to understand what you’re looking at.

This is the one to book if you’re booking one bus ticket. Our full review walks through what each of the 20 stops is actually worth getting off for. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before.

Check Availability
Read Our Review

2. Hamburg: Hop-On Hop-Off Bus with Harbor Cruise: around $50

Hamburg hop on hop off bus with harbor cruise combo
The combo I’d actually buy. The harbor cruise is what makes Hamburg make sense, and tacking it onto the bus saves you queuing twice.

One ticket, both vehicles. The cruise leaves from Landungsbrücken so you don’t have to relocate. Read our review for which cruise schedule slots actually work with the bus loop.

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Read Our Review

3. Hamburg: Hop-On Hop-Off Bus with Alster or Harbor Cruise: around $44

Hamburg hop on hop off bus with Alster or harbor cruise option
The flex option. Book this one if you can’t decide between the working harbor and the prettier inland lake. You pick the cruise on the day.

Cheaper than the dedicated harbor combo and you get to choose the boat at the dock. The Alster cruise is gentler and the better pick if you have kids on board. Our review covers what each cruise actually shows you.

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Read Our Review

Stops Worth Getting Off At

You won’t use all 20. Here are the ones I’d build a day around.

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg exterior glass and brick concert hall
The Elbphilharmonie cost €866 million to build and finished a decade behind schedule. The free Plaza viewing deck is the bit you actually want to see; tickets to the concert hall itself are a separate, harder booking. Photo by Thomas Wolf / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0 de)

Landungsbrücken (boarding stop): the harbor strip, the historic piers, and the entrance to the Old Elbe Tunnel. The tunnel is a free 426-metre walk under the Elbe to a viewing point on the south bank. It’s the underrated thing to do here.

Reeperbahn / St Pauli: the daytime version is a lot tamer than the reputation. You’ll see the famous street, the Beatles-Platz, and the Davidwache police station. It’s worth getting off for 20 minutes just to say you did.

Speicherstadt: the UNESCO warehouse district. Don’t try to do this from the bus. Get off and walk for half an hour.

HafenCity / Elbphilharmonie: Europe’s largest urban regeneration project sits on what used to be the freeport. The contrast between the new glass towers and the old brick warehouses is the entire point.

Hamburg HafenCity buildings and harbor waterfront
HafenCity is still being built. The buildings closest to the water finished around 2010, but the inland blocks were going up as recently as 2024. If something looks half-done, it probably is.

Rathaus / Town Hall: drop here for the historic centre. Walk to the Alsterarkaden, the Mönckebergstraße shopping street, and the lakeside benches at the Inner Alster.

Hamburg Rathaus Town Hall sandstone facade
Hamburg’s Rathaus is one of the only big German town halls that wasn’t levelled in WWII. Free guided tours of the interior run roughly hourly in English, and the courtyard with the Hygieia fountain is open to walk through any time. Photo by Dietmar Rabich / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Außenalster (Line A only skirts it; Line G stops closer): the big lake. If you board Line A you’ll see it from the bus but you can’t really get to the water. For a proper Außenalster afternoon, swap to Line G or just walk from Stadthausbrücke.

Aussenalster Hamburg lake with sailing boats
The Außenalster on a calm afternoon. The bus shows you the view; the lake itself you have to walk to. If your trip has a half-day to spare, this is where to spend it. Photo by Kevin Kurek / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The HOHO + Harbor Cruise Question

Most people booking Hamburg’s hop-on bus also book a harbor cruise. They’re complementary. The bus shows you the city from above; the cruise shows you the city from the water, which is how the city actually built itself.

If you want both, the combo ticket is the right move. The dedicated 1.5-hour Harbor and Speicherstadt day cruise is the most informative; the evening lights cruise is the prettier one but doesn’t pair as well with a daytime bus loop. If you’d rather pick the cruise on the day, the Bus + Alster-or-Harbor combo gives you flexibility for less money.

If you’re tight on time, the cruise can stand alone. Our Hamburg harbor cruise booking guide covers which operator and which schedule is the right pick for one-shot visits.

Hamburg Elbphilharmonie and Speicherstadt seen from harbor
This is the angle the harbor cruise gives you and the bus can’t. Booking the combo is mostly about getting both perspectives in one day without buying two tickets at two separate windows.

What the Bus Doesn’t Cover Well

The hop-on hop-off is excellent for the centre and the harbor. It’s mediocre for the residential districts and the further-out attractions. Specifically:

Reeperbahn at night. The bus stops running early evening. If your trip to St Pauli is for the bars and music venues, the bus is a daytime preview, not transport. For a real St Pauli evening, take a guided St Pauli tour or walk in from Landungsbrücken on the U3.

Reeperbahn Hamburg at night with neon lights
This is the Reeperbahn the loop doesn’t show you. The bus version is the boarded-up morning version; the night version starts around 9pm and is a different street entirely.

The Außenalster proper. The lake itself is a bus-window experience on Line A. If you want to walk it, rent a paddleboat, or eat at one of the lakeside cafes, plan a separate afternoon and walk in from Stephansplatz.

The Fischmarkt. Sunday morning only, opens at 5am. The bus isn’t running yet. Take the U3 or walk from Landungsbrücken.

Side trips. Lübeck, the Beatles museum scene, the Airbus factory tour. None of these are on the loop. Different ticket, different day.

Reeperbahn Hamburg afternoon street scene St Pauli
Daytime Reeperbahn from the bus window. The buildings are the same after dark; the atmosphere isn’t. Don’t expect the loop to give you “the Reeperbahn experience” – it gives you the geography. Photo by Kritzolina / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Practical Tips From Someone Who Has Done This Loop Twice

Sit upstairs, on the right. On a clear day, the open-roof upper deck is the whole reason to do this. The right side gets the harbor and the Speicherstadt views as the loop runs. Bring a hat: sun and wind, even on a mild day.

Bring your own headphones. The audio guide ports are 3.5mm jacks. Standard wired earbuds work fine. The complimentary disposables are scratchy and the bus runs out by mid-afternoon.

Buy online before you go. Boarding-stop ticket sellers exist but are slower and don’t always run. A digital ticket on your phone scans in three seconds.

The first bus is around 9:30am, last departure around 5pm. Hours shorten in winter (typically last bus 4pm or earlier from November). Check the operator website the night before; the schedule does shift.

Dogs ride free. One per bus. They don’t sell a separate ticket. If you’re travelling with a dog, no issue.

Wheelchair accessibility. One wheelchair per bus. Ground-floor seating only. The upper deck is stairs.

Hamburg skyline at dusk over River Alster
If you have one perfect-weather afternoon, finish the loop, get off at the Stephansplatz/Alster stop, and walk down to the Inner Alster benches for golden hour. The bus ticket has done its job by then.

How This Compares to Other German HOHO Loops

I’ve ridden the equivalent loops in Berlin and Munich. Hamburg’s holds up better than both, mainly because the harbor section is genuinely something the bus is well-placed to show you – elevated, slow, and with audio commentary. Berlin’s loop spends too much time on traffic-clogged roads, and Munich’s is good but covers a much smaller geographic story.

If you’re comparing across cities for a multi-stop Germany trip, our Berlin hop-on hop-off guide and Munich hop-on hop-off guide walk through the equivalent ticket choices for each. Hamburg’s is the best-value of the three for first-time visitors.

Pairing With Other Hamburg Bookings

The day after the bus loop is when most visitors regret not having booked the harder-to-walk-up stuff in advance. Two bookings I’d make at the same time as the bus ticket:

The Elbphilharmonie Plaza tour sells out the cheap timed slots fast. Book it for a morning slot, then start the bus loop afterward; the Plaza is a five-minute walk from the HafenCity stop.

If your trip includes a real St Pauli night, book a guided Reeperbahn evening tour for the same trip – separate ticket, separate evening, but it pairs naturally with the daytime bus version of the same street.

And if you have a half-day spare, the harbor cruise as a standalone is one of the better-value attractions in the city, even if you’ve already done the bus + cruise combo.

Booking Checklist

Before you click confirm, a final pass:

Pick Line A unless you have a specific reason for Line G. Decide on bus-only vs bus + cruise combo (the combo is usually worth it for the harbor or Alster cruise). Check the cancellation window – GetYourGuide usually offers free cancellation up to 24 hours before, the operator’s site doesn’t. Book online for the QR code, not in person. Save the boarding map to your phone offline. Plan to start at Landungsbrücken or Hauptbahnhof, not at a random stop in the middle.

That’s the booking done. The day itself is upper-deck, right-hand seat, and a coffee from the kiosk at Landungsbrücken before you board.

If You’re Building a Hamburg Day From Scratch

The hop-on bus is the spine of a one-day Hamburg itinerary. It’s not the whole itinerary. Around it I’d add the Elbphilharmonie Plaza in the morning, the Speicherstadt walk midday, the harbor cruise mid-afternoon, and a Reeperbahn dinner. That’s four bookings (bus, Plaza, cruise, dinner) and one of them is just walking onto a boat.

Our broader Hamburg coverage includes the St Pauli and Reeperbahn booking guide, the harbor cruise booking guide, and the Elbphilharmonie booking guide. Read those alongside this one and the day plans itself.