With kids · Hamburg · Germany
Hamburg with kids
Family-tested sights, a calm base and the practical details that make travelling with children easier.
Updated By the AMZBooking editorial team
Quick answer
Hamburg works well with children: ferries and harbour boats, Miniatur Wunderland, a pioneering zoo and parks with playgrounds. Public transport is stroller-friendly, with lifts at most stations. Top picks: Miniatur Wunderland, Harbour boat tour and ferry 62 and Tierpark Hagenbeck. Families usually base themselves in HafenCity and Speicherstadt.
Key facts
- Family picks
- 6
- Best area for families
- HafenCity and Speicherstadt
- Rainy-day options
- 2
Best things to do with kids
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. 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
2.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
Zoo · Stellingen
3.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
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
Waterfront · St. Pauli
5.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
Museum · HafenCity and Speicherstadt
6.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
Rainy-day ideas
- Miniatur Wunderland — Plan at least three hours; the detail is enormous and children rarely want to leave.
- International Maritime Museum — Start at the top floor and work down; the ship-model floors are the highlight.
Where families should stay
$$$ · Best for first-timers, families, culture and couples
HafenCity and Speicherstadt
The 19th-century Speicherstadt warehouses hold museums, coffee roasters and Miniatur Wunderland, while next door HafenCity is a modern district of glass offices, apartments and promenades ending at the Elbphilharmonie. Hotels here are mostly new and well equipped, with harbour views.
- Good
- Walk to the main harbour sights; Modern hotels with water views; Quiet at night
- Watch out
- Can feel sterile after dark; Fewer neighbourhood restaurants
- Nearby
- Elbphilharmonie, Miniatur Wunderland, Internationales Maritimes Museum Hamburg, Speicherstadt
Family travel tips
- Children under 6 travel free on HVV transport, and family day tickets are available.
- Book Miniatur Wunderland in advance for weekends and school holidays.
- Bring wellies or sandals for the Elbe beaches; children love watching the huge container ships pass.
- The Stadtpark in Winterhude has large playgrounds, a paddling pool in summer and a planetarium.
- On rainy days, combine the Maritime Museum and Miniatur Wunderland, both in the Speicherstadt.
Day trips for families
- Bremen (About 1 hour by train) — Bremen's market square has the UNESCO-listed town hall and Roland statue, the Town Musicians statue and the narrow medieval lanes of the Schnoor quarter.
- Stade and the Altes Land (About 1 hour by S-Bahn) — The Altes Land is Northern Europe's largest fruit-growing region, with half-timbered farmhouses among orchards that blossom in late April and May.
- Travemünde (About 1 hour 15 minutes by train) — Lübeck's Baltic seaside resort has a long sandy beach, a promenade, the four-masted barque Passat as a museum ship and ferries heading for Scandinavia.
When to go with children
The best months overall are May–September. Weather by month.
Questions travellers ask
+Is Hamburg good for kids?
Hamburg works well with children: ferries and harbour boats, Miniatur Wunderland, a pioneering zoo and parks with playgrounds. Public transport is stroller-friendly, with lifts at most stations.
+What can kids do in Hamburg?
Miniatur Wunderland, Harbour boat tour and ferry 62, Tierpark Hagenbeck, Planten un Blomen and Landungsbrücken and Old Elbe Tunnel.
+Where should families stay in Hamburg?
HafenCity and Speicherstadt: Brick warehouses, canals and new waterfront architecture around the Elbphilharmonie.