Cafeography
Hamburg · Altstadt & Neustadt

Cafés in Altstadt & Neustadt

The Alsterpavillon, a tiled café by the Rathaus, the Portugiesenviertel and roasters on Deichstraße and Wexstraße.

Photo: Wolfgang Weiser, Pexels License

The Altstadt and Neustadt are Hamburg’s center, from the Binnenalster down to the harbor. The Altstadt holds the Rathaus, Mönckebergstraße and the merchant houses of Deichstraße; the Neustadt runs west to the Portugiesenviertel, the Portuguese quarter in its south near the Landungsbrücken.1

Coffee here spans more than two centuries. The first Alsterpavillon opened on the Jungfernstieg on 20 August 1799.2 Three roasters with cafés are a short walk apart: Die Rösterei on Steinstraße, Public Coffee Roasters on Wexstraße and Nord Coast on Deichstraße.3

Local tip: For coffee before 08:00, head for the harbor end: Café Sul Hafen and Coffee & Cakes on Ditmar-Koel-Straße open at 07:00 every day, and Café am Fleet on Deichstraße at 07:00 on weekdays.

At a glance

124Cafés listed
66With opening hours
06:00Earliest opening
00:00Latest closing
  • Opens earliest: Hamburg Bäckerei, from 06:00 (Mon–Fri 06:00–17:00 · Sat 08:00–14:00).
  • Closes latest: Favoloso, until 00:00 (Tue–Sun 10:00–00:00).
  • Most common features: outdoor seating (30%), indoor seating (28%), wheelchair access (25%).

OKI Street Cafe

  • Colonnaden 68
  • Mon–Fri 07:00–19:00 · Sat 08:00–19:00 · Sun 08:00–18:30
  • 4917623115939
  • Wheelchair access
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Coffee chains in Altstadt & Neustadt

The Alsterpavillon on the Jungfernstieg

The first pavilion was opened by a French émigré, Augustin Lancelot de Quatre Barbes, and taken over in 1801 by a Swiss confectioner. Hamburgers called it the Rauchpavillon because smoking was allowed, unlike at the rival Schweizerpavillon nearby, which the Great Fire of 1842 ended. Swing concerts carried on there well into the Nazi years.2

The fifth building, opened in 1914, was destroyed in a bombing raid on 26 July 1942. The present semicircular building went up in 1952–53 on the surviving ground floor.2 It stands at Jungfernstieg 54, and across the Kleine Alster the Arkaden-Cafe sits under the Alsterarkaden at numbers 9–10.

Café Paris and the Levantehaus

Two older rooms sit just off Mönckebergstraße. Café Paris, at Rathausstraße 4, fills a tiled former butcher’s shop that dates from 1882.4 The Roncalli Grand Cafe is in the Levantehaus at Mönckebergstraße 7, built in 1911–12 as the Hubertushof when the street was cut through the old town, bombed in 1943–44 and largely rebuilt to its original design by 1950.5 The café opens Monday to Saturday 09:30–19:00 and Sunday 10:00–18:00.

Coffee in the Portugiesenviertel

Ditmar-Koel-Straße is the main street of the Portuguese quarter, and Hamburg Tourismus counts about 40 places to eat and drink around it. The harbor shaped the streets first: the sailors’ churches remain, and by the 1950s and 1960s the area was known for restaurants and harbor pubs.1

Café Sul Hafen at number 10 opens daily 07:00–22:00 and Coffee & Cakes at number 8 runs to 23:00. Milch at number 22 opens on weekdays only, 10:00–16:00, and Pastelaria Cristal is around the corner on Reimarusstraße.

Roasters between Deichstraße and Wexstraße

Deichstraße is about 280 m long and mostly pedestrian, and its houses on the Nikolaifleet canal still have the loading hatches once used to hoist goods up from barges. Number 37 dates from 1686, and the Great Fire of 1842 broke out in this street.6

A citizens’ association, Rettet die Deichstraße, formed in 1972 to stop the houses being demolished for a wider road, and the restoration won the Deutscher Städtebaupreis in 1985.6 Jörn and Paula Gorzolla opened Nord Coast at number 9 in 2015, with windows over the Nikolaifleet.7 It is open daily 09:00–17:00, and Café am Fleet at number 45 from 07:00 on weekdays.

In the Neustadt, Public Coffee Roasters opened its small café on Wexstraße in April 2014, with about 20 seats, and holds regular cuppings.8 Die Rösterei, at Steinstraße 19a, roasts and sells coffees from around the world.3

Sources

  1. Portugiesenviertel: südländisches Flair am Hafen, Hamburg Tourismus, accessed October 2026
  2. Alsterpavillon, Wikipedia (German), accessed October 2026
  3. Kaffee-Tour, Hamburg Tourismus, accessed October 2026
  4. Café Paris, In Your Pocket Hamburg, accessed October 2026
  5. Levantehaus, Wikipedia (German), accessed October 2026
  6. Deichstraße (Hamburg), Wikipedia (German), accessed October 2026
  7. 3 Cool Coffee Shops to Visit in Hamburg (Tanya Nanetti, November 16, 2022), Barista Magazine, accessed October 2026
  8. Public Coffee Roasters: eine Tasse Individualität (André Krüger), Hamburg Tourismus, accessed October 2026
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In Altstadt & Neustadt, also browse: Specialty coffee Breakfast & brunch Outdoor seating Bakery cafés & Konditoreien Vegan & vegetarian Wi-Fi

FAQ

Altstadt & Neustadt cafés: questions

When did the Alsterpavillon on Hamburg’s Jungfernstieg first open?

The first pavilion on the Jungfernstieg opened on 20 August 1799, run by a French émigré, and passed to a Swiss confectioner in 1801. Its fifth building, from 1914, was destroyed by bombing on 26 July 1942. The present semicircular building at Jungfernstieg 54 dates from 1952–53 and stands on the surviving ground floor.

Where is the Portugiesenviertel in Hamburg’s Neustadt?

The Portugiesenviertel is in the south of the Neustadt, near the harbor and the Landungsbrücken, with Ditmar-Koel-Straße as its main street. Around 40 places to eat and drink are there. On Ditmar-Koel-Straße, Café Sul Hafen opens daily from 07:00 to 22:00 and Coffee & Cakes from 07:00 to 23:00.

Which coffee roasters have cafés in Hamburg’s Altstadt and Neustadt?

Nord Coast roasts and serves at Deichstraße 9, by the Nikolaifleet, and opened in 2015. Public Coffee Roasters opened its café on Wexstraße in April 2014 and holds regular cuppings. Die Rösterei at Steinstraße 19a roasts and sells coffees from around the world.

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