Hamburg

No reviews yetCity Hamburg, Germany

Hamburger Hafen St. Michaelis, Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

HH imtech arena, Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

Hamburg Blankenese(01), Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

About Hamburg

Hamburg lives by the water. Germany's second-largest city grew rich as a Hanseatic port on the Elbe, and today container ships still glide past the end of its streets while sailing boats crisscross the Alster lakes in the middle of town. It has more bridges than Venice and Amsterdam combined, a proudly independent city-state status and a mix of merchant elegance and harbour grit.

The warehouse district of the Speicherstadt and the brick office blocks of the Kontorhaus quarter are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and right beside them the glassy Elbphilharmonie concert hall has become the new symbol of the city. Inside the old warehouses, Miniatur Wunderland draws more visitors than almost anything else in Germany.

A few days here might include the Sunday fish market at dawn, a climb up the tower of St. Michael's Church, art at the Kunsthalle, a walk under the river through the old Elbe tunnel and a night on the Reeperbahn, where the Beatles cut their teeth in the early 1960s. Further west, the hillside village of Blankenese makes a lovely half-day escape along the river.

Best seasonMay to September; late November to December for Christmas markets

Ideal stayThree days

ArrivingHamburg Airport (S-Bahn to the centre) or ICE trains to Hamburg Hauptbahnhof

Top 12 Experiences in Hamburg

Landmarks 3

Elbphilharmonie

Designed by Herzog and de Meuron and opened in 2017, the concert hall rises as a shimmering glass crown on top of an old brick war...

Hamburg Rathaus

Finished in 1897, the sandstone city hall with its tall clock tower houses both the city parliament and the senate, and its hundre...

St. Pauli Elbe Tunnel

Opened in 1911, this tiled tunnel runs about 426 metres under the Elbe from the Landungsbrücken piers to the docks on the southern...

History 2

Speicherstadt

Built between the 1880s and the 1920s on oak piles driven into the riverbed, this is the largest warehouse district of its kind in...

Chilehaus

Completed in 1924 by architect Fritz Höger for a merchant who made his fortune in Chilean saltpetre, this ten-storey office buildi...

Museums 2

Miniatur Wunderland

Spread across floors of an old Speicherstadt warehouse, this is the largest model railway in the world, with miniature landscapes...

Hamburger Kunsthalle

One of Germany's largest art museums spans several connected buildings beside the main station, covering seven centuries from medi...

Religious Sites 1

St. Michael's Church Hamburg

Known to everyone as the Michel, this baroque Lutheran church is the city's best-loved landmark, with a vast bright interior in wh...

Markets 1

Hamburg Fish Market

Every Sunday from early morning, stalls along the Elbe in Altona sell fish rolls, fruit, flowers and plants while market criers sh...

Neighborhoods 1

Reeperbahn

The neon-lit main street of St. Pauli is Hamburg's entertainment mile, packed with theatres, music clubs, bars and late-night snac...

Parks 1

Planten un Blomen

Stretching along the old city ramparts, this park mixes rose gardens, greenhouses with tropical plants, a large Japanese garden an...

Nature 1

Outer Alster Lake

The larger of Hamburg's two Alster lakes opens up north of the Lombard and Kennedy bridges, ringed by parks, villas and walking pa...

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