How does a city excite you? With its history, culture, nature or all at once. Hamburg is one of the cities where you can find them all together. Hamburg, the gateway of the Elbe River to the North Sea; It is the city with the largest port in Germany and the third largest in Europe. Port city means trade. The active commercial life provided the development of maritime, and the maritime made the city life active. places to visit in Hamburgr, all the details you need such as what to eat, cost of the trip, transportation Hamburg travel guide Awaiting you in this article of the nature, pleasant reading.
What You Will Find In This Article
Places to Visit in Hamburg
Since Hamburg is located in the Elbe River delta, it is generally a flat city, so it is quite easy to get around on foot. The city has a very good transport network. It is enough to buy a Hamburg Card to benefit from all alternatives such as sea transportation, metro, tram and to get discounts in many museums.
Click for Transportation and Hamburg Card writing in Hamburg
Rathaus – Town Hall
It is customary in European cities to have a town square and a town hall in the square. It's the same in Hamburg. We can accept the town hall overlooking a wide square as the center of the city. It is an architecturally very beautiful building where you can enter the town hall and visit free guided tours. You should definitely visit this place on your visit to Hamburg.
Mönckeber Street
Between the town hall and the main train station, you can take a shopping or coffee break in Mönckeber and the pedestrian streets that cut it. If you go to Hambur during the Christmas Markets, this street is very lively all day with many stalls and Christmas decorations.
Alster Lake
If you go from the town hall to the opposite direction of the Elbe river, you will come to the shore of Alster Lake. If you are in Hamburg in nice weather, you can take a boat tour and visit the lake. 1 hour boat tours are 16 euros.
Nicholas Church
The church, where many innocent people lost their lives by being bombed during the Second World War, now serves as a museum. You can see Hamburg from above by climbing the tower that remains of the church. By paying the 5 Euro museum entrance fee, you can both climb the tower and visit the museum.
Michel Church and Krameramtsstuben Street
Another church tower from which you can watch Hamburg from the top belongs to the Church of Michel. Located in the back street of the Church of St. Michel, Krameramtsstuben is one of the oldest streets in Hamburg, built in the 17th century. The street looks like an old building from the outside, don't be fooled, when you enter the door, a street will greet you. Souvenir shops and a restaurant are the inhabitants of the street.
St.Pauli District
One of the liveliest areas of Hamburg is St.Pauli. Also known for its rebellious football team, the area is also known as the general houses district, like the Red Light district in Amsterdam. This area is also home to many concert halls.
The Christmas Market established in the St.Pauli region is called the "Erotic Christmas Market". Here, there is an event space with striptease girls, a market that lives up to its name like sex toys integrated into Christmas gifts, and it gets too crowded if you throw a needle.
Fish market
Located in the Old Port area, the Fish Market is famous for its early Sunday morning entertainment. You can listen to free live music between 05:00 and 07:00 between April and October, and between 07:00 and 09:30 between November and March. You can sip your beer next to seafood.
In ancient times, sailors used to come to the port from the Fish Market, stop by the general houses in St.Pauli from the port, eat at the Fish Market in the morning and get on their ships.
Flower Auction
Just behind the Fish Market is a stall selling a truck flower at auction. Although it has turned into a show and entertainment rather than buying flowers, you can buy live flowers here very cheaply. You can leave the Fish Market and watch the flower auction here.
U Boat Museum – U-434 Submarine Museum
Right next to the Fish Market, U-434, one of the most important weapons of the Germans in the Second World War, is open to visitors as a museum. It is open to visitors between 09:00 and 20:00 from Monday to Saturday, and between 11:00 and 20:00 on Sundays. Since we went to the Fish Market early on Sunday morning, we could only see the museum from the outside.
U-boats were dangerous weapons of war that killed more than 132.000 people during the war. With the decryption of Enigma, the U-bot threat was eliminated. Those who are curious can watch the 2014 movie Enigma's Code.
museum port
We take the ferry number 62 from the ferry stop in front of the Fish Market and set off for Museumshafen. The journey doesn't take long, we're at the Oevelgönne stop in 15 minutes. This is Hamburg's old port. Old ships and ship materials are exhibited in the form of an open-air museum. If you come when the weather is nice, the area where the port is located is quite pleasant with its summer houses located towards the hills.
Elbe Tunnel
An underground tunnel built in 1911 to cross the Elbe river underwater. It is currently open to pedestrians and cyclists and is free of charge. Although you can't see anything around because you're going under water, it is very enjoyable to take a walk in the historical tunnel. The elevators where cars were lowered in the past are still standing.
Speicherstadt
Speicherstadt, the most well-known district of Hamburg, the old port district, was included in the Unesco World Cultural Heritage list in 2015. Don't forget to take a long walk in this region, take a photo of the Wasserschloss, which is the most photographed in this region, and see the carpet-patterned pavement built in memory of the carpet trade.
Elbphilharmonie
The Elbphilharmonie is a large concert hall in the Speicherstadt district, which you cannot miss with its aesthetic and modern appearance. The newly completed building is a candidate to become one of the symbols of Hamburg. Even if you are not watching a concert, you can enter the building and take a tour and watch the Hamburg harbor from above. Entry to the building is free, but you have to buy a ticket at the entrance, don't be afraid when you see the box office.
Maritime Museum
Of course, it would be unthinkable not to have a maritime museum in the maritime city of Hamburg. Located in the Speicherstadt district, the museum was built in one of the 8-storey old port buildings. Each floor hosts exhibitions on a different subject. If you are interested in maritime, I suggest you spend at least 3-4 hours for the museum. The museum entrance fee is 13 Euros, if you have a Hamburg Card you can visit the museum for 9 Euros.
Miniatur Wunderland
Another must-see museum in Speicherstadt is the Miniatur Wunderland, a miniature museum. The largest of the museum area, where miniatures of many different cities and countries are exhibited. It also managed to enter the Guinness Book of Records as the largest miniature airport.
Chile house
As you exit the Speicherstadt district, you will see a huge brown brick building. This building is known as the first commercial building built in the port area.
Apart from the places in the list above, there are of course many places to visit in Hamburg. The botanical garden and the zoo are the most recommended. You can also take river cruises on the Elbe, visit the former fishing town of Blankenese, now Hamburg's wealthiest neighborhood, and from there the Treppenviertel district.
Hamburg Attractions Map
For a map of places to visit in Hamburg Click on the link and image.
Hamburg Travel Video
You can find the video of our Hamburg trip during the Christmas Markets on my Youtube channel. To access the video to this link or just click on the image below. Don't forget to also subscribe to my channel.
Hamburg Travel Guide
Apart from the places to visit in Hamburg, you will find information such as how many days to stay in Hamburg, what to eat, what the cost of the trip is, what season to go, as a Hamburg travel guide.
How Many Days to Stay in Hamburg?
I recommend that you set aside at least two full days to visit Hamburg, and more time if you are going to visit during the summer months when the weather is nice. I have prepared a list of places you must see in Hamburg, have a nice read.
Best Time to Go to Hamburg
Hamburg is a city in the north and it is a cold city because it is close to the North Sea. Those who do not like cold can prefer the summer months to visit Hamburg. However, my favorite period in Europe is the Christmas Markets and the Christmas Markets in Hamburg are beautiful. The 1-month period between the end of November and the end of December is an alternative period to visit Hamburg.
What to Eat in Hamburg?
If you go to Hamburg during the Christmas Markets, like us, you can buy many foods from sausages to potatoes, doner kebabs to pancakes at affordable prices.
- Glühwein: Hot Wine
- Apfelpunsch: Punch
- Feuerzangenbowle: a flaming Christmas drink
- Rösti-Taler: Potato dish
- Kartoffelpuffer: Hash browns
- Currywurst: Curry Sausage
- Lebkuchenherzen: Giant cookies
- Schmalzgebäck: a bite-style dessert
- Fish sandwiches at the fish market
What Was the Cost of a 2-Day Hamburg Trip?
Should go on Saturday morning, return Monday morning, how much did our 2-day trip to Hamburg cost? Let me remind you again that I wrote all the costs per person.
- We bought our Hamburg flight ticket from one of Pegasus' campaigns. The ticket was 460 TL, that is, about 74 euros.
- For accommodation, we stayed in a hostel with private room, shared bathroom close to the city center from Booking.com's genius discounts. We paid 2 euros per person for 47 nights.
- We paid a total of 11 euros for the entrance to the museum, 9,5 euros for Miniatur Wunderland and 20,5 euros with the Maritimes Museum Hamburg Card discount.
- We bought a 45,5 day group card for 3 euros for the Hamburg Card, 22,75 euros per person.
- For eating and drinking, we had our breakfasts in the form of coffee + prezel or sandwiches at Le Crobag, one of the chain patisseries in Hamburg. Around 3-4 euros per person. We ate our lunch and dinner at the Christmas Markets. They came to around 5 euros. We paid 33 euros for total eating and drinking.
- Of course, we paid an international departure fee of 8 TL for 50 euros.
- Since we have a 1-year Schengen visa, we did not have any special visa costs for this trip.
The cost per person of our trip was 205,25 euros. I think it was a very convenient trip.
As I said at the beginning, Hamburg promises a lot, enjoy it.
A short version of this article was published in the February 2020 issue of Skyroad Magazine.