I haven't specifically commented on many hostels, but the Hamburg YHA got it right. It really is a great hostel and well located a few stations from central. It overlooks the docks and working canals of Hamburg. Feels like it could be a slightly sleazy part of town as the Repperbahn is the next suburb. But the hostel itself is very clean and safe.
We found it fairly easily after my Google map figured out that a path is not a road.
Great room. The big seller here was the bar. This was a licensed YHA and operated a full service bar. So we settled in for a quiet evening of wine, beer and pizza.
Hamburg is a huge industrial city with a very busy port. Germany has only a small amount of coast for such an industrial city. So the North Sea ports are busy. They were also a target for bombing in the war so hence Hamburg is a fairly new city as well with a lot being built after 1945.
We only have one night here. We came for a specific museum called Miniatur Wunderland. This is the world's largest model train set. Over 15,000 metres of working track. And fully decorated and was ever childhood dream for the biggest model train set. Much more than a loop of track running around the table tennis table.
It was almost overwhelming the detail these guys have gone into. The rock concert has 30,000 individuals in attendance. And there is the bar, food outlets and first aid post all at the venue.
There is a game of soccer with the Hamburg stadium full. There are broken down cars on the roads and car accidents with ambulance and police. But they also allow their humour to come through. Like any child, it's ok to use any toy. There is an elephant towing a roller on the road works. There is a mermaid in a pond and a character from ice age at the camping ground.
In the guide there are characters to find and tick off. You could spend days here and never find them. One area is the entire down town area of Hamburg including central stations and several underground and over ground stations. The attention to detail is what makes this museum so brilliant. And the quirky scenes. There is a nude model being painting in the forest. And 2 monks hiding in the trees watching. There are people feeding dogs, watering gardens, show jumping horse. The makers have been very flexible with historical dates. The American Wild West blends into the Las Vegas strip so the modern fast train travels through the dessert of America, under the steps we are walking on to pop out in the Swiss Alps.
There is an Airport that works on all levels. There is an electronic departure board with a range of airlines. This board corresponds to the actual model planes arriving and landing. But then they taxi around the run away to the gates and pull up. The gangplank comes out to the doors and the plane stays there. Then in real time the plane is shunted out, turns around, taxis out, waits its turn then takes off. The wall design really opens and that plane is gone and a completely different plane arrives. The only disadvantage of this attraction is its own success. You have to be against the rails to see the detail. Models are meant to be seen up close. The crowd in places did not allow that to happen. The airport in particular was crowded and some people would hog their spot until they had seen several different planes take off, filming from every angle and getting all the family in every shot. But there was so much to see that we moved along and found a new spot. There is no way you could ever see everything unless you had multiple visits.
It has been the only restriction of this whole holiday. It's had having to choose what to see and what to miss. I fear when we return people, as expected, will compare trips and there will be things we missed. But there have been amazing things we have seen that other would miss and no matter how long they spent on holiday, Europe is massive and the detail and volume of things to see and do. Too could spend a month in central London and still come away with a list a mile long of things you did not see. Good reason to return one day. Make a new bucket list and do it all again.
Anyway, onward and east ward to my final bucket list, Berlin.

Written by Rod