The Mönckebergstrasse is Hamburg's main commercial high street, a broad avenue cut through the medieval city in 1908–11 to link the Rathaus to the central railway station. The big chain shops — Galeria Kaufhof, Saturn, H&M, Apple, Zara — line both sides of its 800-metre length, interrupted only by the brick-Gothic St. Petri church about halfway along.
It is not the most charming shopping in Hamburg — the better-quality and smaller shops are around Neuer Wall, ABC-Strasse and the streets behind the Alsterhaus — but it is the busiest. The eastern end at the Hauptbahnhof is busy through the night; the western end at the Rathausmarkt is the place to break for a coffee. The U-Bahn line 3 has stops at both ends.