Museums · Hamburg · Germany
4 best museums in Hamburg
The collections worth your time, how long each takes and how to fit them together.
Updated By the AMZBooking editorial team
Photo: Frank Nocke, CC BY 3.0
Quick answer
Start with Miniatur Wunderland, Hamburger Kunsthalle and International Maritime Museum. Together the 4 picks below take roughly 9–11 hours across 3 areas; all charge for entry.
Key facts
- Places in this guide
- 4
- Free entry
- 0
- Time to see them all
- 9–11 hours
- Areas
- HafenCity and Speicherstadt, St. Georg and Veddel
Museums in Hamburg
Museum · HafenCity and Speicherstadt
1.Miniatur Wunderland
The world's largest model railway fills two floors of a Speicherstadt warehouse with miniature landscapes from Hamburg and the Alps to Scandinavia, Italy and South America, including an airport where model planes take off.
- Time needed
- 3–4 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Iconic
- Kids
- Rainy day
Gallery · St. Georg
2.Hamburger Kunsthalle
One of Germany's largest art museums spans old masters, 19th-century German Romantics, including Caspar David Friedrich's Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, and modern and contemporary art in the Galerie der Gegenwart.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Art
- Rainy day
Museum · HafenCity and Speicherstadt
3.International Maritime Museum
In Kaispeicher B, the oldest surviving warehouse in the port, nine floors display thousands of ship models, navigation instruments, uniforms and marine paintings from a private collection, from Viking-era boats to container ships.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- History
- Rainy day
- Kids
Museum · Veddel
4.BallinStadt Emigration Museum
Reconstructed emigrant halls on the site where millions of Europeans waited to sail to the Americas between the 1850s and 1930s.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- History
- Rainy day
- Off the beaten path
Grouped by area
| Area | Places | Time needed |
|---|---|---|
| HafenCity and Speicherstadt | Miniatur Wunderland and International Maritime Museum | 3–4 hours + 2 hours |
| St. Georg | Hamburger Kunsthalle | 2–3 hours |
| Veddel | BallinStadt Emigration Museum | 2 hours |
Booking and timing
Of these 4, 4 mid-priced. Book ahead for Miniatur Wunderland. The longest visit is Miniatur Wunderland; group the rest by area to save travel time.
- Miniatur Wunderland: Reserve a timed entry online, especially for weekends and school holidays.
How to fit them into 3 half-days
Grouped by area and kept to about four hours each, so you walk more than you ride.
- Half-day 1 (HafenCity and Speicherstadt): Miniatur Wunderland, at least 3 hours.
- Half-day 2 (HafenCity and Speicherstadt and St. Georg): International Maritime Museum → Hamburger Kunsthalle, at least 4 hours.
- Half-day 3 (Veddel): BallinStadt Emigration Museum, at least 2 hours.
The quietest months for queues
- February: highs of 5°C (41°F), about 10 rainy days, quiet crowds. Still wintry and damp; occasional frost and, in cold years, ice on the Alster.
- March: highs of 9°C (48°F), about 11 rainy days, quiet crowds. Days lengthen and the spring funfair opens, though it is often cold and windy.
- January: highs of 4°C (39°F), about 12 rainy days, quiet crowds. Cold, grey and short days, but museums, concerts and cosy cafés are quiet.
The neighbourhoods they are in
- Altstadt and Neustadt — City Hall, Jungfernstieg and shopping streets beside the Binnenalster
- HafenCity and Speicherstadt — Brick warehouses, canals and new waterfront architecture around the Elbphilharmonie
- St. Georg — Lange Reihe cafés, the Außenalster shore and the main station
More of Hamburg
Questions travellers ask
+Where should I start in Hamburg?
Miniatur Wunderland. The world's largest model railway fills two floors of a Speicherstadt warehouse with miniature landscapes from Hamburg and the Alps to Scandinavia, Italy and South America, including an airport where model planes take off.