Hamburg guide
for travelers
The website helps explore Hamburg — find the best spots, activities, and ways to move around the city.
This is my own project. I handle everything: content, design, coding, and marketing.
Guide cover photo by Moritz Lüdtke
Context
Hamburg is one of the coolest German cities to travel to. There is tons of useful information, but the problem is, there's too much, and most of it is boring: dates, names, and other information you'll forget in a minute.
People need interactive and compact guides because they like to:
Find information without useless article intros written for search engines.
Plan for rainy days or Sundays when almost everything is closed in Germany.
Know what to buy as souvenirs, especially region-specific food and beverages (and which can be taken on a plane as luggage).
Have scenic bike routes around the city, not just the fastest paths from Google Maps.
This list could go on. Most websites and apps can't provide this kind of service.
Plus, most guides are blogs with outdated designs. What if a city could present attractive places like Apple introduces new iPhones?
RESEARCH
Problem & Opportunity
According to official data, only in the first half of 2023 there were 7.6 million overnight stays.
85% of those tourist are Germans. Following tourist are from:
Switzerland, 153 000 nights — 2%
Denmark, 143 000 nights — 2%
Austria, 134 800 nights — 1.7%
Britain, 132 100 nights — 1.7%
United States, 108 100 nights — 1.4%
So it makes sense to do a guide in German. It has a big potential. But since I don’t speak German fluently, it’s much harder to do a high quality content in German.
Plus, most of Germans, Swiss, Danishes, Austrians have some knowledge of English — especially when we talk about non-specific text describing a city.
Jobs-To-Be-Done research
Visit Hamburg
When a traveler is going to visit Hamburg, they:
want to see all essential spots to feel that the trips was worth to do.
Choose dates
when
Go to
Choose where to stay
Booking.com removes that job
Jobs solution Cost
Jobs/Solutions Benefits
Job/solution value
KIDS WANT
Get money by doing tasks and spend money
Kids would like to do housework, feeding a dog, you name it — get money and pay both online and offline, preferably using custom design card.
KIDS WANT
Have several pockets
To sort incomes and save money for games, sweets, etc.
KIDS WANT
Transfer money
To their friend or at least siblings.
PARENTS WANT
Make tasks or chore
There should be options: allow to tick a task to a kid or do it by yourself.
PARENTS WANT
Tracking of money
Notifications are not enough. It should be a list of purchases or analytics.
PARENTS WANT
Spending limits
Daily, weekly, and montly limits to avoid overspending.
PARENTS WANT
Auto-refilling balance
To get rid of the refilling routine. Combined with limits, it's a great option.
Competitors
Online guides
There are only two websites made special for Hamburg travelers — both of them run by government and and look pretty much the same: hamburg.com and hamburg-travel.com
The main problem with these guides is that they are about everything and nothing at the same time: walls of text describe the city but provide no useful information, and old pixelated photos don't make it better.
There are blogs, like Tall Girl Big World or Elbville, which are partially about Hamburg and have a cozy vibe but still don't help plan the stay.
Paper-based guides
Paper-based guides have other problems.
If it's not about capital city, it's probably impossible to find the guide in your city book stores. For example, there are no books about Hamburg in Berlin book stores. You have to order one online or buy one when you are already in Hamburg (but then it means you will have less time to plan your trip).
They are not free. As a rule, a guide costs around 8-10 euros.
MARKETING
Choosing guide's name
This guide spotlights what life in Hamburg looks like today — skipping the heavy history and focusing on the everyday vibe. That's why I called it Modern Hamburg Guide.
Plus, it has a double meaning. Not only is it about present-day Hamburg, but it’s also a sleek, tech-forward guide — not a typical site on an old-school WordPress theme.
Choosing a domain
A domain name should be simple and connected with Hamburg. So I chose gotohamburg.com. It already includes keywords, which could increase the number of organic users — for example, those who are googling "where to go in Hamburg."
RELEASE
Guide releases step-by-step
I followed the "Fix Time and Budget, Flex Scope" principle from Basecamp’s blog. Rather than developing a complex website all at once, I launched it step by step.
For the first iteration:
I started with just two pages — about the main spots in Hamburg and about transport. It's the bare minimum for creating site navigation and giving enough info for planning a trip.
I put high-quality photos from unsplash.com instead of making my own photos or hiring a pro photographer. Later, it will be re-shooted to be in the particular style.
This approach allowed me to deliver a quality product on time and within budget while leaving room for continuous improvements.
CONTACTS
Drop me a line:
work@hugolofquist.com
SOCIAL LIFE
Personal daily life
on Instagram
Thoughts
on Threads
Saved videos
on YouTube
