There are many possible ways to downtown and the „ideal way“ depends on what you want – easy or faster.
The easiest route (no switching of bus / train) is with Bus 4.
The fastest way is impossible to tell in general, as it depends on which route is the fastest in the moment you actually want to start. GoogleMaps can answer which route is NOW the fastest.
At common times the fastest will be likely via S-Bahn S3 / S21. Both depart from stations „Eidelstedt“ and „Elbgaustraße„.
If you get the connections extremely well it is possible to be in Altona in 20 minutes (house door -> bus station Pflugacker -> Eidelstedter Platz -> Elbgaustraße -> Altona). On the other hand, if you have to wait on every connection the maximum time, it can take 45 minutes. So the reality is quite likely something in between (about 30-35).
And of course, it depends where exactly you want to go. So the key for everything is using GoogleMaps (or the HVV app / website) – if you want to have it as fast as possible.
Remember: All routes are always live (calculated for what is possible in the moment you open them).
By Bus to S-Bahn station Elbgaustraße (S3 / S21)
You can buy a ticket from the bus driver.
- Check time of live route. Usually it will be:
- From the house to bus station Pflugacker, then Bus 4 to Eidelstedter Platz.
- Another option: Walk from the house directly to bus station Eidelstedt Zentrum (route). From there you have Bus 184 and bus 284 which drive directly to Elbgaustraße. They don’t drive too often but then you have lots of other possible options – walking to Eidelstedter Platz (5 minutes) or by bus 4, or using the S-Bahn A1.
- From Eidelstedter Platz , go to „Abfahrtsbereich A“ (maps), and take any of the Busses 21 / 39 / 184 / 284 to Elbgaustraße.
- From Elbgaustraße with S-Bahn S3 / S21 to Downtown.
By S-Bahn A1 to S-Bahn station Eidelstedt (S3 / S21)
You can buy a ticket at the ticket machine, calculate a bit extra time.
- Check time of live route
- Walk to the secondary entries (route) of S-Bahn Eidelstedt Zentrum.
- With S-Bahn A1, one station, to Eidelstedt.
- From Eidelstedt with S3 / S21 to Downtown.
- Should you have missed the A1 and the wait time is more than 12 minutes then you may switch to the Elbgaustraße-Route (see above). To get from the secondary S-Bahn entries to Elbgaustraße you have these options:
