Hamburg the second largest city in Germany that sits along to the Elbe river has a lot to offer. It is one of the richest cities in Germany and features many headquarters like AirBus, Mont Blanc, and Steinway pianos.
Hamburg has more bridges than Amsterdam, Venice, and London combined. It is not weird that they call it the Venice of the North, a city that perfectly has been harmonized with the river.
Except a developed city is a very beautiful one as well with many attractions wait to be seen! Here are some of them!
1. The Elbphilharmonie of Hamburg in Hafen City
Elbphilharmonie is an iconic landmark built-in 2017 on the shape of a hoisted sail on top of an old warehouse. With a cost of a little bit over the 1 billion Euros, Elbphilharmonie is one of the most expensive buildings in the world.
There is a curved escalator from the main entrance to a 360o observation deck with an amazing view where you can easily see the old and the new city of Hamburg! What is better than that? To enjoy Beethoven or Mozart or any of the available concerts that are taking place in this magnificent building!
2. International Maritime Museum of Hamburg
The Maritime Museum of Hamburg is the largest private navy museum in the world. You will find a very big collection of exhibits in the 16000 square meters museum. We may still know so less for the oceans and this museums will remind us of where humankind started to explore them and what tools were using.
It displays the navy history of 3000 years with replicas or original items of an incredible value like «Atlantis Majoris», the first Atlas that was ever printed. World War II is a big part of our recent history and having the Enigma as an exhibit is pretty much important for the museum while realistic sounds from sonars put the visitors in the mood of the times.
From 2013 museum owns its own highly sophisticated ship simulator. Kids and grown-ups will be able to experience how is to be captain in a container ship and the difficulties that come with it. It was constructed for training lessons so obviously is not a toy! Before your visit check the original International Maritime Museums of Hamburg website to find out the days that the simulator is available.
Actually, we are wondering about the title “International” as everything was written in German. From our point of view, all the museums SHOULD have a description of their exhibits in the local language, in English and in the language of where they originally come from.
3. Miniatur Wunderland
The Miniature Wonderland attracts more than a million visitors every year around 3000 per day! A museum different than anything else that you may have visited until now. Wunderland has the largest model railway in the world with 300 trains and small surprises hidden everywhere!
The exhibits are recreations of recognized infrastructure units around the world. They are characterized by their high quality and the emphasis on the detail. The fact that they are miniature makes them neither cheap nor easy to be made. Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie’s model took 1 year to be built and cost 350 thousand euros!
Travel all over the world from Las Vegas to Venice with 250.000 figures 10.000 cars or even with airplanes!
Take care and plan your visit a couple of weeks in advance. The queue lines are long and if you go without an online ticket you may even have to wait for 3 hours. Fortunately, the Miniatur Wunderland website uses an efficient system to distribute visitors from 7.00 am to 2 a.m.
4. Visit the Heligoland island!
Heligoland is one square km, red rock with 1500 citizens, in the middle of the North sea. It is Germany’s only high sea island 50 kilometers from the mainland.
A small island but with big history with pirates, traders, and navy that you can discover in the Heligoland museum. After being bombed during World War II Heligoland was for many years uninhabitable and the entire community was rebuilt in 1951.
The trip from Hamburg and Helgoline catamaran will cost you around 100€ more or less allez retour. Do not book outside deck if you do not want to freeze!!! It is a little bit long and expensive but all the goodies come at a cost!
Many of the visitors, which are around 3000 per day stay just for the day and return back in the afternoon. We strongly advise you to spend the night there and discover everything that this small island has to offer.
At your arrival, you will pass from the colorful lobster huts and then you will walk across the seafront. Walk all the way up to Oberland and follow the cliff path and make amazing photos of the Lange Anna, the tall Anna. A freestanding red (what else) rock, the landmark of Heligoland. It is an amazing spot for nature lovers as a little bit further you will find the Lummenfelsen the smallest nature reserve and home of the guillemots!
The super tip for drinkers and smokers is that Heligoland is a duty-free area! Enjoy your shopping in Lung Wai street!
5. The Chilehaus UNESCO World Heritage site
You are going to be impressed by the unique architecture of the Chilehaus building. Chilehaus is A UNESCO World Heritage site from 2015 and is an example of the 1920s brick Expressionism.
Chilehaus is an important landmark because of the time that was constructed. It was just after World War I and symbolizes Hamburg’s economic revival. The architecture Fritz Höger designed the building for a trader who had business with Chile and so on the name.
With the shape of a ship’s prow, Chilehaus is one of the most interesting buildings in the world and an instagrammamble spot both in the night or day.
6. Speicherstadt area
UNESCO awarded Speicherstadt as a World Heritage in 1991 as well. It is the photographic gem of the city and the largest warehouse complex in the world. It is built in the small islands on the Elbe river in a Neo-Gothic red-brick outer layer style.
The construction started in 1881 while 20.000 people were leaving in the Speicherstadt area and they had to relocate and lose their land. The warehouses had entrances from both the river and the streets and now they serve mostly like touristic attractions. Here you will find the German Customs museum and the Miniatur Wonderland!
7. U434 the Tango class Submarine
Did you ever been inside a submarine? Did you like cold war spy movies like Red October with Sean Connery at the beginning of the 1990s? In Hamburg, you will have the chance to experience and imagine how life was inside a Soviet Union’s submarine. One of the 18 diesel-electric Tango class U434 submarines that were ever built in the 1970s is lying in Hamburg serving as a museum.
There are no more than 10 U-boats working as museums around the globe so obviously this is a quite good opportunity to visit one!
8. The Blankenese district
Blankenese district is a unique area in Hamburg and probably one of the most expensive in entire Germany. A mixture of Scandinavia and Mediterranean landscape with beautiful houses and villas lying in Elbes riverside among trees and colorful flowers!
The view of the Elbe’s traffic with the huge boats passing 24/7 proves why Hamburg’s harbor is one of the biggest in the world. When the water level is low you can also see the “UWE” boat. A shipwreck on the river’s bank since the 1950s.
If your pocket affords, do not miss visiting Süllberg castle. On top of the hill, the castle offers an amazing view and hosts a gourmet restaurant and a hotel!
9. Visit St. Michael’s church
Saint Michael is the most famous church not only in Hamburg but in entire Germany. It is the biggest German Protestant church in Baroque style. The church was built in 1786 and is one of the not many temples that were originally constructed for that purpose.
It is dedicated to archangel Michael whose statue is in the main gate conquering the devil. Saint Michael church has 2500 seats which make it the largest temple in Hamburg.
The tower has the biggest clock in Germany and in the past worked as a reference point for the sailors of the Elbe river. The church has been rebuilt twice after the 1906 fire catastrophe during maintenance works and bombing during World War II.
The view from the belfry is outstanding both in the daylight and during the night. The church offers you two different options for your visit. You can obtain the day ticket or the evening ticket regarding what version you want to enjoy. Be careful! You will obtain the tickets for each circumstance from different websites!
10. Experience Hambourg’s nightlife
Hamburg is famous for its nightlife that brings tourism to the city from all over Germany and the surrounding countries. vis probably the best place to experience Hamburg’s nightlife.
There are pubs with live music, clubs with a dancefloor, bars just for chilling out, and many kinds of music. Rock, pop, electronic, and so on. All the clubs are within walking distance to each other so you will never stack somewhere if you do not like it.
Here you will also find the famous Hamburg’s red district. Unfortunately, women cannot visit the area as it is not permitted. It is full of strip clubs, sex shops, and whatever you can imagine!
After a crazy, Saturday party in Reeperbahn there is one more thing that you NEED to do!
11. Breakfast at Hambourg’s fish market!
The tradition is after clubbing to walk until the fish market. The market opens from 5.00 am in the winter time (starting from 15th of November) and from 6.00 am in the summer time (starting from 15th of March) and closes just before the Sunday’s church.
Apart from the delicious fresh fish and fish sandwiches the market offers wursts and waffles for breakfast while there is a live band playing in the background. This Sunday morning will be memorable!!
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