Visiting Hamburg? Walk in the footsteps of The Beatles and reminisce about pop from the 1960s

Hamburg HafenCity, a detail on a bridge
Hamburg HafenCity, a detail on a bridge

Rumor has it that the Beatles had their breakthrough in Beatles. From their time in the 60s they have left traces around Hamburg, so let’s check out a walking tour following in the footsteps of the Beatles!

The Indra Musikclub is the setting where the Beatles first performed in Hamburg. Back then it was a strip club and the red building housed some Beatles mementos, such as a foosball table.

Buy the Hamburg harbor tote bag

Kaiserkeller then and now

The pop band also played several shows in the Kaiserkeller in 1960. Still more than 50 years later it is both a club and a concert hall where musicians perform. There is a plaque at the entrance that mentions the Beatles and their time there. Also, don’t miss out on the vintage poster that advertises a show with Rory Storm & The Hurricanes, with the Beatles as the opening act. Fun fact: Ringo Starr played drums for the main performance.

Buy the Hamburg harbor throw pillow

The Jager-Passage is a courtyard is the place where John Lennon had his photo taken for the album 1975, Rock ‘n’ Roll. In that photo, Lennon is leaning in the doorway of one building with the other band members blurred out in the background.

When the Beatles stayed in Hamburg for the first time, they lived in a small storage room above a cinema, the Bambi Cinema.

The Beatles-Platz commemorates the pop band and their time in Hamburg. It’s located where the Reeperbahn and Grosse Freiheit intersects. This was built in 2008 so a long time after the Beatles first arrived on the scene in Hamburg. The plaza is shaped like a vinyl record and has three silhouettes made of steel that are holding instruments. Fun fact: One of the silhouettes is standing further away from the others, that is Stuart Sutcliffe who left the band because of his girlfriend. If you really want to get to know the Beatles story in Hamburg, then BeatleMania which opened in 2009 is the museum to go to. It’s a five-story museum that covers almost 1300 acres and has several themes throughout the museum.