Bremen's Schlachte embankment is free, public riverside space on the Weser, and one of the boats moored there is the green Alexander von Humboldt. According to the city's official tourism site, the famous green sailing ship has been permanently moored at the Schlachte in Bremen since autumn 2016 and welcomes guests as a restaurant and catering ship. That single fact reshapes how you should plan: the visit is about the waterfront, a meal, an overnight stay or an event aboard, not about a cruise.
The ship's own website is direct about this. It notes that the barque with the green sails has countless voyages behind it, including several Atlantic crossings and a rounding of Cape Horn, and then states plainly that it no longer heads out to sea but stays in harbour to begin a new story.
The Schlachte itself is the reliable part of any visit. The promenade is a walkable strip of terraces, beer gardens and boat moorings, and you can enjoy it without booking anything. For wider orientation around the city, the Bremen City landmark guides cover the surrounding sights.
What the Alexander von Humboldt Is Today
The ship combines restaurant, hotel and event uses. Plan around the service you actually want: a meal, an overnight stay or an organised event. Do not assume that a booking for one service includes the others, or that the vessel operates as a museum with a general sightseeing admission ticket. The operator describes a restaurant with warm cuisine, hotel cabins and spaces for events.
The overnight side is more substantial than a novelty berth. The city tourism site states that 38 bunks are available on the ship for an overnight experience, while the operator's site describes modern double and four-bed cabins. The tourism page describes the conversion in more detail: the large eight-person cabins were turned into nine double cabins and five four-bed cabins with their own bathroom including washbasin, shower, WC and towel heating, plus TV and internet connection.
For events, the ship and the adjacent beer garden can host small private parties or larger celebrations with up to 200 people, according to the city tourism page. The captain's area, known as the Blue Lagoon, has been preserved in its original style and was always used for official occasions.
Restaurant: Warm Cuisine and Reservations
For current kitchen hours, use the operator's own schedule. The hours listed from 5 October 2026 are Monday to Thursday from 15:00 to 21:30 and Friday to Sunday from 11:30 to 21:30 for warm cuisine. Drinks, coffee and cake are listed daily from 11:30. The operator changes its schedule by season, so confirm these hours when you make a reservation.
Note that the city tourism page quotes different restaurant hours, giving warm cuisine from Wednesday to Sunday from 11:30 to 21:30, and an older reservation phone number. Where the two disagree, the operator's own current schedule and contact details are the ones to trust, because opening times change and third-party pages lag behind.
Reservations can be made through the operator's online form or by phone, and the operator treats a table booking as roughly two and a half hours by default. If you want to stay longer, the operator asks guests to get in touch so it can check what is possible. A submitted form is a request rather than a confirmation, and the confirmation arrives separately by email.
If you simply want to look at the ship rather than eat aboard, the free Schlachte promenade runs past it.
Sleeping Aboard: Cabins and Check-In
Staying overnight is the most committed way to experience the ship. The operator provides modern double and four-bed cabins, and the city tourism page adds practical detail: the double cabins and four-bed cabins each have their own bathroom, TV and internet connection. Cabin descriptions mention free Wi-Fi across the vessel and non-smoking cabins.
Check-in runs daily from 15:00 to 20:00, and breakfast is served daily from 8:00 to 10:00 for hotel guests, according to the operator. Those are the published windows at the time of writing and are worth re-checking on the booking page when you reserve.
Cabin prices and live availability sit only on the operator's booking page, and they are not reproduced here because rates shift. Treat any figure quoted on a review site or reseller as unverified. If you want to compare staying aboard with a conventional hotel, the broader Bremen City landmark guides cover other options in the centre.
Sail-Training History: What the Ship Was Before
The city tourism page describes the earlier Alexander von Humboldt as a steel lightship dating to 1906, initially named Reserve Sonderburg and painted red. It was converted into a sail training ship in the late 1980s and acquired the green hull that makes it recognisable on the Schlachte today. This history belongs to the permanently moored Bremen vessel, whose present restaurant and hotel use is quite different from its earlier voyages.
The same page records the sailing career in numbers: the ship served as a sail training vessel under the name Alexander von Humboldt from 1988 to 2011, covered more than 300,000 nautical miles, crossed the Atlantic ten times and rounded Cape Horn twice. The first green sail set, totalling 1,036 square metres, was sewn at a sailmaker in Glückstadt. Russian sailors knew the barque by the nickname Grasshopper.
The sail training continues under a different name. Since 2011 the Alexander von Humboldt II has been sailing as the successor to the green Alex, so anyone hoping to sail on a ship with this name should look at that vessel, not the one moored in Bremen.
One common mix-up is worth naming: a commercial for Beck's beer made the ship world famous, and the brewery is not far away. That is the origin of the green sails' fame rather than an offer attached to the ship itself.
The Wider Waterfront and How to Frame a Visit
This is not a museum ship, and this guide makes no claim about guided tours, admission or rescue-vessel heritage. The vessel at Schlachte is a restaurant and hotel. If you want a museum ship or maritime exhibition, that is a different destination, and the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven is a separate city and separate trip.
For orientation, the city centre is compact. A nearby landmark is the Marktplatz with the town hall and the Roland statue, and the walk between the old town and the river is short. The Bremen Marktplatz visitor guide covers the main reference points if you want to plan the route before you arrive.
A suggested duration for a visit focused on the ship and the promenade is about 90 minutes to two hours if you are only walking and looking, or two to three hours if you stay for a meal. These are editorial suggestions, not official timings. Adding the old town turns the outing into a half-day. For wider planning, see Two days in Bremen itinerary.
If you plan to combine the ship with other city sights, the Bremen City itineraries hub sequences the old town, the river and day trips.
Getting There and Practical Notes
The ship is moored on the Schlachte embankment, which is walkable from the old town. Because the promenade is public space, there is no gate and no opening time for the riverside itself; the constraints apply to the restaurant, cabins and events. For route planning in the city, the Bremen transport guide is a sensible starting point.
Weather on the Weser changes quickly, so keep the waterfront flexible. Bring a light rain jacket rather than an umbrella, since riverside wind makes umbrellas awkward, and wear shoes with grip if you will be moving around a boat.
Because the restaurant kitchen hours change in October 2026, anyone planning a meal around the ship should check the operator's page rather than a blog post written earlier in the year. If your Bremen dates include a major seasonal event, expect city centre accommodation to fill up sooner.
If you are considering a longer trip down the Weser to Bremerhaven, treat that as its own day. The Klimahaus Bremerhaven Day Trip from Bremen covers one option for that direction, and generally useful planning sits on Day trips from Bremen.
Who the Ship Suits
The Alexander von Humboldt works best for visitors who want a meal, a night or an event in an unusual setting rather than a maritime museum. Its appeal is the atmosphere of a former sail training vessel now fixed in place, plus the free Schlachte promenade around it.
If your priority is museums, sailing trips or maritime rescue history, look elsewhere: the ship does not sail, and its sailing career belongs to the past. Checking the operator's site before you go remains the simplest way to avoid planning around a venue that has closed for a private event or changed its kitchen hours.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the Alexander von Humboldt still sail from Bremen?
No. The ship's own site states that it no longer heads out to sea and stays in harbour, and the city tourism page records that it has been permanently moored at the Schlachte embankment since autumn 2016 and operates as a restaurant and catering ship. Sail training now continues under a different vessel, the Alexander von Humboldt II.
Can I visit the ship without eating or staying aboard?
The Schlachte promenade is public riverside space, so you can walk past the ship and see it from the embankment without booking anything. Going on board is tied to restaurant service, an overnight stay or a private event, so if you want to be aboard, reserve a table or a cabin rather than assuming open access.
How far in advance should I reserve a table?
The operator does not publish a fixed lead time, but reservations go through an online form or by phone and the operator confirms them separately by email. Since a submitted form is only a request, book early enough to receive the confirmation if your visit depends on a specific date, and note that the operator assumes a stay of about two and a half hours per table booking.
Is this the same ship as the Bremerhaven museum ship?
No. Bremerhaven has its own maritime institutions and ships, and this guide covers only the vessel permanently moored in Bremen at the Schlachte. If you want a museum ship or maritime exhibition, plan that as a separate trip to Bremerhaven and check that venue's own admission and hours.
