Hamburg

Alsterpark

Inaugurated in 1952. The part west of the Alster is called Alstervorland, the one east Alterpark.

Alter Elbtunnel

St. Pauli Elbe Tunnel

Completed in 1911, it links both sides of the river Elbe. A lift or stairs bring you the 24 m down into the tunnel. You then walk through one of its two 427-m-long pipes having 12 m of water over your head. At the other side, you again walk up the stairs or take a lift. The tunnel is decorated with ceramic arts of maritime motifs (e.g. fish, mussels, seals, old boots). For pedestrians and bicycles it is free and open all day and night, every day. Even cars can pass through the tunnel (only M-F 05:30-20:00 for €2) being brought down with four lifts.

Altona City Hall

Rathaus Altona

Built in 1898, when Altona was still a separate city. It's an impressive building with influences of Italian Renaissance.

Altonaer Museum

Dedicated to Altona's, Hamburg's and northern Germany's cultural history.

Altonaer Volkspark

This used to be the city park of the independent town of Altona. Unlike Hamburger Stadtpark, this park has been left in a more natural state. On the northern edge of the park is Volksparkstadion, the home stadium of the football team HSV, as well as the multi-purpose Barclaycard Arena.

Archaeological Museum Hamburg

Helms-Museum

Museum presenting prehistorical and early historical northern Germany as well as the history of the city of Harburg.

Aussichtspunkt Steinwerder

A viewing platform at the southern end of the Alter Elbtunnel, with great views on Landungsbrücken, the Elbphilharmonie, and Hamburg's harbourfront.

24h·free

BallinStadt Auswanderwelt Hamburg

BallinStadt — History of Emigration

It was built in 1892 under the guidance of Albert Ballin to provide medical care and accommodation to migrants, who were emigrating to the United States on HAPAG ships. The complex was converted into a museum, though its original design and layout is not the same because parts of the complex were destroyed. The museum is dedicated to the 5 million people who emigrated via Hamburg. It has a computer terminal where visitors can look up information on their emigrant ancestors. At €12 (children: 5-12: €7, family: €25), it's pricey, and the English translations can be sparse and superficial. Unless they can read the German documents, American visitors who have been to museums such as Ellis Island will find much of the content familiar.

Beatles-Platz

Beatles Square

There is a sculpture honouring the Beatles. Also in the Reeperbahn area are clubs where the Beatles played at various times from 1960 to 1962, including the Indra club and Star Club.

Bergedorf Castle

Schloss Bergedorf

This is the only preserved castle inside the city borders of Hamburg, and it has been mentioned in documents in the 14th century. Since 1953 it houses a museum of Bergedorf and the Vierlande region. The idyllic castle park has been protected since 1926.

Bergedorf City Hall

Rathaus Bergedorf

This castle-like villa was built in 1898-99 and has hosted the city government of Bergedorf since 1927. It is also open to visitors, as is the 35 m high city hall tower (Rathausturm). There is a park (Rathauspark) behind the city hall with a scene, playground, stream and garden artworks.

Cap San Diego

One of the last generation of pre-containerisation cargo ships (built in the 1960s), now semi-permanently moored halfway between Landungsbrücken and the Speicherstadt, and is the largest functional cargo museum ship in the world. The ship has been restored and is maintained in full working order by volunteers (who take it out a few times a year, notably during the Hafengeburtstag celebration). You can visit the ship and walk around most areas, including the crew quarters, cargo compartments, and engine room. The ship also hosts a number of other minor attractions, including an exhibit on emigration and an escape room. The ship also has a few guest rooms for overnight stays.

Closed · opens 10 am tomorrow·€7 adults, €4 children

Chilehaus

Chile House

The house, depicting the form of a ship, is probably the best example of the 1920s style of "Kontorhaus" architecture. Large office buildings are displayed in the typical, northern red brick style.

Chocoversum Hachez Schokoladen-Museum

The Chocoversum is a "museum" run by chocolate manufacturer Hachez from Hamburg's fellow Hansestadt Bremen. Rather than focus on exhibiting historic artifacts, it presents the process of making chocolate from the plantation up to the finished confection. There is also a studio where visitors can try their hands at being a chocolatier. 90-minute guided tours are provided everyday.

Daily, including Sundays 10:00-18:00·€14, discounts for children, disabled, families and large groups

Container port

Hamburg's massive container ports line the southern bank of the river Elbe. They are most spectacular at night, and the best place to view them from is by driving north along the A7 highway (heading into the Elbtunnel tunnel). They are not freely accessible to the public, but there are bus tours (only in German, about €35 per person, must be booked in advance) which depart from Hamburg's city centre and, over the course of several hours, drive through the container terminals, with informative commentary.

Deichtorhallen

The Deichtorhallen is one of the best known exhibition galleries worldwide. The historical buildings are divided into an exhibition hall for contemporary art and the "House of Photography". Together the two buildings organize a highly diverse program of changing exhibitions.

Dialog im Dunkeln

Sighted people get to experience the everyday life of blind people. In completely dark rooms blind people guide the sighted through the exhibition.

Dockland

Walk 136 steps to the roof of this building to get a wonderful view of the harbour. The six-storey glass and steel building has the shape of a parallelogram and is reminiscent of a ship bow.

Edith-Stein-Kirche

A modern Catholic church building inaugurated in 1993. It is a round church with a flat roof rising up towards the altar.

Eimsbüttler Park

also known as "Weiher"

This former forest and current park has survived both world wars and still offers green pastures around the Weiher lake together with a playground, swimming pool and a café.

Elbphilharmonie

New 'architectural lighthouse' of Hamburg. On the top of a huge old warehouse a 110 metres tall modern philharmonic hall with glass façade and wave-shaped roof. It also includes a fancy hotel, restaurant, as well as private apartments. Access to the observation deck (called "Plaza") is free (although you need to get a ticket to prevent overcrowding), and offers a great view of Hamburg. On days of long queues in front of the ticket booth for the Plaza get your ticket at the instead. Normally there are very few people.

Daily 09:00-24:00 (Plaza)·Free

Flakturm IV

Feldstraße Bunker

Right at the Heiligengeistfeld is a World War II bunker, visible from far away due to its size. Nowadays the building houses different media companies and agentures, and there's a dance club on the upper floor.

Franz-von-Assisi-Kirche

One of the newest churches in the region, this Lutheran church was inaugurated in 1993. The 40-m-high church tower is visible from far away.

Freilichtmuseum am Kiekeberg

Open air museum showcasing rural life with a historical alcohol distillery, teaching kitchen, museum shop.

Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00, closed Christmas and New Year

Grosse Freiheit

Great Freedom

In the pedestrian street there are a lot of bars and clubs - a great place to go in the evening, although it's very crowded and it may get a bit dangerous in the weekend. On weekdays, it is harmless here - a low-budget tip is, 99 Cent Bar, which offers really many drinks for basically €1. On the weekend, you will have to pay an entrance fee of €1 but it's still the best place to go drinking on a budget. The street was named in 1610 after the fact that Count Ernest of Schaumburg and Holstein-Pinneberg had granted religious freedom to non-Lutherans such as Mennonites and Roman Catholics to practice their faith here and commercial freedom for handcrafters not enrolled in the else compelling guilds. Today it is part of the red light district.

HafenCity Kesselhaus InfoCenter

Here you can find information about the new buildings and the whole district. The InfoCenter also provides free guided tours.

Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00

HafenCity View Point

Look at the erecting process from an orange observation tower, which allows nice views on the HafenCity, the harbour, and the river.

Free admission

Hafenstraße

The street was a place for squatters in the 1980s and was well known by the media when there were "battles" between the Autonomous movement and the police. Some squats still exist there, though the "80s-Myth" is dead. You can go to the Punksbar "onkel otto" or eat at the "VoKü" ("Volxküche" - a group cooking event, at which the meal is served free of charge or at cost).

Hamburg Museum

former: Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte

Holstenwall, close to Underground station "St. Pauli". This is the museum of city history, bringing the past to life with a lot of models showing the development of the harbour and the city. The club "MEHEV" is showing a 40-year-old and one of the largest scale model railroads here.

Hamburg Stadtpark

150 ha of park with a pretty good Planetarium at an old water tower in its middle, multiple sporting areas and boat rental on the lake.