Fritzhotel

The beds were comfy and, despite being so well located, the hotel was really quiet. The windows are amazing. You’re opposite a metro station on the U Bahn and S Bahn, so getting around the city is easy, and it takes 15 minutes to get from the hotel door to the water’s edge. There are tonnes of good restaurants and bars in the area. There’s no AC, so it would get stuffy in summer. One nice extra: if you tell them you don’t want your room cleaned, you can take a beer from the mini bar for each day you skip.

With our two kids, we booked a room with a mezzanine. It was clean and had the basics we needed for a few nights. The hotel sits in a lively spot with restaurants nearby, but we didn't hear much from our room. Some food smells from the fast food places downstairs did drift up, though it wasn't a big problem. A decent budget option.

The S-Bahn station is right across the street, which makes the location really handy. My room was small but fine for a short stay, and I slept without being disturbed. There’s a school behind the hotel and another train station close by, so noise could be an issue for some people. They seem to provide earplugs. If I'm back in Hamburg, I'd check here for availability again. Thanks very much.

The S-Bahn nearby does bring some noise, though the earplugs they provide helped. The hotel is right in the center of the hip Hamburg Schanze district, which is a great spot if that's where you want to be. I liked how much thought went into the small details, from the room names to the toiletries, and the staff were really friendly and helpful. Having a kettle in the room was a nice extra for a low-budget boutique stay. There are a couple of drawbacks to plan around: it can feel stuffy in summer, and check-in is late, at 4pm, while reception shuts at 5pm. That leaves very little flexibility. There's barely any room at reception to leave luggage, either.