Visit Hamburg

First impressions of Hamburg

Hamburg is Germany's port city and second largest — a wealthy, sea-fronted Hanseatic republic that prides itself on cool reserve, more bridges than Venice and Amsterdam combined (around 2,500), and a maritime identity that goes back to its founding in AD 808. The newly developed HafenCity district on a reclaimed harbour quarter is the headline showcase: the spectacular Elbphilharmonie concert hall, a 110m wave-roofed glass crystal perched on top of a 1960s brick warehouse (the 8th-floor public Plaza viewing deck is free), is now the city's defining icon. From there, walk into the Speicherstadt, the UNESCO-listed 'warehouse city' of red-brick Gothic-Revival storehouses on canals (1883–1927, still the largest historic warehouse complex in the world). The medieval Reeperbahn in St. Pauli is famously where The Beatles played 281 nights at the Indra and Star Club between 1960 and 1962, and remains the wild heart of Hamburg's nightlife. Don't miss the Miniatur Wunderland (a genuinely astonishing 1:87 scale model railway with 16 km of track — the most visited attraction in the country, even for adults), the Alster lakes in the city centre with their sailboats and lakeside promenades, and one of the longest-running fish markets in Europe on Sunday mornings.