Things to do · Hamburg · Germany
18 best things to do in Hamburg
18 sights and experiences ranked for a first visit, with honest notes on time, cost and crowds.
Updated By the AMZBooking editorial team
Quick answer
The essential sights in Hamburg are Elbphilharmonie and Plaza, Speicherstadt and Miniatur Wunderland. Of the 18 picks below, 9 are free, 7 work on a rainy day and 6 suit children. Allow about 3 days to see the highlights without rushing.
Key facts
- Top sight
- Elbphilharmonie and Plaza
- Free sights
- 9
- Good on a rainy day
- Miniatur Wunderland
- Time to see the highlights
- 3 days
At a glance
| Sight | Area | Time needed | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elbphilharmonie and Plaza | HafenCity | 1 hour (Plaza) | Free |
| Speicherstadt | HafenCity and Speicherstadt | 1–2 hours | Free |
| Miniatur Wunderland | HafenCity and Speicherstadt | 3–4 hours | Mid-priced |
| Harbour boat tour and ferry 62 | St. Pauli | 1–2 hours | Low cost |
| Hamburg Fish Market | Altona | 1–2 hours | Free |
| Reeperbahn and Beatles-Platz | St. Pauli | 2–4 hours (evening) | Free |
| Landungsbrücken and Old Elbe Tunnel | St. Pauli | 1 hour | Free |
| St. Michael's Church (Michel) | Neustadt | 1 hour | Low cost |
| Hamburg City Hall | Altstadt | 1 hour | Low cost |
| Binnenalster and Außenalster | Altstadt | 2–3 hours | Free |
| Hamburger Kunsthalle | St. Georg | 2–3 hours | Mid-priced |
| Planten un Blomen | Neustadt | 1–2 hours | Free |
| International Maritime Museum | HafenCity and Speicherstadt | 2 hours | Mid-priced |
| St. Nikolai Memorial | Altstadt | 1 hour | Low cost |
| Chilehaus and Kontorhaus District | Altstadt | 30 minutes | Free |
| Tierpark Hagenbeck | Stellingen | Half a day | Mid-priced |
| Blankenese and the Elbe beaches | Blankenese | Half a day | Free |
| BallinStadt Emigration Museum | Veddel | 2 hours | Mid-priced |
The 18 best things to do
Architecture · HafenCity
1.Elbphilharmonie and Plaza
Herzog & de Meuron's concert hall, opened in 2017, rises in a wave of glass above a brick 1960s warehouse at the tip of HafenCity. A long curved escalator leads to the Plaza, a public viewing terrace that wraps around the building 37 metres up with views of the port, the Speicherstadt and St. Michael's Church.
Plaza tickets on the day are free at the entrance; book a timed slot online for a small fee if you visit at weekends.
- Time needed
- 1 hour (Plaza)
- Cost
- Free
- Book ahead
- Concert tickets sell out months ahead; check the official site for returns and less popular dates.
- Iconic
- Free
- Views
- Architecture
- After dark
Historic site · HafenCity and Speicherstadt
2.Speicherstadt
Built between the 1880s and 1920s on oak piles, this is the largest warehouse district in the world: neo-Gothic brick blocks rising from canals, once full of coffee, tea and spices. It is UNESCO-listed with the neighbouring Kontorhaus District, and the Wasserschloss on its point is the classic photo stop.
Walk it at dusk, when the warehouses are lit and the canals reflect the lights.
- Time needed
- 1–2 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Iconic
- Free
- Architecture
- History
- Photo spot
- After dark
Museum · HafenCity and Speicherstadt
3.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. Day and night cycles run every few minutes.
Plan at least three hours; the detail is enormous and children rarely want to leave.
- Time needed
- 3–4 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Book ahead
- Reserve a timed entry online, especially for weekends and school holidays.
- Iconic
- Kids
- Rainy day
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Experience · St. Pauli
4.Harbour boat tour and ferry 62
Harbour cruises leave from the Landungsbrücken piers to the container terminals, dry docks and Speicherstadt canals. On a budget, the HADAG public ferry line 62 runs from the Landungsbrücken past the Elbphilharmonie views and Övelgönne to Finkenwerder on a normal HVV ticket.
Smaller barge tours can enter the Speicherstadt canals at high tide; larger boats cannot.
- Time needed
- 1–2 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- Iconic
- Kids
- Views
- Outdoors
Market · Altona
5.Hamburg Fish Market
Every Sunday from early morning, the riverside market in Altona sells fish, fruit, flowers and plants, with traders shouting their bargains. In the historic fish auction hall, live bands play to a crowd that includes night-owls still out from the Reeperbahn.
Arrive early: the market winds down by mid-morning. Grab a Fischbrötchen and a coffee by the river.
- Time needed
- 1–2 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Food
- Iconic
- Shopping
Street · St. Pauli
6.Reeperbahn and Beatles-Platz
Hamburg's entertainment mile has theatres, musical venues, clubs, bars and the red-light scene. The Beatles played clubs in the area between 1960 and 1962, remembered by steel silhouettes at the Beatles-Platz at the corner of Große Freiheit.
Explore the side streets such as Hamburger Berg and Große Freiheit for live music and bars.
- Time needed
- 2–4 hours (evening)
- Cost
- Free
- After dark
- Free
- History
- Iconic
Waterfront · St. Pauli
7.Landungsbrücken and Old Elbe Tunnel
The green-domed pier buildings of the Landungsbrücken are the departure point for ferries and harbour tours. Beside them, the Old Elbe Tunnel of 1911 takes pedestrians and cyclists down by lift and through a tiled tube under the river; on the far side is one of the best views of the city skyline.
Walk through the tunnel and look back from the Steinwerder side at sunset.
- Time needed
- 1 hour
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- History
- Views
- Kids
- Photo spot
Religious site · Neustadt
8.St. Michael's Church (Michel)
Hamburg's landmark Baroque church has a bright white-and-gold interior with five organs and a copper-clad tower over 130 metres high. A lift or 450-odd steps lead to a viewing platform over the harbour, and the crypt holds the tomb of composer C. P. E. Bach.
Combine it with the Krameramtsstuben, a courtyard of 17th-century almshouses just around the corner.
- Time needed
- 1 hour
- Cost
- Low cost
- Views
- Architecture
- History
- Rainy day
Architecture · Altstadt
1.Hamburg City Hall
Completed in 1897, the neo-Renaissance Rathaus has more than 600 rooms and still houses the city-state's parliament and senate. Guided tours visit the lavish state rooms, while the courtyard with its Hygieia fountain is open to anyone.
Join a guided tour of the interior; tours in English run on most days when parliament is not sitting.
- Time needed
- 1 hour
- Cost
- Low cost
- Architecture
- History
- Rainy day
Waterfront · Altstadt
2.Binnenalster and Außenalster
The Alster river was dammed to form two lakes in the centre: the small Binnenalster beside the Jungfernstieg and the larger Außenalster, ringed by villas and parks. Alster steamers leave from the Jungfernstieg, and boat-rental stations hire out pedalos, canoes and sailing boats.
Walk or cycle the roughly 7-km loop around the Außenalster, stopping at a lakeside café.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Couples
- Outdoors
- Active
- Views
Gallery · St. Georg
3.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. It is right next to the main station.
Head straight to the Caspar David Friedrich room before it fills.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Art
- Rainy day
Park · Neustadt
4.Planten un Blomen
A long park on the old city ramparts with a Japanese garden and tea house, rose garden, tropical greenhouses, playgrounds and a lake. On summer evenings free water-light concerts play fountains to music and coloured lights.
Check the summer schedule for the water-light concerts after dark and bring a picnic.
- Time needed
- 1–2 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Kids
- Outdoors
- Couples
- After dark
Museum · HafenCity and Speicherstadt
5.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.
Start at the top floor and work down; the ship-model floors are the highlight.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- History
- Rainy day
- Kids
Historic site · Altstadt
6.St. Nikolai Memorial
The ruined neo-Gothic church, bombed in 1943, has been kept as a memorial to the victims of war. A glass lift climbs the surviving tower to a viewing platform about 76 metres up, and a museum in the crypt documents the air raids on Hamburg.
The lift view combines well with a walk to the Deichstraße and its old merchant houses.
- Time needed
- 1 hour
- Cost
- Low cost
- History
- Views
- Rainy day
Architecture · Altstadt
7.Chilehaus and Kontorhaus District
Fritz Höger's 1920s Chilehaus is a ten-storey brick office building with a sharp eastern corner that resembles a ship's prow. It is the centrepiece of the Kontorhaus District, a UNESCO-listed area of brick Expressionist office blocks next to the Speicherstadt.
Stand at the corner of Pumpen and Burchardstraße for the classic prow view.
- Time needed
- 30 minutes
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Architecture
- History
- Photo spot
Zoo · Stellingen
8.Tierpark Hagenbeck
Founded by Carl Hagenbeck in 1907, this family-run zoo pioneered open enclosures separated by moats rather than bars. It has elephants, an Arctic Ocean area with walruses and polar bears, and a separate tropical aquarium.
Buy the combined ticket with the Tropen-Aquarium for a rainy-day back-up.
- Time needed
- Half a day
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Kids
- Outdoors
- Nature
Neighbourhood · Blankenese
9.Blankenese and the Elbe beaches
This former fishing village on the steep north bank of the Elbe is a maze of stairways and captains' houses, with sandy river beaches below where container ships pass close by. Closer to the centre, the beach at Övelgönne has a museum harbour of old boats and beach bars.
Take ferry 62 to Neumühlen/Övelgönne, walk along the beach, then continue by bus or S-Bahn to Blankenese.
- Time needed
- Half a day
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Outdoors
- Couples
- Off the beaten path
- Views
Museum · Veddel
10.BallinStadt Emigration Museum
Reconstructed emigrant halls on the site where millions of Europeans waited to sail to the Americas between the 1850s and 1930s. Exhibits tell individual stories, and a research centre helps visitors trace ancestors on the Hamburg passenger lists.
If you are searching for ancestors, bring names and approximate dates for the research terminals.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- History
- Rainy day
- Off the beaten path
Pick by interest
| Interest | Best picks |
|---|---|
| Art and museums | Miniatur Wunderland, Hamburger Kunsthalle, International Maritime Museum and BallinStadt Emigration Museum |
| History | Speicherstadt, Landungsbrücken and Old Elbe Tunnel, St. Michael's Church (Michel) and Hamburg City Hall |
| Views | Elbphilharmonie and Plaza, Harbour boat tour and ferry 62, Landungsbrücken and Old Elbe Tunnel and St. Michael's Church (Michel) |
| Outdoors and nature | Harbour boat tour and ferry 62, Binnenalster and Außenalster, Planten un Blomen and Tierpark Hagenbeck |
| Food and markets | Hamburg Fish Market |
| After dark | Elbphilharmonie and Plaza, Speicherstadt, Reeperbahn and Beatles-Platz and Planten un Blomen |
| With children | Miniatur Wunderland, Harbour boat tour and ferry 62, Landungsbrücken and Old Elbe Tunnel and Planten un Blomen |
| On a rainy day | Miniatur Wunderland, St. Michael's Church (Michel), Hamburg City Hall and Hamburger Kunsthalle |
What to book ahead
- Elbphilharmonie and Plaza: Concert tickets sell out months ahead; check the official site for returns and less popular dates.
- Miniatur Wunderland: Reserve a timed entry online, especially for weekends and school holidays.
Plan the rest of your trip
Questions travellers ask
+What is the number one thing to do in Hamburg?
Elbphilharmonie and Plaza. Herzog & de Meuron's concert hall, opened in 2017, rises in a wave of glass above a brick 1960s warehouse at the tip of HafenCity.
+What can you do for free in Hamburg?
Elbphilharmonie and Plaza, Speicherstadt, Hamburg Fish Market, Reeperbahn and Beatles-Platz and Landungsbrücken and Old Elbe Tunnel. More free things to do.
+What is there to do in Hamburg when it rains?
Head indoors to Miniatur Wunderland, St. Michael's Church (Michel), Hamburg City Hall and Hamburger Kunsthalle.
+What is there to do in Hamburg at night?
Elbphilharmonie and Plaza, Speicherstadt, Reeperbahn and Beatles-Platz and Planten un Blomen are best after dark.