German Rail (Deutsche Bahn) Lounge Hamburg - Premium Area

4.3

Rating

4.3/5

Flyctory.com Pros

Nice atmosphere
Basic food and drinks

In January 2023, I took a rail trip hitting all 16 German states in one day. Apart from that geographic challenge, I also wanted to explore some of the German Rail lounges. I have been especially keen to the premium lounges and premium areas, which I typically don’t have access to, despite my status level. I already introduced you to the Premium Lounge in Berlin, which is the only one of its kind in Germany. In this second posting, here is a look into the Premiumbereich (Premium Area) of the German Rail lounge in Hamburg, which I visited during my trip on a Saturday morning.

Rail Lounge Hamburg (Premium) – Location & Access

The lounge is located at the East wing of the station, East of platform 4 and close to the exits towards the underground trains, some S-Bahn commuter rails and the Kirchenallee. Both, the “ordinary” lounge and the premium area, are one floor above the passenger level and can be reached by stairs and elevator. All lounges with premium areas have a common reception. In Hamburg, there is an aisle to the premium area close to the entrance. At other lounges, the different areas are simply left and right to the reception desk.

Also compared to the rules I stated in my Berlin Premium Lounge review posted in early 2023, Deutsche Bahn / German Rail significantly sharpened the rules to access the rail lounges and to the Premiumbereich areas. Since March 2023, you may only access the latter if you either

Have a BahnCard First 100 (German Rail Network ticket for 1st class travel)
Having a flexible (not bound to a certain rail connection) 1st class ticket. In this case, you have access before departure, after arrival and at connection points. The ticket must not be within the area regional traffic organization (Vekehrsverbund).

With that update, you are also not allowed to bring companions to the Premium Lounge or Premium Areas. You can be with them in the ordinary lounge area, though. Before this change of rules, lounges were often very crowded.

Rail Lounge Hamburg (Premium) – Atmosphere

Even though the premium area of the lounge is not overwhelmingly spacious, it is having a really nice layout with different spaces. The firs section of the lounge features a bar-alike area and bisto-alike seating. In contrast to the “ordinary” area, you are served drinks and food from there. The seating is very cozy and I liked to hang out there. As you see, I was at the lounge very early and had a relaxed time. The rear area of the lounge features sofa-alike seats with higher level of privacy. The overall interior design is very modern and welcoming.

Rail Lounge Hamburg (Premium) – Food & Drink

The Premium Area of the DB Lounge also offers food. I have been there on an early Saturday morning, which meant that I had croissants and cookies and fresh-made coffee drinks, juice and similar items. Later the day, there are also soups, sandwiches and similar simple cold and warm snacks. In general, the food offered is in line with the meals available at the Premium Lounge in Berlin.

Rail Lounge Hamburg (Premium) – Services

German rail lounges offer very reliable WiFi. The Premiumbereich in Hamburg also offered some magazine to travelers during my visit. I was rather surprised that there has even been a separate toilet for premium travelers.

Rail Lounge Hamburg (Premium) – My View

I feel that the premium area of the DB Lounge in Hamburg is really cozy and welcoming. The service frequency could have been a bit better during my Saturday morning stay, but I overall really enjoyed it, arriving from Frankfurt and heading on to Berlin. Not as posh as a good airport lounge, but definitely a good place to work and relax.

Hamburg – Travel-related postings

Here are all my Travel-related postings about Hamburg:

Monaco & Provence at Miniatur Wunderland

I simply love the Miniatur Wunderland. You can hardly challenge that the scale model landscape and rail attraction is the ...

Best Western Raphael Hotel Altona (Hamburg)

For Charles Esten's show in Hamburg in May 2024, I needed a hotel in the Northern German city. I chose ...

NH Collection Hamburg City

Before I have just been close to the NH Collection Hamburg City, I knew that this hotel will give me ...

ibis Styles Hamburg Barmbek

In order to cover the Home Free concert in Hamburg in September 2023, I had a night at the ibis ...

The FC St. Pauli Museum (Kiezbeben)

The website of the FC St. Pauli Museum states that a club like no other deserves a museum as no other. Indeed, ...

Hamburg Coffee Museum Burg

Due to its harbor, Hamburg is a very important place for trading goods of all kinds. Not too surprisingly, there ...

Premier Inn Hamburg St. Pauli

In order to explore Hamburg and upgrade my contents about the Northern German city, I had a two night stay ...

Alter Elbtunnel / Historic Elbe Tunnel Hamburg

Without a doubt, the Alter Elbtunnel / Historic Elbe Tunnel is one of the most iconic constructions in the Northern German ...

All German States (and the Eleven Biggest Cities) on one Rail Ticket – Part 2

AIthough has just been a day trip, but I just felt it is too long to tell the story of ...

All German States (and the eleven biggest Cities) on one Rail Ticket – Part 1

Okay, I give in: this trip is weird. While people typically feel that I am "just" a die hard aviation ...

Hotel Fürst Bismarck (Hamburg)

For a trip to Pinneberg just outside Hamburg, I needed a stay close to one of Hamburg's regional train stations ...

ibis Hamburg St. Pauli Messe

I like Hamburg - and especially in recent times, I have been very frequently around the Reeperbahn region. There are ...

St. Pauli “Kult Kieztour” with Barbie Stupid and Lee Jackson

The Reeperbahn area in Hamburg's borough St. Pauli has undergone quite a significant transformation. Some decades ago, the red light and ...

Millerntor Stadium Tour – Home of the FC St. Pauli

There are two major soccer clubs in Hamburg - and they are so different. If you look at their national ...

Weird Al Yankovic is touring Europe 2023 – Tour Dates and Travel Hints

The 7th November 2022 is one of these days I will hardly forget so quickly. In a Weird Al fan ...

Exploring Hamburg with the HADAG Public Ferries – Line 61

In the order of posting the episodes of my trip report of exploring Hamburg Habor (here is my overview posting ...

Exploring Hamburg with the HADAG Public Ferries – Line 73

This episode of my Hamburg Public Ferry trip report takes you to my favorite route of all, Line 73 (see ...

Exploring Hamburg with the HADAG Public Ferries – Line 72

The second posting about exploring Hamburg with the HADAG public ferries features Line 72, which is special in multiple aspects ...

Exploring Hamburg with the HADAG Public Ferries – Lines 62 & 64 & Overview

Typically, my Trip Reports are like travel diaries. One posting per day, telling you all the stories of a trip, ...

Rickmer Rickmers Museum Ship Hamburg

The harbor area is the heart of the German city of Hamburg. The history of the city is closely linked ...

Spicy’s Spices Museum (Gewürzmuseum) Hamburg

I enjoy visiting museums, which deal with other topics than the ones you find practically everywhere - arts, technology, biology, ...

IntercityHotel Hamburg-Altona

At the beginning of April 2022, I had two nights in Hamburg. As one of my key intentions was to ...

Premier Inn Hamburg City Millerntor

The reason why I traveled to Hamburg in March was a German show of my favorite musical Rock of Ages in nearby ...

Yullbe Wunderland – Explore Minatur Wunderland in a very different Way

Already the partners of the project and new Hamburg attraction Yullbe Wunderland sound amazing: on the one hand, there is ...

Ehlers Harbor Cruise Hamburg

If you are in Hamburg, a Hafenrundfahrt (or: harbor cruise) is one of these must-dos in the largest city in the ...

Flying with DAT (Danish Air Transport) from Saarbruecken to Hamburg

Due to the pandemic travel limitations, I felt 2021 might be a good idea to check out some exotic travel ...

IntercityHotel Hamburg Main Station

In mid June 2021, I again had a night in Hamburg. As I was aiming to come back late from ...

Hamburg Panoptikum

A Panoptikum is a place for everything you can see, if you translate it roughly. The Hamburg Panoptikum in St ...

FRS Halunder Jet Fast Ferry VIP Premium Class from Hamburg to Helgoland

Helgoland (in English also called Heligoland) is very often referred to as Germany's only deep-sea island. Even though this nice ...

German Customs Museum Hamburg

There are so many interesting places in Hamburg, which are still on my bucket list. Of course, the Northern German ...

Cap San Diego Museum Ship Hamburg

The Cap San Diego is a general cargo vessel, which has been in duty between 1962 and 1986. Since then, it ...

German Food Additives Museum Hamburg

Preservatives, artificial flavors, abherents and more - there are countless potential food additives in our everyday nutrition. You might feel ...

Chocoversum by Hachez Hamburg

A place about and full of chocolate - I am quite sure that I am not the only one who ...

Museum Prototyp Hamburg

The marketing flyer of the Museum Prototyp in Hamburg is really self-confident. The name of the car history museum is not ...

Reichshof Hamburg, Curio Collection by Hilton

I haven't been to too many hotels which are featured in own wikipedia articles in my life. One stay, at ...

ALPEN-SYLT Nachtexpress – A New Night Train Crossing Germany

One thousand kilometres to the sea - or vice versa One thousand kilometres to the Alps - was the slogan a new private ...

Elbphilharmonie (Elbe Philharmonic Hall) Hamburg

The Elbphilharmonie (Elbe Philharmonic Hall), which has been built between 2007 and 2016 and opened on 11th January 2017, is something like ...

Miniatur Wunderland Hamburg

What is Germany's most popular tourist attractions? According to many popular rankings including TripAdvisor, it is neither the Brandenburg Gate ...

Herbertstrasse Hamburg – A Covid-19 Vacuum in the Red Light District

Hamburg has a lot of famous attraction: some might first think about the huge harbor, others about the new Elbphilharmonie (Elbe ...

Travel in Berlin

Here are all travel postings related to Berlin:

Berlin Charite Medical History Museum

The Charité is one of the most famous and best hospitals in Germany. It is driven by the two key Berlin universities, ...

ibis Berlin Hauptbahnhof / Main Station

As I didn't feel like taking the night ICE train after my August 2024 trip to Dresden from Berlin to ...

Czech Rail (CD) Railjet Business Class

I really enjoy riding the Railjet. The type of trains is majorly the backbone of the Austrian high-speed rail network ...

Berlin Tempelhof (THF) Former Terminal Tour

The history of Berlin nowadays is also a story of two airports which have been closed down in the meantime ...

Futurium Berlin

For the second part of my "review battle" of museums dealing with visions around the future, we leave the Museum ...

EHF Euro 2024 (Handball) at the Mercedes-Benz Arena Berlin

Seeing one of the very first appearances of the Faroe Islands at a EHF Euro in handball just felt too ...

EuroNight EN 40476 Night Train from Budapest to Berlin

TraMy trip in late October / early November 2023 involved a lot of traveling. Once I made it back to ...

Melia Berlin

Sad and touching moments just need to have a good hotel stay for your soul. For the very last leg ...

German Rail (Deutsche Bahn) Premium Lounge Berlin Main Station

What a day - on 14th January 2023, I traveled through all 16 German states in a 24 hour train ...

All German States (and the Eleven Biggest Cities) on one Rail Ticket – Part 2

AIthough has just been a day trip, but I just felt it is too long to tell the story of ...

All German States (and the eleven biggest Cities) on one Rail Ticket – Part 1

Okay, I give in: this trip is weird. While people typically feel that I am "just" a die hard aviation ...

Panorama Pergamonmuseum Berlin

The Pergamonmuseum is one of the key touristic places in Berlin. The museum features over 250,000 objects of German-lead excavations ...

Berlin Computer Games Museum

A museum full of computer games and gaming history? The German capital can offer that one! Right in the city ...

Fassberg Airlift Museum

After the end of World War II, the blocking of access to West Berlin by the Soviet Union (the so-called Berlin ...

Floorball Final4 Semifinals at Max-Schmeling-Halle Berlin

As I have been in Berlin but could not and did not really want to do a full coverage of ...

German Spy Museum Berlin

Hauptstadt der Spione - "Capital of the Spies". This is a book, which you can buy at the souvenir store of ...

Riding the Berlin-Warszawa Express Train (EC 40 to 48)

Yes, I do like flying - but I am also a fan of rail travels. Just to find out how ...

The Berlin Tränenpalast (“Palace of Tears”)

The Tränenpalast ("Palace of Tears") in Berlin is the former border crossing point between East and West Berlin. It is located at ...

Hilton Berlin

In July 2021, I wanted to explore some of the rather centrally located attractions of Berlin. Due to its good ...

Madame Tussauds Berlin

Madame Tussauds is a global franchise - not too surprisingly, they also have an outlet in the German capital, Berlin ...

Flying With SkyAlps

What is happening if you are running and airport and you just don't fine an airline which is motivated to ...

One Hour Spree Cruise in Berlin with BWSG

Doing a cruise on Berlin's key river Spree is one of the classic touristic options when you visit the German ...

Little Big City Berlin

Driving a model landscape or a large model train landscape in Germany is a difficult business: Even if you do ...

The Myth of Germania – A Berlin Underground Exhibition

It is almost needless to say that Adolf Hitler was obsessed with megalomanic ideas. Apart from ruling the world and ...

Disgusting Food Museum Berlin

Have you ever heard of Surströmming, Hakarl or Spam? Do you mind eating eyes or drinking cow blood? All these ...

Bud Spencer Museum Berlin

If you know the name Carlo Pedersoli by heart, then you are likely ready to head to Berlin since 27th ...

A Walk Through Berlin’s Government District

During my recent daytrip to Berlin, I took the opportunity to have a walk through sunny - and empty - ...

DIE MAUER – asisi Panorama Berlin

Historic panoramic painting fascinated me massively the last months. I already introduced you to the Panorama Mesdag in The Hague ...

Berlin Brandenburg Airport Terminal 1 (BER) – My First Review

I originally planned a flight to the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport in late October 2020. Due to all the pandemic ...

Lufthansa Business Lounge Berlin/Brandenburg (BER) during Covid-19

In April 2021, I finally had my first flight connections to/from the new Berlin airport, BER - Berlin / Brandenburg ...

Berlin Zoo

During my Covid-19 day trip to Berlin, I spent some time in the Berlin Zoo. Berlin is quite famous for ...

Traveling Through Germany at Covid-19 Times – A special Trip Review

Coming back from London from the (finally cancelled) Country To Country Festival 2020 was the last trip I took before ...

GDR Museum (DDR Museum) Berlin

Bad times of terror, being pried and controlled in a country without the freedom to move - or good times ...

Hampton by Hilton Berlin East Side Gallery

During our visit of the Country 2 Country 2019 in Berlin, we chose the Hampton by Hilton Berlin East Side ...

Country 2 Country 2019 in Berlin

I visited Europe's biggest country music festival, Country 2 Country (C2C), for the first time in 2018 in London. I immediately ...

Germany’s Largest Hotel – Staying at the Estrel Berlin

More than 1,100 rooms in the German capital - the Estrel Hotel in Germany's capital Berlin is just a massive ...