Not to see Hamburg is equal to not seeing Germany! Hamburg is the second heart of Germany. The specialty of the city is the multitude of the bridges across the river Elbe that counts up to 2 thousand!
It might seem unbelievable but the number of bridges in Hamburg is bigger than in Venice, Amsterdam and London altogether! It is worth to mention the famous Hamburg bridge, Kulbrandbruke, Elbrokke bridge, Kettvik, Lombard, Cennedy and Trostbruke.
If you decide to walk across as many the bridges as possible you will see the major sites of this amazing city eventually.
You can get to Hamburg with the direct flight and it will take only 2 hours to get to Berlin.
To feel the atmosphere of Hamburg you have to stay in the center. Out of all available options I have picked the most atmospheric and original one - 25 hours Hotel Alter Hafenamt. More about my stay in this hotel read on this page.
How I find the best prices for the hotels is here.
What
to see in Hamburg
As I was staying in the center, HafenCity, I took a map and just went out to admire each and every corner and street side, the bridges and incredibly beautiful buildings.
In 5 minutes I came across the museum of the miniatures - Miniature Wunderland. There is everything here – tiny houses, people, trees and the biggest model of the railway in the world. This place is just mesmerizing and, if your kids are with you see it before anything else because even adults get excited in Wunderland.
In 10-15 minute from Wunderland there is St. Nicolas Church, the second highest building in the city visible from many points. The Town Hall of Hamburg is also worth seeing, especially that it offers a very good panoramic sight of her city. It is open for visitors from 7 a. m. to 8 p. m.
I want particularly to mention amazingly beautiful bridge Kornhausbrucke initially decorated with the four statues of the famous explorers Magellan, Columbus, Cook and Vasco da Gama. The bridge is called like this due to the located here warehouse that preserved the stocks of wheat for the case of wars and starvation. Only two of the four statues remained nowadays - Columbus and Vasco da Gama.
Further you can walk to St. Michael's Church, one of the major architectural buildings of North Germany that is also an icon of Hamburg.The entrance fee to the tower of the church is 5 EUR for adults and 3.5 EUR for kids.
Visit to Chapel is 4 & 2.5 EUR
The combined ticket is 7 & 4 EUR
After that, go towards St. Pauli where you will find a very nice park with small ponds and benches around them. There you can have a coffee and snack in a local cafe.
In case you are interested in the historical past of Hamburg you can visit the Museum of Hamburg History which is also located here. Open hours: from 10 a. m. to 5 p. m.
When you exist from the park you will see the Justice Forum of Hamburg composed of the group of three historical buildings on Sievekingplatz called after the former president of the higher regional court Ernst Friedrich Sieveking.
These three buildings house the Hamburg Constitutional Court, the Hanseatic court, regional court and Hamburg Town Justice Court.
It’s also interesting to visit Hamburg’s Art Mile, a composition of five art galleries. There are 2 very interesting and contrasting art institutions.
In the north side it is Kunsthalle with one of the biggest collection of European art that has an amazing collection of paintings starting from the medieval period. The building of Kunsthalle itself is an impressive architectural monument from red bricks dating to 1847.
In the south of the Mile you can find Deichtorhallen - these 2 halls used to be a market place in XIX century and now they are displaying modern art works and photography.
Open hours are from 12 a. m. until 6 p. m
Special
attractions of Hamburg
There is a natural attraction, Alstero Lake, with incredible views and water side line almost 6 km long.
The street with the name Yungfershtig is remarkable, too, as this is the first that was asphalted in Germany.
Altes Madchen brewery. Like many other places in Germany, Hamburg is a big beer production venue of the country. This brewery and restaurant location is a perfect sample of German hospitality and comfort. It becomes even cozier in winter due to the wood fire place in the middle and very quiet and tranquil atmosphere. In summer, you can sit in the noisy and busy beer courtyard adjacent to the giant brewery steel tanks.
You can also have a look on the giant Bismarck monument. Or you can see one of the biggest in Germany fish market functioning for already 300 years daily from 5 a. m. to 10 a. m.
Flohschanze. This unique flea market located in the bohemian neighborhood, Sternschanze, turns into the plenty of exciting stalls with vintage cloths, books and paintings, retro souvenirs, crystal chandeliers, expensive antiques and cumulus boxes for 1 EUR. It has an authentic flea market atmosphere as any modern retail is banned here during the market days.
When you get tired from visiting popular landmarks go to the Krameramtsstuben, the side street with XVIII century buildings, a very rare thing in Hamburg as the city was almost completely destroyed during the World War II
and only few old building remained.
There are also few curiosities in Daihstrasse not far from St. Nicolas Church.
You can also pop in the one of the biggest and oldest harbors of Germany. It is still functioning and really mesmerizing with its lively ongoing 24 hour activity.
By all means, have a stroll along the old tunnel under the Elbe River that 100 years ago was considered as a technical wonder and is functioning till now.
Once seen Hamburg one can’t hold from coming back once again. It's is not only attracting with its amazing landmarks, but also very much inviting for strolling around its picturesque streets.
