Flight time
1h 50m
Best season
May–September
Budget
Mid-range
Best for
Harbour, music, food, architecture, nightlife
Overview
Why Hamburg for a city break?
Hamburg is Germany's most underrated city for British visitors — a great port city of canals, red-brick warehouses, the extraordinary Elbphilharmonie concert hall rising above the harbour, and a food and nightlife scene that is quietly one of the best in Northern Europe. The Speicherstadt — the largest warehouse district in the world, built on timber piles in the 19th century, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site of red-brick neo-Gothic architecture housing museums, design studios and excellent restaurants — is one of the most beautiful urban environments in Germany. And the Beatles played here for over a year before they were famous, in clubs on the Reeperbahn that still exist.
From most UK airports it's under two hours — direct flights from London, Manchester, Edinburgh and several regional airports. Hamburg Airport is 9km from the centre (U-Bahn Line 1, 25 minutes, €3.60). The city is best from May to September when the harbour, the Alster lake and the outdoor culture of the city are at their finest. The Christmas markets — particularly the one on the Rathausmarkt — are among the best in Germany. Hamburg is the gateway to the Danish border and Scandinavia; a long weekend here pairs well with a day trip to Lübeck (45 minutes by train, the finest medieval city in northern Germany).
Where to stay & explore
Hamburg's best neighbourhoods
Speicherstadt & HafenCity
The UNESCO warehouse district and the new harbour city alongside it — the Miniatur Wunderland, the Elbphilharmonie, the International Maritime Museum and some of the finest architecture in Germany.
Schanzenviertel & Altona
Hamburg's most creative neighbourhoods — the independent boutiques of the Schanze, the Altona Fish Market on Sunday mornings, the best restaurants and bars in the city.
Reeperbahn & St Pauli
The infamous red-light district is also the best nightlife neighbourhood in Hamburg — the Indra Club and the Kaiserkeller where the Beatles played, the Große Freiheit, and a music scene that remains genuinely vibrant.
Things to do
What to see in Hamburg
1
Elbphilharmonie
Herzog & de Meuron's extraordinary concert hall — a glass wave riding above a 19th-century red-brick warehouse on the harbour — opened in 2017 and immediately became the defining building of 21st-century Hamburg. The Plaza (public viewing platform at 37 metres, free with timed entry from the website) gives panoramic views over the harbour and the city. A concert in the Grand Hall is the full experience — the acoustics and the interior are among the finest of any concert hall in Europe. Book as far ahead as possible.
2
Miniatur Wunderland
The world's largest model railway — 16,000 square metres of impossibly detailed miniature landscapes covering Hamburg, Scandinavia, Italy, the USA and more, with 1,040 trains running simultaneously. Sounds like a children's attraction; it is also one of the most hypnotically absorbing things adults can do in Hamburg. Book timed entry well ahead; it sells out weeks in advance. Allow three hours minimum.
3
Speicherstadt & the Canals
The largest warehouse district in the world — 15 blocks of red-brick neo-Gothic warehouses on a network of canals, built between 1883 and 1927 to store Hamburg's trade goods. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site housing the Spicy's Spice Museum, the International Maritime Museum, the Hamburg Dungeon and dozens of design and architecture studios. Walk it in the morning before the tourist groups; rent a kayak or take a harbour boat for the finest view of the warehouses from the canal.
4
Alster Lakes & the City Centre
The Binnenalster and Außenalster — two lakes in the centre of the city created by damming the Alster river — give Hamburg one of the finest urban waterscapes in Europe. Sailing, kayaking and rowing in summer; the view of the city reflected in the water at any season. The Rathaus (city hall) on the Rathausmarkt is one of the finest neo-Renaissance civic buildings in Germany. The Chilehaus on the Kontorhausviertel — an expressionist 1920s office building shaped like a ship's prow — is 10 minutes' walk away.
Food & drink
Where to eat in Hamburg
The Table Kevin Fehling
Three Michelin stars / HafenCity
The finest restaurant in Hamburg and one of the most distinctive dining experiences in Germany — Kevin Fehling's 10-course tasting menu is served at a single U-shaped table for 20 guests, so you eat simultaneously with everyone in the room. The cooking is technically brilliant and wildly creative. Book months ahead.
Fischmarkt & Fischereihafen Restaurant
Fish / Altona
The Altona Fish Market (Sunday mornings from 5am to 9.30am, April to October) is one of the finest markets in Germany — fresh fish, fruit, flowers and the extraordinary atmosphere of Hamburg's working port life at dawn. The Fischereihafen Restaurant on the fish auction hall quay serves the finest traditional Hamburg fish dishes: Labskaus (sailor's corned beef with pickled herring and egg), Finkenwerder plaice, North Sea shrimp.
Bullerei
Modern German / Schanzenviertel
Tim Mälzer's restaurant in a converted slaughterhouse in the Schanzenviertel — the finest casual fine dining in Hamburg, with excellent German produce treated with skill and confidence. The Sunday brunch is one of the best in the city. Book ahead.
Itinerary
3 days in Hamburg — a suggested itinerary
Day 1
Elbphilharmonie Plaza, Speicherstadt, harbour at dusk
U-Bahn from the airport to the city centre (25 minutes, €3.60). Walk south to the Elbphilharmonie: the Plaza entry is free but requires a timed ticket from the website (book ahead, popular). The view from the curved glass wave above the harbour is extraordinary. Walk east through HafenCity — the most ambitious urban development project in German history, transforming the old port into a new city quarter — to the Speicherstadt. Walk the Poggenmühle bridge at the eastern end for the finest view of the warehouses reflected in the canal. Miniatur Wunderland is here — timed entry booked weeks ahead. Harbour boat tour from the Landungsbrücken at 4pm (the boat perspective of the port, the container ships, the Elbphilharmonie from the water). Dinner at Bullerei if booked.
Day 2
Altona Fish Market, the Alster, Schanzenviertel afternoon
Altona Fish Market at 5.30am on Sunday (or Fischereihafen Restaurant for late breakfast any day). The Rathaus and the Rathausmarkt in the morning — the neo-Renaissance city hall interior (guided tours available), the Alsterarkaden arcades alongside. Kayak or sailing boat on the Binnenalster for the afternoon (rental from the boat hire companies on the south bank). The Chilehaus (10 minutes east of the Rathaus) for the expressionist architecture. Schanzenviertel in the late afternoon: the Schanze's independent boutiques and record shops, the Rote Flora (a squatted 19th-century theatre building, a constant presence in Hamburg's alternative culture). The Reeperbahn in the evening: the Indra Club (Große Freiheit 64, where the Beatles made their Hamburg debut in 1960) and the Kaiserkeller for the music history; Molotow or Knust for live music if anything's on.
Day 3
Lübeck day trip or the Hamburger Kunsthalle, a final Fischbrötchen
Lübeck by train takes 45 minutes from Hamburg Hauptbahnhof (around €15 return) — the finest medieval city in northern Germany, a UNESCO World Heritage Site of brick Gothic churches and the Holstentor gate, with the finest marzipan in the world (Niederegger, on Breite Straße, has been making it since 1806). Alternatively: the Hamburger Kunsthalle (one of the finest art museums in Germany, with an outstanding collection of 19th-century German Romanticism including Caspar David Friedrich) is in the city centre. Final meal: a Fischbrötchen (fish roll with pickled herring or smoked fish) from one of the harbour stalls at the Fischmarkt or Landungsbrücken — the defining Hamburg street food, under €5. Eat looking at the port.
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