Hamburg Stadtpark

The Hamburg Stadtpark is a 148-hectare (366-acre) city park in the Winterhude district, north of the city center. It is Hamburg's big green escape, with a lake, a huge central meadow and a brick water tower that now houses a planetarium. If you are looking for things to do in Hamburg beyond the harbor and the Old Town, this is where locals go for a picnic, a swim in summer or an open-air concert.

History

The park opened in 1914, although it took about 14 more years to finish. It was designed by Fritz Schumacher, who became head of the city's building department in June 1909; the 1910 plan was developed with Ferdinand Sperber and drew on a draft by Alfred Lichtwark from 1908. Otto Linne led the gardening work from 1918. The city had bought the 35-hectare Sierichsches Gehölz from the heirs of Adolph Sierich in 1901.

The park was meant as a place of recreation for all social classes. You can still see that in the 15-hectare Festwiese, a large open lawn designed as an open-air "people's house."

What to see

• The Planetarium: the former water tower was built from 1912 to 1915 and converted into a planetarium in 1930. It is the park's landmark.
• The Festwiese and the lake: the big lawn on the west side of the lake is the heart of the park. A public outdoor pool sits at the Stadtparksee.
• Open-air stage: concerts have been held here since 1924 for up to 4,000 visitors. David Bowie (1987), Pink Floyd (1989) and the Rolling Stones (2017) have all played on the Festwiese.
• Art and nature: the park has 23 artworks, and 110 bird species have been observed. A circular trail, the Pilgrim Trail, is 5.7 kilometers long.
• For kids: a paddling pool of about 3,000 square meters and a model boat pond 40 meters across.

Planning your visit

Allow one to two hours for a relaxed walk around the lake and across the meadow; with the planetarium, the pool or a concert you can easily spend half a day. This is our estimate. On nice weekends it is crowded: Hamburg Tourism cites more than 200,000 visitors, while the city itself says over 100,000. Mornings are quieter.

Barbecues are allowed in two official spots, the Festwiese and the meadow west of the paddling pool, according to the City of Hamburg. Elsewhere in the park they are not permitted.

Admission and opening hours (as of October 2026)

The park is public and there is no admission fee. The planetarium, the pool and concerts have their own prices and hours, which you should check with the operators. The sources we found do not give opening hours for the park itself.

How to get there

The park is on Otto-Wels-Straße in the north of the city. The nearest stops are U3 Borgweg and Saarlandstraße and S1 Alte Wöhr, and the Deutschlandticket is valid on these lines. We could not confirm parking details.

Nearby

The park lies in Winterhude, and the U3 line takes you quickly to the city center and to the Landungsbrücken harbor piers.