Funny you should mention St Pauli, heading across this weekend to watch them, looking forward to it.
Have you been before? Any tips/advice or things to do in the city?
St. Pauli's is bang next to the Reeperbahn, which is where you want to be if your over for a boozy weekend. Plenty of cool bars, but stay out of any sex-related places, pure rip off. Also in the evenings be careful of dark alleys, it's still a bit of a dodgy area. A side street called Hamburgerberg is my favourite for cool little bars. At the weekend the place doesn't really get going till midnight, 11 at the earliest, and will stay open till the early hours.
During the day head down to the harbour front, visit the old Elbe tunnel (green domed building), I wouldn't take a tour on a little boat, as good as it is all the commentary is in German. Veer east and there is the old Speicherstadt, old coffee warehouses, very interesting, there is a Hamburg Dungeon there, along the lines of London Dungeon, but again if you don't speak German probably not a lot of point. Definately worth the fee and the wait if there is a bit of a queue, the model railway, also in the Speicherstadt, next to the Dungeon. Amazing what they've done there, you don't have to be a kid to enjoy it.
Hamburg is incredible for shopping if you have the Mrs along. Mönkebergstrasse is the main one. Start up at the main train station and wander down to the bottom where the impressive Town Hall is (large shopping mall on right at bottom - Europa Passage), wander past the Town Hall to the right where there is a nice arched promenade, around that area are some nice cafes, some on the water, plenty of interesting shops.
Otherwise, there's an old Russian submarine you can go around, I believe it's down by the Fischmarkt these days, which is walking distance from the old Elbtunnel, it's an interesting couple of hours. If the weather's good there's a beach bar there too, (between the two), actually there are several but I think StrandPauli is the best, the one furtherst along.
