Hamburg is one of the coolest cities on earth. A maritime spirit infuses the entire city, bequeathing its diverse neighbourhoods astonishing culinary, architectural and musical excellence and variety. To put it another way, it’s impossible to come to Hamburg and not having a really good time.
We found this compliment in an English language travel guide about Hamburg and we can only agree with it and would like to present some top sights here:
Towards the end of the 12th century Hamburg got its port on the Elbe. Although the open sea is 100 km away, it became the largest seaport in Germany with a total area of about 100 km². Hamburg’s port can simultaneously load or unload more than 30 ocean-going ships and as many inland waterway vessels. The architecturally most beautiful part is the clinker-built Speicherstadt, built in 1888 as a duty-free port. Whether in a barge or on a larger ship, hardly any visitor will miss a harbour tour.
The two reservoirs of the Alster are among the “valuables” of the city. Along the 18-hectare Binnenalster are mainly representative administrative buildings. The 160-hectare Outer Alster is almost completely surrounded by a green belt. Sailing boats can be rented at the Außenalster. At the Jungfernstieg landing stage, the “Alsterdampfer” leave for Alster cruises, canal and fleet trips.
With its gilded facade and spectacular coffered ceiling, Hamburg’s baroque town hall is one of Europe’s most opulent. It`s also unusal in that both the facade and the interior are equally beautiful. Crowned by a 112m-high tower, the facade is especially beautiful for its balcony upon which is depicted Hammonia, Hamburg’s patron goddess, and the city’s coat of arms.
Elbphilharmonie arrived late and well over budget. But what a result! Essentially two buildings in one, the bottom half is a converted brick warehouse whose facade is largely unchanged: it stored cocoa, tea and tobacco until the 1990s. Sitting atop the warehouse, on its own foundation, is a soaring edifice of more than 1000 curved glass panels, evoking so many waves upon the Elbe. Whether you’re looking at it from afar or watching a concert within, there is one near-universal response: Wow!
On a length of about one and a half kilometres, warehouses have been located here since 1883 along the canals, the water arms of the harbour. The warehouses are built on oak piles, and since 2015 they have enjoyed UNESCO World Heritage Site status. These narrow, up to seven-storey high buildings, the “clinker cathedrals of commerce”, are hardly ever used as storage space any more; they have become sought-after office addresses and hold tourist attractions.
While other cities sleep off their Saturday-night hangover, Hamburg just never wants it all to end. And let’s face it, few places on earth do Saturday nights like St Pauli…and continue on into the next day. This Sunday morning market is simply fabulous, a time when the entire city comes out to play. It’s not yet 5am when the first customers begin to trundle in.
There are numerous places selling fish sandwhiches around the market. Normally a lunch or afternoon snack, pickled herrings and onions in a roll at six in the morning can suddenly seem strangely appealing. It’s the perfect hangover cure.
The approximately 200m long building was put into operation in 1909. Pontoons float in front of it, to which the passenger ships moor. The museum ships “Rickmer Rickmers” and “Cap San Diego” are moored at the landing stages.
Right next to the long pier building, a temple-like building with a large domed roof stands out: the entrance to the Old Elbe Tunnel. 24 metres below the river run two tubes decorated with stoneware reliefs, 426 metres long over to the south bank. The tunnel is listed as a historical monument, but is still in normal use, open to pedestrians, cyclists and cars, which are lifted up and down with special lifts.
Der Michel’, as it is affectionately called by its friends, is one of Hamburg’s most recognisable landmarks and nothern Germany’s largest Protestant baroque church – the Church of St Michael dominates the skyline for miles around. Ascending the tower (by step or lift) rewards visitors with great panoramas across the city and canals. The church itself is also worth exploring.
www.st-michaelis.de
The street in St. Pauli, on which ship’s ropes (reeps) were once shot, is today the main artery of an amusement and red light district. The centres are Spielbudenplatz, Hans-Albers-Platz, Große Freiheit and Herbertstraße – the brothel street, separated by screens, should not be entered by tourists.
(Hamburger Platt für Pflanzen und Blumen), the renowned park that has been the site of three international horticultural exhibitions. The Japanese Garden is a source of tranquillity and inspiration, where the tea ceremony is celebrated two Sundays a month. The park is also famous for its “water organ”, which provides a colourful spectacle every evening at 10 pm in summer.
The park is practically right across the street from the venue, the Chamber of Crafts.
Hamburg’s best and most prestigious art gallery is also one of Germany’s best. While the focus, particularly in the pieces dating back to medieval times, is overwhelmingly on German art, the gallery also has a fine collection of masters from further afield. The contemporary collection is as outstanding as the earlier works and the stunning architecture perfectly complements the collection throughout.
www.hamburger-kunsthalle.de
Hamburg is defined by its maritime past, and there’s nowhere better to understand this fascinating history than the International Maritime Museum. More than that, the location, by the water in a neighbourhood where the city is once again reinventing itself with one eye cast seawards, couldn’t be more appropriate, Even if you’re not into old ships, don’t miss this one.
At once haunting and soaring, this half ruin is one of Hamburg’s most distinctive sights. There’s an outstanding museum devoted to the devastation of war, and the views from the tower’s summit rank among Hamburg’s finest. It’s this combination of a sobering story and the uplifting experience of rising above it all that gives Memorial of St. Nicholas its cachet. The highlight for many visitors is the glass lift up to a 76.3m-high viewing platform inside the surviving spire, for views of Hamburg’s centre, put into context of the wartime destruction.
Even the worst cynics are quickly transformed into fans of this vast miniature wonderland, the world’s largest model railway. The model trains wending their way through all manner of European tableaux are hugely impressive. But when you see a model A380 swoop out of the sky and land at the fully functional model airport, you can’t help but gasp.
www.minatur-wonderland.com
Among the well-known Hamburg dishes are Pears, beans and bacon,
Plaice Finkenwerder species (with omitted bacon cubes),
Stint (a small fish that is native to the Elbe),
Kale, Hamburg eel soup,
Labscouse, potatoes, boiled beetroot and corned beef are mashed together with a dash of beef broth and gherkin water. If you’re not yet a Labskaus fan, why not give it a try? It really tastes much better than it might seem at first glance. Classically, the stomp is topped with fried egg and gherkins.
Snuten and Poten (Low German for muzzles and paws),
Rundstück warm (In Northern Germany, especially in Hamburg, a warm snack is called Rundstück warm, also Hamburger Rundstück warm, where a slice of warm roast beef or pork is put into a cut in half and then covered with gravy)
Rote Grütze is a dessert of the German kitchen as well as the national kitchens of Scandinavia and is a wonderfully refreshing summer dessert. Red fruit jelly tastes best with fresh fruit. The name is derived from the typical red colouring of the fruit used.
French roll. A Franzbrötchen is a sweet pastry consisting of puff pastry or yeast dough filled with sugar and cinnamon. It is a variation of the cinnamon bun. The Franzbrötchen is a speciality of Hamburg cuisine and is often served with coffee and cake or for breakfast. The name is possibly a reminiscence of the French model, the croissant, which is also made of puff pastry and became famous in Hamburg through Napoleon’s troops during the French period in Hamburg (1806-1814).
Hamburg, officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, is a city state of the Federal Republic of Germany. The official name refers to Hamburg’s history as a Free Imperial City and as a leading member of the Hanseatic League trading alliance.
Hamburg is the second largest city in Germany with a population of approximately 1.8 million and the largest city in the European Union that is not a capital city. The metropolitan region of Hamburg has over five million inhabitants, and around 2.2 million people live in the urban agglomeration.
The Port of Hamburg is one of the largest transhipment ports in the world and, together with the international airport, makes Hamburg one of the most important logistics locations in Europe.
Since 2015, the Speicherstadt and the neighbouring Kontorhaus district have been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, while other well-known cultural monuments and landmarks include Hamburg City Hall and the five prominent main churches of St. Michaelis, St. Petri, St. Nikolai, St. Katharinen and St. Jacobi. Typical for the cityscape are also many clinker brick facades as well as the proximity to water with numerous rivers, canals and canals. The St. Pauli district with the Reeperbahn as an amusement district and the Elbphilharmonie concert hall, which opened in 2016, are also internationally renowned. Hamburg is one of the most important locations for musicals on the European continent. Hamburg is one of the cities with the highest quality of life in the world.
Hamburg has been the seat of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ISGH) since 1996. Since 2004, the Hamburg Summit, an important Chinese-European summit meeting, has been held in the Hanseatic city. In July 2017 the twelfth G20 Summit took place here.
The Alster lake in the city centre has been dammed to a lake since the Middle Ages. This lake is divided into the larger Outer Alster and the smaller Inner Alster, which is surrounded by the historic centre of the city. The tributaries of the Alster – like the Alster itself – are partly canalised in the city area. They are mostly lined by extensive public parks. The city’s numerous canals, rivers and canals are spanned by almost 2500 bridges
Hamburg maintains partnerships with nine cities, mainly with other port cities.
The first – oral – partnership agreement was concluded in 1957 with Leningrad, today’s St. Petersburg, Russia. The partnership is the oldest between a German and a then Soviet city.
Within the framework of the Franco-German friendship, the partnership with Marseille was sealed in 1958. It is characterized by the exchange on an economic level, student and youth exchange. Hamburg has similar problems as the twin city Marseille. This concerns the port, port expansion, the development of old port areas.
The partnership with Shanghai, People’s Republic of China, which began in 1986, was frozen in 1989 after the massacre at the Gate of Heavenly Peace. However, the exchange in cultural and economic areas continued.
On 14 December 1987, the partnership with the Elbe city of Dresden, then German Democratic Republic, was signed.
The partnership with Osaka, Japan, was concluded in 1989. The highlight of the partnership was the opening of the Japanese Garden in Planten un Blomen.
A partnership has existed with León in Nicaragua since 1990, which is mainly characterised by Hamburg development aid.
On April 19, 1990, a partnership with the then Czechoslovakian, now Czech capital Prague was concluded in Hamburg as part of the East-West rapprochement. The Moldau and Elbe rivers connect Prague and Hamburg.
On Chicago’s initiative, a further town twinning arrangement has existed since 1994. The reasons were the large number of descendants of German emigrants of the nineteenth century living in Chicago and a great interest of Hamburg schools in a German-American partnership.
In June 2010 the twinning with Dar es Salaam in Tanzania was established by the Hamburg City Council.
coat of arms, logo, emblem
The small national coat of arms shows a white (or silver) castle in red shield and goes back to the town seals of the 12th and 13th century. The middle tower, on which a cross stands, is interpreted as a reference to the seat of a bishop and as a representation of the medieval St. Mary’s Cathedral, which was consecrated to the patron saint of the town and from which the “Mariensterne” above the side towers are also said to derive their name.
The design of the castle varied considerably over time. The gate was once open, fitted with portcullis or closed as an expression of a fortified town and independence from other sovereigns.
Since 1835 the coat of arms has existed in its present form with minor changes.
The phrase “Hamburg – The Gateway to the World” or “Germany’s Gateway to the World” has long been well known, in contrast to other short-term epithets or sayings of city advertising. It first appeared after Hamburg’s accession to the German customs territory (1888), a period in which Hamburg developed into one of the leading world ports.
In the preamble to the state constitution adopted in 1952, Hamburg described itself as a “global port city”, which “has a special task assigned to it by its history and location in relation to the German people. It wants to be a mediator between all continents and peoples of the world in the spirit of peace.
Hamburg is one of the most beautiful cities in the world and radiates an incomparable charm. Go on a discovery tour through the city by the Elbe and explore the most beautiful sights, attend unique events or feast in the most delicious restaurants and cafés. The city’s scene and nightlife are known all over the world and Hamburg is also a great shopping metropolis.
More information you will find here:
https://www.mahnmal-st-nikolai.de
https://www.hamburg-tourism.de/
https://www.hamburg.de/
https://www.getyourguide.de/hamburg-l23/
This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.
Accept settingsHide notification onlySettingsWe may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.
Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.
These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.
Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refuseing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.
We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.
We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.
We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.
Google Webfont Settings:
Google Map Settings:
Google reCaptcha Settings:
Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:
You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.
Datenschutzerklärung