Please note that Donkey Republic no longer has bikes in Hamburg.
This is a guest post by Britta, from MyCityHighlight, riding you to a secret gem in Hamburg – on two wheels.
Getting to know your City like a tourist? Seeing off the track spots? Including culture and lifestyle? Being outside and riding a bike instead of the car? An orange bike? With a donkey on it?
These were the suggestions I offered my husband – and luckily he agreed with all of them.
On a nice and sunny afternoon, we went on our Donkey Bike getaway, planning on getting to know the Donkey Republic Bikes, using the free MyCityHighlight App (iOS or Android) and visiting an extraordinary coffee spot in Hamburg.
Rent a bike in Hamburg and explore locally
I am Britta, working for MyCityHighlight – a free App and Website travel guide that offers Sightseeing like a Local. As we now have a collaboration with Donkey Republic I felt like I should finally give the orange bikes, that you can already see all over the city, a try. My travel companion on the other hand, felt like he should check my work for MyCityHighlight, as I am responsible for the Highlights listed in the Hamburg database.
We started our trip right outside our door, were there are several Donkey Republic pick-up locations shown in the App. We chose one of them and rented Donkey Bikes in Hamburg Winterhude. The whole process of registering and renting a bike is super easy and works smoothly.
Our final destination was a new highlight on my list, a café/bar a little bit outside the city at Norderelbe. The fastest way of course is not always the nicest, so we decided to ask MyCityHighlight for nice spots on the way there. Looking for squares and nature, we were suggested to ride along Alster Lake towards the Alsterpark.
Getting all cultural
After enjoying the views of the city, my husband came up with the idea of checking out a museum. This came out of the blue as it was a hot summer day, but well… So checking in the App which good museums are around, the Hamburger Kunsthalle and one of the TOP 10 spots, the Deichtorhallen, showed up. As both museums are kind of the same direction, we thought about checking out both. Or wait, let’s see if there is an event going on at one of the venues. And really: in the Event Database the Triennial of Photography pops up – so Deichtorhallen was our choice as this is one of the many museums taking part in the photo exhibition. We just parked our bikes in front of the museum and locked them by using the App. After the exhibition (which was great by the way) it was as easy to unlock the bikes again and continue our ride.
But enough with the culture now – we felt like having a cold drink in a relaxing atmosphere. From Deichtorhallen to our destination Entenwerder1 there is a really nice bike path all along the waterfront, crossing two lockages and offering stunning views of the city (when looking back) and the port area. I am a biking person, but still never tried this route before – shame on me!
Take the bike path: Alexandrastieg
The bike path „Alexandrastieg“ takes you further to the enormous Elbbrücken which you underpass and right to the little park called Entenwerder – duck eit. The route is going up and down all the time, which was no problem four our strong and faithful Donkey Bikes! They were in the best possible shape.
Finally, we reached the little bridge taking us to Entenwerder1. As asked by a sign, we locked our bikes before crossing it. When walking over the little bridge we could already feel and see the cozy and warm atmosphere as well as the huge golden sculpture that caught our attention. For us it was the perfect end of our Donkey Republic Bike Trip. We enjoyed a refreshing drink and the stunning views over Hamburg Harbor and the Elbe Philharmonic Hall. We then drove back to the city and returned our bikes to one of the drop-off locations shown in the Donkey Republic App.
To me, using Donkey Republic is the perfect way of exploring a city, whether you are a local or a tourist. The system is easy to handle and the bikes are spread all over the city, so there will always be a Donkey Bike close to you, ready for action! And as for Hamburg, you never know when the next rain shower will catch you, so being flexible in terms of transportation is always good…!
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