Getting there
WIP
This section is work in progress
The 38th Chaos Communication Congress takes place in the Congress Center Hamburg, Germany.
The Congress Center Hamburg is just a couple of minutes walk from Hamburg Dammtor station, which is Hamburg’s third-largest railway station. The railway station is served by international, national and regional trains and by the suburban rail (S‑Bahn, lines S2 and S5 – note that the S‑Bahn network was restructured in December 2023, destinations and line numbers changed). The “Stephansplatz” station of the Hamburg underground/subway (U‑Bahn, line U1) is a 5-minute walk away. Dammtor and Stephansplatz are also served by various bus lines.
Close to the CCH are districts such as Schanzenviertel, Alster, Reeperbahn, Jungfernstieg and lots of other interesting places where you can hang out or party. For food, you probably want to have a look around the area of Hamburg University’s campus (north of CCH), around streets such as Grindelallee or from Dammtor to Gänsemarkt.
Hamburg and utility knives
The entire Public Transit in the city of Hamburg including stations has a knife-ban until after new-year (NDR article in German). It no longer is limited to the no-knife-zone near Hamburg Main station that has been set up following to incidents in trains.
The gist of it: We know knives are tools, so does our law. But you don't need a knife (or other potentially stabby tools) for traveling so make sure you can't easily access it during transit, don't forget about it in your pants and maybe bury it in your bag.
Address
CCH Congress Center Hamburg
Congressplatz 1
20355 Hamburg
53°33′41.7″N 9°59′10.3″E
(Open Street Map, Google Maps)
Long Distance Travel
If you can, please travel by train. That is the most environmentally friendly option unless you are able to walk or take a bike. You can find further information on getting there on the CCH website.
Special Fares by Deutsche Bahn
Note: This information is entirely provided on a best-effort basis, fares might change at any time. Please make sure to double-check ticket offers and conditions when ordering.
Veranstaltungsticket/Event Ticket
Booking
The ticket is currently not bookable, but should become available within the next few days.
The event ticket is based on an arrangement between CCC and Deutsche Bahn. This is a slightly discounted ticket tied to the respective event: it can be booked for journeys from 2 days before to 2 days after and you will need to show both the train ticket and the admission ticket to the event. Get it here: bahn.events.ccc.de
Only for connections within Germany! International connections are not sold as event tickets. You can book a “Sparpreis Europa” instead, or an event ticket starting from a station at the German border. This ticket will most likely be more expensive than a “Sparpreis” ticket bought well in advance (see below), but cheaper than the regular “Flexpreis”.
Sparpreis
Deutsche Bahn offer discounted tickets if you buy them early and commit to a specific train connection and departure time: “Sparpreis” is only valid for a specific connection, whereas “Flexpreis” is valid for any connection on a given day. Especially if you are flexible with your schedule, it may be possible to find very cheap tickets via bahn.guru. (This is a third-party search engine, free and not affiliated with Deutsche Bahn. It searches for the cheapest tickets and forwards you to Deutsche Bahn for the actual booking.) You can search for connections and offers on the Deutsche Bahn website as well.
Deutschlandticket
The Deutschlandticket costs 49 € per month, this is set to rise to 58 € from January 2025. It allows you to take (nearly) all regional trains (2nd class only) and local transports in Germany, including in Hamburg. Note that the Deutschlandticket is a monthly subscription. Make sure to cancel it no later than the 10th day of the month if you no longer plan on using it the next month.
Accessibility
The path from Hamburg Dammtor to CCH is fully paved and wheelchair acessible. You can also use this list of accessible shuttle services by Hamburg Travel.
Bus
WIP
This section is work in progress
Car
WIP
This section is work in progress
Ridesharing
Local/Regional Transport
For transport stops at the Congress venue, see the top of this page.
In the city (and state) of Hamburg and its surroundings, regional trains, the S‑Bahn, U‑Bahn, buses and some Hamburg port ferries are incorporated in the Hamburg transport association, Hamburger Verkehrsverbund (HVV). All these transports operate under a unified fare system. Ticket prices depend only on time and start/end of a journey, not on the transports taken (surcharges apply for the 1st class on trains). Long-distance trains (IC, EC, ICE) are not included.
English information and fares and connections can be found on the HVV website. One offer that might be of interest for Congress participants is the 24/7 weekly season ticket that includes the whole HVV network for 29 € (as of 2024). Network maps can be found on this HVV page, where U/S/A/R refers to the various rail services and the “fare zone plan districts A–H” seems to be the only geographical map showing the HVV fare area.
For single journeys from/to the neighbouring states (Länder) of Niedersachsen and Schleswig-Holstein, there are blanket fares (Ländertickets) that include all HVV transports in the city/state of Hamburg (zones A and B), while in the originating states only trains (2nd class) are included. The Niedersachsenticket* also covers a few neighbouring places in North Rhine-Westphalia and the Schleswig-Holstein-Ticket* fully includes the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. (* links to German-only pages)
Baggage/Delivery
There is no simple way for visitors to receive baggage or packages at Congress — please check the section “getting things to Congress” for details.