• 1. Where to Stay
• 2. Where to Eat
• 3. What to Do
• 4. Insider’s Tip
• 5. An Oddball Day

The restaurants that frame Hamburg's scenic canals.   (Photo: Courtesy of Atlantide Phototravel-Corbis)

Thirtysomething partiers now eschew the hard-core clubs that line the Reeperbahn and opt for these restaurant-lounge combos. Start at Bereuther a classy bi-level canal-side spot in leafy Eppendorf. Relax on street-level banquettes, or nosh on specialties like New Zealand mussels in the downstairs restaurant. Next, make your way to Die Welt ist schön, a triple-tiered townhouse in the pulsating Schanzenviertel quarter, where D.J.'s spin a soothing mix of house. The city's usually buttoned-up execs reserve tables at arch-modern Golden Cut where the tunes are chill and the cuisine Pan-Asian. The trendy favorite, however, is the harborfront River-Kasematten an outré bolt-hole where you can relax on boxy suede banquettes or sway to the sounds of R&B.

Published on Oct 11, 2006 as a web exclusive.