Germany’s second-largest city is built around water: the Elbe river, the Alster lakes, and one of Europe’s busiest ports. Hamburg mixes a serious maritime trading history with modern architecture and one of the country’s best live music and nightlife scenes.
Why visit Hamburg
The Speicherstadt, the largest warehouse district in the world, is a UNESCO World Heritage site of red-brick buildings on narrow canals, now home to museums and the striking Elbphilharmonie concert hall rising out of an old warehouse at the waterfront. Hamburg’s harbour remains one of the largest in Europe, and boat tours through it are one of the best ways to see the city. By night, the Reeperbahn in St. Pauli is Germany’s best-known entertainment district, with live music venues that launched the Beatles’ career in the early 1960s.
Getting to Hamburg by train
Hamburg Hauptbahnhof is one of Europe’s busiest railway stations, with direct high-speed connections to Berlin (under two hours), Frankfurt, and Munich, plus international services toward Denmark and beyond.
Top things to do in Hamburg
- Walk the Speicherstadt warehouse district and visit the Elbphilharmonie’s public viewing platform
- Take a boat tour of the harbour, one of the largest ports in Europe
- Explore Miniatur Wunderland, the world’s largest model railway exhibit
- Stroll around the Binnenalster and Außenalster lakes in the city centre
- Experience the Reeperbahn’s live music venues in St. Pauli