St. Georg Walk (Self Guided), Hamburg

Every city has its gay and lesbian area and in Hamburg you will find it in the St Georg Quarter, mainly centered round Lange Reihe Street, which boasts some beautiful Jugendstil buildings. A few years back this was a red-light district with a high drug problem, but those days are long gone and today the neighborhood is multi-cultural, lively, trendy and very gay friendly.

Known by residents as the “Global Village”, the area draws a high concentration of artists and other creative people and you will find traditional arts and crafts stores and gift shops rubbing shoulders with newly installed up-market boutiques selling designer clothes and jewelry.

There is an excellent museum and Germany’s largest theater, not to mention plenty of busy sidewalk cafes and restaurants. It is a great place to stop off and have a drink or a meal because the locals are friendly and open and are happy to welcome visitors. You shouldn’t miss visiting Koppel 66, just off Lange Reihe Street, an ancient machine manufacturing factory, now tastefully transformed into an airy space housing a dozen artists’ studios-cum-shops on several floors, where exhibitions are held and you can buy samples of the work on show.