After having had a couple of bad years Hamburg’s Philharmonic Hall is now ready to be enjoyed from January on. At the moment plaza, hotel and restaurants (as well as souvenir shops offering numerous souvenirs of „Elphi“ and a chosen variety of music literature) are up and running. More than 20.000 people visited the free of charge viewing platform during the first weekend only. According to my experiences you do not need to reserve tickets for two euros if you plan your visit on a weekday. You can just go there and receive a same day ticket for free at the counter left of the escalators (The Tube). Check in at the scanner and up you go. Up to 1,200 people are allowed to enjoy the plaza at the same time in good weather. Bad weather however, limits this number to 600.
Going up to the plaza square by the Tube takes an eternity – at least three minutes. Probably this feeling is due to the excitement. Even in bad weather the view is spectacular. Maybe it’s the only place in the whole town, from where you can see all of our five main churches at once. In a whole, the building impresses with its love for details even though not everything is perfect yet (I found post-its telling: „cracks“, I noticed with dismay that the café on the plaza sells its coffee out of plastic and paper cups, and directly at the Tube I saw that the fluorescent tubes could have been installed a bit more discreetly. Nevertheless, Hamburg has now got a ne attraction which is really worth visiting. Guiding through the Elphi – how we Hamburgers call it tenderly – will be possible from next year on.
Until then, the plaza is open to Hamburg’s inhabitants and individual tourists. So, come on, get going and have a look! (But attention: the concert halls themselves are normally not to be visited
!) Being a tourist guide in Hamburg I can already imagine to enjoy some nice dusks on the outdoor plaza during summer. There are built-in seats in the walls already. The area around the Elbphilharmonie is said to stay publicly available in the future. Please, when you go there, consider going by public transport rather than by car as parking is extremely difficult in that part of the city. The underground line U3 stops very close the philharmonic hall at „Baumwall“. I wish all of you a lot of fun discovering the Elbphilharmonie! In case you’d like to get to know some more about Hamburg’s exciting quarter HafenCity and Hamburg’s Philharmonic Hall, please contact me for an individual offer via contact form.
