When the Sperrzeit applies and when it does not, what a hospitality licence costs, the Reeperbahn’s street rules, what the bill and the team cost, and the nights that fill the city.
Hamburg’s night centres on St. Pauli. The Reeperbahn is not even a kilometre long, and around it the Große Freiheit, Hans-Albers-Platz and the Hamburger Berg keep the Kiez going, the last of them until the early hours. A short walk away, Uebel & Gefährlich fills an old bunker on Feldstraße and the Schanze gathers its bars along the Schulterblatt, while out east Südpol is known for dancing especially long. Three times a year the Hamburger DOM fair opens on the Heiligengeistfeld beside St. Pauli, and in September the Reeperbahn Festival spreads across some 70 venues. At the weekend Hamburg’s bars and clubs have no closing hour at all, and that is where the rules begin.
At the weekend Hamburg’s bars and clubs have no Sperrzeit at all, so what shapes a Kiez night is the weekday closing hour and what guests may carry on the street outside. Hospitality licences come from the Fachämter Verbraucherschutz, Gewerbe und Umwelt of the district offices.
In the nights Sunday to Thursday, bars and clubs keep a one-hour Sperrzeit from 05:00 to 06:00. In the nights to Saturday and Sunday, and to 1 January, 1 May and 2 May, there is none. Music and entertainment in the open air stop at midnight every night, weekends included. A district office can shorten or lift the Sperrzeit for one venue. The glass ban also covers the nights before and on public holidays.
A Friday or Saturday night can run through to morning.
Read the ruleBars and restaurants have a Sperrzeit from 05:00 to 06:00 in the nights Sunday to Thursday. In the nights to Saturday and Sunday there is none, and none on New Year’s Eve or in the nights to 1 and 2 May.
On weekday nights, plan for the hour from 05:00 unless your district office has shortened or lifted it for your venue.1
A courtyard or rooftop set ends at midnight every night of the week.
Read the ruleFor music, shows and other entertainment in the open air, the Sperrzeit starts at midnight and ends at 06:00. The weekend exemption does not apply to them.
Ask your district office before planning one later.2
The fee is €55 and processing takes 1 to 2 weeks.
Read the ruleA district office can shorten or lift the Sperrzeit for one venue where there is a public need or special local circumstances. Apply online or in writing, with a short written reason showing the public need.
There is no deadline, but apply early. A refusal can be challenged by an objection (Widerspruch).1
Ask your district office which events the rule covers before you plan a Good Friday night.
Read the ruleThe Senate set the protected quiet on Good Friday at 05:00 to midnight. Events covered by the holiday rules may run from Thursday night into the early hours of Good Friday, and start again from midnight.3
Plastic, cans and cartons are fine, licensed terraces may use glasses, and your staff and suppliers may carry glass for deliveries.
Read the ruleOn public streets around the Reeperbahn, Hans-Albers-Platz and the Reeperbahn S-Bahn station, carrying or selling drinks in glass is banned on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights from 22:00 to 06:00, and in the nights before and on public holidays. On Hansaplatz in St. Georg it applies every day from 17:00 to 06:00.
Fines go up to €5,000, and the glass is seized.4
Table knives on licensed terraces are allowed, and businesses based in the zone may carry such items only in a closed container.
Read the ruleOn all streets and squares around the Reeperbahn, Hans-Albers-Platz and the S-Bahn station, and on Hansaplatz, firearms of any kind (blank-firing guns included), knives of all kinds (pocket knives included), pepper sprays without an official test mark and clubs are banned. The ban has applied since 12 December 2007.
A first offence costs €150, and fines go up to €10,000.5
Loud guests, a terrace used beyond its hours and noise from open doors and windows go to the district’s hospitality team; noise from technical installations goes to its environmental protection team.
Read the ruleHamburg protects night rest from 22:00 to 06:00, and anything likely to disturb it is forbidden. At other times, sound equipment may be used only at a volume that does not considerably disturb people who are not involved. Breaches are administrative offences.6
Apply 4 to 6 weeks ahead; processing usually takes 4 weeks to 3 months.
Read the ruleTables, chairs, umbrellas or heaters on a public footpath need a special-use permit (Sondernutzungserlaubnis) from the district office. A permit usually covers one season, for example March to October, or a year.
Fees depend on the area, the length of time and the street, with reductions such as a climate bonus for going without heaters. Check terrace hours with your district office.7
It was designed with the Clubkombinat and the culture authority.
Read the ruleThe city’s Sanierungsfonds pays for building work in music venues, such as soundproofing, safety and sanitary upgrades. The Clubstiftung manages the work and pays out after a needs assessment.
Ask the Clubstiftung whether your room qualifies before you commission the work.8
No alcohol may be served until the licence is granted, and that takes 1 to 3 months.
Read the ruleServing alcohol for drinking on the spot needs a Gaststättenerlaubnis from the district’s Fachamt Verbraucherschutz, Gewerbe und Umwelt. It covers one operating type and only the rooms named; changes to the rooms or the type need a licence too.
A GmbH needs one licence; in a partnership each partner needs their own.9
With all the papers in, it takes up to two weeks.
Read the ruleA Gestattung covers a special occasion of short duration, under § 12 of the federal hospitality act. Apply at least two weeks before it starts.11
It is for the licence holder, not for each server.
Read the ruleThe licence holder needs the Gaststättenunterrichtung, a briefing on food and hygiene law that the Handelskammer Hamburg runs and that lasts about four hours. It costs €70, and a special instruction €170.
A recognised training qualification covering the same subjects can exempt you on application.12
Check each door person’s certificate before the first shift.
Read the ruleGuarding the entrance area of a hospitality disco needs a Sachkundeprüfung (expert knowledge exam) before the IHK, under § 34a of the trade code (GewO). The employer may use only reliable people with an IHK certificate of instruction.
Ask your district office whether a venue’s own employed door staff are exempt.13
A 16 or 17-year-old can have beer or wine in a bar but never a spirit. 14 and 15-year-olds may have beer and wine only with a parent or guardian.
Read the ruleBeer, wine and sparkling wine may not be given to under-16s, and other alcohol, including spirits, not to under-18s.14
A club night is for adults only.
Read the ruleNight bars and night clubs may not admit children and young people. Elsewhere, under-16s may stay only with a parent or guardian, or from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. for a meal or a drink, and guests aged 16 and over may not stay unaccompanied between midnight and 5 a.m.
Plan door checks around these hours for any all-ages event.15
A bar or club that serves alcohol for drinking on the spot needs a Gaststättenerlaubnis from the Fachamt Verbraucherschutz, Gewerbe und Umwelt of its district office. Hamburg has no hospitality act of its own, so the federal Gaststättengesetz applies.
The licence is granted for one operating type and covers only the rooms the business uses. Any change to the rooms or the type needs a licence too.9
A Führungszeugnis (police certificate) and a Gewerbezentralregister extract, each not older than three months, and a tax clearance certificate (Bescheinigung in Steuersachen).9
About four hours at the Handelskammer Hamburg on food and hygiene law, for the licence holder. A recognised qualification covering the same subjects can exempt you.12
ID or passport with your latest registration certificate, the purchase, rental or lease contract, a floor plan and, where relevant, a commercial register extract, partnership agreement or articles, and a residence permit. If you serve food, add proof of instruction under the Infektionsschutzgesetz.9
Apply to the Fachamt of the district where the premises are. The fee is €580 to €680 and processing takes 1 to 3 months. Alcohol may be served only once the licence is granted.9
Issued by the Fachämter Verbraucherschutz, Gewerbe und Umwelt of the district offices
General information, not legal advice. Laws and licence conditions change and vary by venue. Confirm with your district office (Bezirksamt) before acting on it.
Hamburg’s clubs print their door prices, but HALO holds its tables against a minimum spend without naming one, so the bill below is a worked example rather than a quoted one.
| Minimum spend | €1,000.00 |
|---|---|
| Service charge 10%, added by the venue | €100.00 |
| VAT on drinks 19%, included in the prices | €175.63 |
| Guest pays | €1,100.00 |
| Tip the guest chooses to add | No tax |
HALO reserves lounges and tables for the whole evening against a minimum spend but names no figure, so the €1,000 here is a worked example.34
Drinks, including cocktails and bottles, carry the 19% standard rate.16
Food served for eating on the spot carries the 7% reduced rate, so a table with food on the bill splits between 19% and 7%.16
Admission to concerts and comparable performances by performers is 7%. Whether a DJ club night’s entry counts is not in the text, so the guide assumes 19%. Check with a tax adviser or the Finanzamt.16
Ask a tax adviser or the Finanzamt how VAT treats a mandatory service charge; the example taxes it at the drinks rate.16
Tips are tax-free for the employee when guests give them voluntarily on top of the price. A mandatory service charge is not voluntary, so it may not fit that wording.17
Rough estimates for tickets and bottle-service tables, from public listings and venues’ own pages.
€9 to €20
Typically about €10
From four clubs’ own pages for regular Friday and Saturday nights: Molotow €9 to €10, Hafenklang €10, HALO free until 23:30 and €10 after, and H1 €20 at the door or €10 on the guest list. Headliner nights cost more: Mojo Club asks €25 in advance, plus fees, for one.
€250 to €1,000
A typical table, about €500
HALO holds tables against a minimum spend but names no figure, so this is a general estimate for the lowest table, generalised from Berlin’s own general estimate and from Vienna, where one club’s own page starts tables at €1,000. Before any service charge.
Figures are estimates from the sources and samples listed. They change often and may be wrong. Check with the venue or the relevant authority before relying on them. Venues and events named here aren’t affiliated with VenueStack and haven’t endorsed this guide. Price sources: Molotow, Hafenklang, HALO night, H1 night, Mojo night, HALO Club.
With no Sperrzeit on Friday and Saturday nights, a Kiez shift can run until morning. Every hour of it starts from the federal minimum wage, and tips guests add freely stay tax-free.
Minimum wage €13.90 an hour, since 1 January 202618
Hamburg’s year follows the harbour and the Kiez. The DOM fair keeps coming back to the Heiligengeistfeld, the Hafengeburtstag fills the waterfront in May, and the Reeperbahn Festival takes over the Kiez’s venues in September.
A public holiday after the biggest night of the year.
Official siteNo city-wide dates
The spring run of the Hamburger DOM, northern Germany’s largest fair, on the Heiligengeistfeld beside St. Pauli. It stays open to 23:00 on weekdays and midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.
Official siteProtected quiet from 05:00 to midnight. Thursday night may run into the early hours, and events start again from midnight.
Official siteA public holiday that makes Easter a long weekend.
Official siteA public holiday, and the nights to 1 May and 2 May have no Sperrzeit.
Official siteFour days of what Hamburg Tourismus calls the world’s biggest harbour festival: more than 250 ships, stages along the harbour mile and fireworks on the Saturday night.
Official siteA public holiday, always a Thursday, so the Reeperbahn glass ban covers Wednesday night.
Official siteA public holiday that makes Pentecost a long weekend.
Official siteAbout ten days of music, film, theatre, art, dance and street art in Altona.
Official siteThe summer run of the DOM on the Heiligengeistfeld, next to St. Pauli and the Reeperbahn.
Official siteA Saturday parade after a Pride Week with a Pride Night and a street festival. The organiser counts its crowd in the hundreds of thousands.
Official siteFour days of what Hamburg Tourismus calls Europe’s largest club festival, in about 70 venues, most of them around the Reeperbahn.
Official siteA public holiday, so the Reeperbahn glass ban covers the night of 2 October.
Official siteA Hamburg public holiday that falls on Halloween, so the Reeperbahn glass ban covers the night of 30 October. Clubs such as Molotow, HALO and Edelfettwerk put on Halloween nights.
Official siteThe winter run of the DOM beside St. Pauli, leading into the Christmas season.
Official siteMore than 20 markets, among them Santa Pauli on the Spielbudenplatz, in the heart of the Kiez. The weeks of Christmas parties.
Official siteTwo public holidays in a row.
Official siteFireworks over the harbour and parties across the city, and no Sperrzeit in the night to 1 January.
Official site
Most of the night happens within a walk of the Reeperbahn, yet the Schanze, Ottensen and St. Georg each keep a crowd and a character of their own.
Not even a kilometre long and full of contrasts: the street at the heart of St. Pauli’s Kiez.
The street the world pictures when it thinks of St. Pauli, where the Beatles began their career in the early 1960s.
The alternative quarter, with the Schulterblatt as its hot spot for restaurants and bars.
One of the city’s liveliest and best-loved scene districts, colourful and busy, with cosy restaurants and pubs.
In Hamburg’s east, where Südpol is known for dancing especially long, with Expeditions from Friday to Monday morning.
Molotow on the Reeperbahn leads, and two of the ten, GAGA and Bahnhof Pauli, share one building on the Spielbudenplatz.
| Rank | Venue | Nights | Music | Published price | Monthly searches |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MolotowClubReeperbahn · Reeperbahn 136, 203593732 | Parties Fri and Sat from 23:00; Top Ten Bar Thu to Sat from 19:00 | Not listed | Club nights €9 to €10 | 5,100 |
| 2 | EdelfettwerkClubStellingen · Schnackenburgallee 202, 225253738 | Not listed | Techno, house and trance | Not listed | 3,400 |
| 3 | NOHOClubReeperbahn3739 | NOHO Saturdays, and The Thursday Club on Thursdays | Not listed | Not listed | 2,500 |
| 4 | Mojo ClubClubReeperbahn3740 | Concerts and club nights, with the Mojo Jazz Café | Not listed | Not listed | 1,900 |
| 5 | Uebel & GefährlichClubKaroviertel and Feldstraße · Feldstraße 66, 20359, 4th floor3741 | Club nights on Fri and Sat; 18 and over | Not listed | Not listed | 900 |
| 6 | HafenklangClubAltona harbour · Große Elbstraße 843733 | Parties in the Goldener Salon, beside concerts | Not listed | Entry €10 | 900 |
| 7 | HALOClubGroße Freiheit · Große Freiheit 6, 22767373435 | HALO CLUB Saturdays | House, R&B and hip-hop | Free until 23:30, then €10 | 800 |
| 8 | Große Freiheit 36ClubGroße Freiheit · Große Freiheit 36, 227673742 | XXL Party in the Kaiserkeller every Fri and Sat | Black music and Deutschrap | Free entry to the XXL Party | 600 |
| 9 | GAGAClubSpielbudenplatz · Spielbudenplatz 21/22, 203593743 | Every Saturday, 23:00 to 05:00; Fridays on selected dates | Not listed | Not listed | 350 |
| 10 | Bahnhof PauliClubSpielbudenplatz · Spielbudenplatz 21-22, 203593744 | Concerts and club nights in the basement of the Klubhaus St. Pauli | Not listed | Not listed | 300 |
Ranked by monthly Google searches worldwide for each venue’s name, mostly with Hamburg, as Ahrefs estimates them. Few rooms publish a capacity, so this measures demand, not size. Only rooms that their own site shows open are listed. Venues named here aren’t affiliated with VenueStack and haven’t endorsed this guide. Details come from each venue’s own pages and can change; a venue can ask us to correct or remove its entry.
Behind the Kiez is a city-state of almost 1.9 million people, with its visitors on top.
Sell tickets, take table bookings with deposits, run the guest list and check guests in at the door, in one place. Built for clubs, lounges and bars.
In the nights Sunday to Thursday, bars and clubs have a Sperrzeit from 05:00 to 06:00. In the nights to Saturday and Sunday there is none, and none on New Year’s Eve or in the nights to 1 and 2 May. Music and entertainment in the open air stop at midnight every night.
Not for bars and clubs. In the nights to Saturday and Sunday they have no Sperrzeit, so a club can run through to morning, though music in the open air still stops at midnight. A district office can also shorten or lift the weekday Sperrzeit for one venue, for €55, usually within 1 to 2 weeks.
Apply to the Fachamt Verbraucherschutz, Gewerbe und Umwelt of your district office for a Gaststättenerlaubnis. You need a Führungszeugnis, a Gewerbezentralregister extract, a tax clearance certificate, proof of the IHK instruction, your lease or contract and a floor plan. Processing takes 1 to 3 months, and no alcohol may be served until it is granted.
€580 to €680. A preliminary licence for taking over a licensed venue unchanged costs €55, a one-off event permit €50 to €300, and the IHK instruction €70.
Not at night. On public streets around the Reeperbahn, Hans-Albers-Platz and the S-Bahn station, carrying or selling drinks in glass is banned on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights from 22:00 to 06:00 and around public holidays. Licensed terraces may use glasses, and fines go up to €5,000.
Around the Reeperbahn, Hans-Albers-Platz, the S-Bahn station and on Hansaplatz, firearms, knives of all kinds, untested pepper sprays and clubs are banned at all times. Table knives on licensed terraces are allowed. A first offence costs €150, and fines go up to €10,000.
16 for beer, wine and sparkling wine, and 18 for spirits and other alcohol. Night bars and night clubs may not admit children and young people at all.
Guarding the entrance area of a hospitality disco needs a Sachkundeprüfung before the IHK under § 34a of the trade code, and the employer may use only reliable people with an IHK certificate of instruction.
Yes. Tables and chairs on a public footpath need a special-use permit from the district office, usually for a season or a year. Apply 4 to 6 weeks ahead, and check terrace hours with your district office.
19% on drinks and 7% on food served on the spot. Concert-style performances are 7%; ask the Finanzamt whether DJ club entry counts. The guide assumes 19%.
The federal minimum wage applies: €13.90 an hour gross from 1 January 2026 and €14.60 from 1 January 2027. Tips that guests give voluntarily are tax-free for the employee.
Regular weekend nights cost about €9 to €20 on clubs’ own pages, with €10 the usual price. HALO holds tables against a minimum spend without naming one, so about €250 to €1,000 for the lowest table is a general estimate from Berlin and Vienna.
VenueStack publishes this guide for general information. We take care to keep it accurate and list our sources and review dates, but we can’t guarantee it is complete, current or correct, and we aren’t responsible for decisions made on it. Nothing here is legal, tax or financial advice. Prices, minimums and wages are estimates from the samples described and don’t represent any particular venue. Venues, events and organisations named here aren’t affiliated with VenueStack and haven’t endorsed this guide.
Data gathered in October 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.
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