Fischmarkt: Hamburg Travel Guide (4.5★)

Sunday, before the city wakes

At 5am the cobbles below the Elbe slope are already crowded. Two crowds share the quay: people starting their Sunday, and people still finishing Saturday night out on the Reeperbahn a few streets uphill. Hamburg has held a Sunday market here since 1703. The early start comes from that history, when it had to finish before church.

Stalls run along the riverfront at Fischmarkt 2, on the line between Altona and St. Pauli. Fish is only part of what’s on sale. You’ll find potted plants, fruit, cheese, sausages and household odds and ends. Container ships slide past on the Elbe behind it all.

What to eat and watch

The Fischbrötchen is the reason to come. It’s a soft white roll stuffed with fish, eaten standing up. The classic fillings:

• Bismarckhering: pickled herring with onion
• Matjes: mild, young salted herring
• Backfisch: battered fried fish
• Krabben: small North Sea brown shrimp
• Räucheraal: smoked eel, often sold whole

The Marktschreier are the show. These market criers bark their patter from the backs of trucks and keep piling more fruit or eel into one bag until somebody buys it. A crowd gathers around the loudest of them, and the teasing is part of the deal.

Go into the Fischauktionshalle, the red-brick fish auction hall from 1896. Its iron-and-glass interior now hosts a Sunday brunch, with live music on the stage while the market goes on outside. On a cold morning, people go there to warm up.

Working the market

Early hours and loud sellers: how to keep up.

• Carry cash. Plenty of stalls only take notes and coins. Prices are chalked or called out at each stall.
• Arrive early. By the last hour, sellers are packing up their trucks. Around 6–7am you get the full market without the end-of-session rush.
• Bid on the criers’ bags. When a seller fills a bag and calls out his price, raise your hand. Haggling doesn’t work here, but heckling back does.
• Eat as you walk. Fischbrötchen are street food. Locals eat them on the quay wall facing the river.
• Watch the water level. Storm surges on the Elbe sometimes flood the lower market. On stormy weekends, check Hamburg’s official announcements before you go.
• Expect groups from the clubs. Partygoers are part of the scene. They’re usually cheerful, but keep an eye on your bag in the crush.

Getting there and onwards

Plan around a Sunday-only, early-morning slot. Google currently lists Sunday 5:00–9:30 AM. In past years the winter start has been later than the summer one, so check the official Hamburg site for this month’s hours.

• S-Bahn: Reeperbahn or Königstraße stations, each about a 10-minute walk downhill to the water.
• U-Bahn: Landungsbrücken (U3), then a 15-minute walk west along the Elbe promenade.
• Ferry: HADAG line 62 stops at the Altona (Fischmarkt) pier. It runs on the public transport ticket and gives you a harbour view.

Two hours covers the market, a roll and the auction hall. Afterwards, walk east to the Landungsbrücken piers and the Old Elbe Tunnel, or west along Övelgönne’s river beach. Both are quiet on a Sunday morning, which makes a good contrast with the market.