In my list of things that make a place great, an easy link between the airport and the city center falls at number one. Thanks to a brand new section of S-Bahn rail, Hamburg just got bumped up a few notches.

This new extension of the S1 line opened last month, whisking passengers from Hamburg Airport (Flughafen) to Hamburg's Central Station (Hauptbahnhof) just down the street from Le Royal Méridien Hamburg, in 25 minutes. The train runs every 10 minutes, between 6 am and 11 pm on weekdays, and between 11: 30 am and 11 pm, weekends. After eleven, trains run every twenty minutes, with the last one departing the airport at 12:14 am, and the first one arriving the next morning at 4:29 am. With a location just outside the airport terminals, all you have to do is step from the airplane to the baggage carousel, to the S-Bahn station, to the streets of downtown Hamburg - a seamless experience that helps to make travel a little more pleasant. I just love it when they do that.

Now what would be number two on my list of things that make a place great? Free ice skating probably. Or a nice art house cinema. What do you think?