The 5 most unusual places to sleep in Hamburg

In summer, when the Elbe isn’t necessarily full, the low plain at Falkensteiner Ufer is transformed into a wonderful hippie village. There’s room for the VW minibus, tent, and airbed among the colourful caravans and pavilions, and it takes seconds to light a little campfire on the beach. If you’re lucky, there could even be a few porpoises swimming up the Elbe in April.

The ‘sleeperoo’ sleeping capsule is a good 30 metres above sea level, on the terrace of the Energiebunker in Wilhelmsburg. When cafe vju’s customers have hauled on their anoraks and set off for home, the unique panorama across the river islands and port skyline is exclusively reserved for guests at the little cube with the soft bedclothes, soya-oil-core mattress and transparent walls.

The Seemannsheim Krayenkamp, which belongs to the Deutsche Seemannsmission in Hamburg e.V., takes in sailors from all over the world. About 45 rooms are reserved for longterm resident mariners. The other 75 can be rented for peanuts by non-seagoers. Sporadic but beautifully formed: washbasin, phone, TV are always included. And sometimes your own shower and toilet.

From the end of March to the beginning of October, island leaseholder Holger Bloom carries his campsite’s guests across the Elbe to the island of Lühesand in the Altes Land with his caravan-ferry Sottje II. Once they arrive, camp is set up (even for day guests) and everyday stress is handed in at the cloakroom – or simply swapped for a beach mat. You’ve got to sample the Bauernfrühstück!

Live like Pippi Longstocking – in a tree house or island bed & breakfast. To the south a few water marshes, bordered to the north by the high-rise housing development of Kirchdorf-Süd. Wilhelmsburg’s contrasts are plain to see at the children’s farm. City escapists recuperate here in the airy heights. The colourful tree house has room for four. You can see, pet and feed more than 260 animals when you descend from the treetops.