Hamburg Airport Plaza Spotting Hotel Review

A recent visit to Hamburg offered the chance to try out one of the airport hotels with views of aircraft action.

You can read the full trip report, including a visit to the Airbus factory at Finkenwerder, here.

Airport Plaza Hotel, Hamburg

The Airport Plaza Hotel is situated around a mile north of the terminal at Hamburg Airport. It is not possible to walk to since the motorway network and main runway separate the two sites.

The hotel has nine floors and is split over two buildings. It is located among a small, modern business park and can be reached by car or taxi in around 5 minutes.

Rooms

Rooms at the Airport Plaza Hotel are spacious, modern and comfortable, with large beds, TV and bathrooms.

The aviation theme is evident throughout, with large aircraft photographs adorning the walls.

We asked for rooms facing the airport, which were granted on the 5th floor in the main building. This afforded brief views of aircraft departing on runway 33, and very distant views of aircraft on approach or departure from runways 05 and 23.

Photography is not really possible, but logging is – particularly with flight tracking apps like Flightradar24.

Rooms from the 4th floor or higher should have similar views of movements, and rooms in the separate block will be slightly closer to the runway and therefore have a better chance of photographing.

Hotel Facilities

The Airport Plaza Hotel is modern and targets the business traveller market. It has a good restaurant on the ground floor of the second building, which serves a good range of options, as well as breakfast.

There is also a café near the reception, which serves drinks and snack.

Top floor terrace and bar area with great views of the airport.

The top floor of the hotel is occupied by a large bar and terrace, and this is a great place for evening spotting. The terrace in particular overlooks part of runway 15/33, with movements on the other runway and around the terminal and other aprons visible at a distance.

On my stay the weather was warm and it was very pleasant to sit at the terrace on the evening. If this is not the case there are still plenty of windows with views from inside the bar.

Logging, particularly with tracking apps like, is easy. However, aircraft are a little far away for photography. We could also see aircraft on approach to Finkenwerder flying at low level over the hotel.

Summary

An aircraft departing as seen from the top floor terrace.

The Airport Plaza Hotel is a good option for plane spotters visiting Hamburg. Our rooms cost around £120/ €130 per night in May, which was good value.

The hotel is modern, clean and comfortable, and the top floor bar and terrace are a great place to relax while watching aircraft movements.

Logging aircraft is easy, particularly if using flight trackers, and you can see all movements at a distance. However, photography is not really possible.

Hotel Details

Airport Plaza Hotel, Hamburg-Airport

Address: Südportal 2, 22848 Norderstedt, Germany

Phone: +49 40 3085410

Web: https://www.airportplazahamburg.de/