Hamburg
Hamburg, officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, is the second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and sixth-largest city in the European Union, with a population of over 1.9 million.
Hamburg, officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, is the second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and sixth-largest city in the European Union, with a population of over 1.9 million. The Hamburg Metropolitan Region has a population of over 5.1 million and is the tenth-largest metropolitan region by GDP in the European Union. At the base of the Jutland Peninsula, the 110 km (68 mi)-long Elbe estuary begins in Hamburg, at the confluence of the Alster and Bille. Hamburg is one of Germany's three city-states alongside Berlin and Bremen, and is surrounded by Schleswig-Holstein to the north and Lower Saxony to the south. The Port of Hamburg is Germany's largest and Europe's third-largest, after Rotterdam and Antwerp. The local dialect is a variant of Low Saxon.
Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Worth seeing in and around Hamburg
10 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.
- 01University of Hamburg
The University of Hamburg is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System, the Hamburg Colonial Institute, and the Academic College.
2 km · university in Hamburg, Germany · Wikipedia - 02Volksparkstadion
Volksparkstadion is a football stadium in Hamburg, Germany, with a capacity of 57,000, which makes it the eighth largest stadium in Germany. It has served as the home ground of Bundesliga side Hamburger SV since 1953.
7.9 km · football stadium in Hamburg, Germany · Wikipedia - 03Elbphilharmonie
The Elbphilharmonie, popularly nicknamed Elphi, is a concert hall in the HafenCity quarter of Hamburg, Germany, on the Grasbrook peninsula of the Elbe River. The new construction resembles a hoisted sail, water wave, iceberg or quartz crystal resting on top of an old brick warehouse near the historical Speicherstadt.
1.4 km · concert hall · Wikipedia - 04Chilehaus
The Chilehaus is a ten-story office building in Hamburg, Germany in the Kontorhaus District. It is an example of the 1920s Brick Expressionism style of architecture.
200 m · building in Hamburg, Germany · Wikipedia - 05Hamburger Kunsthalle
The Hamburger Kunsthalle is the art museum of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Germany. It is one of the largest art museums in the country.
600 m · art museum in Hamburg, Germany · Wikipedia - 06St. Nicholas Church, Hamburg
The Church of St. Nicholas is a Gothic Revival cathedral that was formerly one of the five Lutheran Hauptkirchen in the city of Hamburg, Germany.
700 m · church building in Altstadt (Hamburg), Germany · Wikipedia - 07Millerntor-Stadion
Millerntor-Stadion is a multi-purpose stadium in the St. Pauli area of Hamburg, Germany.
2.2 km · football stadium · Wikipedia - 08St. Michaelis Church, Hamburg
St. Michael's Church, colloquially called Michel, is one of Hamburg's five Lutheran main churches and one of the most famous churches in the city.
1.4 km · Lutheran church in Hamburg, Germany · Wikipedia - 09DESY
DESY, short for Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, is a national research centre for fundamental science located in Hamburg and Zeuthen near Berlin in Germany. It operates particle accelerators used to investigate the structure, dynamics and function of matter, and conducts a broad spectrum of interdisciplinary scientific research in four main areas: particle and high energy physics; photon science; astroparticle physics; and the development, construction and operation of particle accelerators.
8.5 km · physics research institute in Hamburg, Germany · Wikipedia - 10Tierpark Hagenbeck
The Tierpark Hagenbeck is a zoo in Stellingen, Hamburg, Germany. The collection began in 1863 with animals that belonged to Carl Hagenbeck Sr.
6.6 km · zoo in Hamburg, Germany · Wikipedia
Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.
What Wikivoyage says to see
The entirety of the city centre is worth walking throughout, as it is jam-packed with varied and truly interesting sights. Those range from the iconic Speicherstadt and Hamburg's five main historic churches, through the upscale area around the Binnenalster artificial lake and the town hall (Rathaus) to the ultra-modern Hafen-City.
From Wikivoyage: Hamburg, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Things to do
You can make a trip on the river Elbe with line 72 from Landungsbrücken to Elbphilharmonie, or line 62 via Museumshafen Oevelgönne to Finkenwerder, and line 64 to Teufelsbrück. Bicycles free of charge. Adults one trip €2.10, day card €8.20 (Apr 2026). The public ferries are part of the public transport system, meaning day tickets for buses, subway and interurban trains are valid for the ferries as well.
From Wikivoyage: Hamburg, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Where to eat
Original Hamburg dishes are Birnen, Bohnen und Speck (Low Saxon Beren, Bohnen un Speck, green runner beans cooked with pears and bacon), Aalsuppe (Low Saxon Aalsupp/Oolsupp, often mistaken to be German for “eel soup“ (Aal/Ool translated ‘eel’), however the name probably comes from the Low Saxon allens [ʔaˑlns], meaning “all”, “everything and the kitchen sink”, not necessarily eel.
From Wikivoyage: Hamburg, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Getting to Hamburg
- Airports
- Hamburg Helmut Schmidt (HAM), 9 km · Bremen (BRE), 98 km · Hannover (HAJ), 123 km
- Stations
- Hamburg Airport, 9 km · Port of Hamburg, 1.6 km · Hamburg Hauptbahnhof, 500 m · Miniatur Wunderland, 1 km · Hamburg-Altona station, 4.3 km
- Bremen → Hamburg95 km · quickest by road, 2h 4m · €12–17
- Hannover → Hamburg132 km · quickest by road, 2h 15m · €15–21
- Greven → Hamburg131 km · quickest by road, 2h 16m · €15–21
- Plan a tripFrom anywhereThe planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.
No local-transport research exists yet for Hamburg
Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Hamburg. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.
- Get inThe most likely places are the Hamburg Cruise Center Altona (near to the fish market) and the Hamburg Cruise Center HafenCity (next to the Unilever-Haus), check out the Hamburg Cruise Center home page There is a regular yet expensive ferry between Hamburg, Cuxhaven and Helgoland.
- Get inLübeck's port suburb Travemünde, about an hour away by train, is a major Baltic ferry port.
- Get inTo the east (A24-Berlin) and northeast (A1-Lübeck/Rostock/Puttgarden-ferry to Denmark), you can start at the "Horner-Kreisel" and take the number 261 bus from U-Burgstraße to U-S Barmbek (exit BAB-Auffahrt Horn or walk from U3-Rauhes Haus).
- Get around(2026) Urban rail lines in Hamburg]] Hamburg has an integrated public transportation system, operated by the HVV, which consists of six S-Bahn (commuter rail) lines, four U-Bahn (subway) lines, seven R-lines (regional trains), three A-lines (AKN), a dense network of bus lines and ferries across the Elbe.
- Get aroundTherefore, the HVV operates a fleet of ferries to connect the two banks of the Elbe.
From Wikivoyage: Hamburg, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us; that article was last edited 2026-09.
- 01327 km
- 02334 km
- 03834 km
- 04853 km
- 05944 km
If you know how people move in Hamburg – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.
Next door to Hamburg
Hamburg is 1 km from Hamburg-Mitte, the nearest large city, whose note carries the wider picture.
- Altonaborough of Hamburg, Germany4.4 km
- Eimsbüttelborough of Hamburg, Germany3.8 km
- Hamburg-Mittedistrict of Hamburg, Germany400 m
- HafenCityquarter in the district of Hamburg-Mitte in Hamburg, Germany1 km
- Wandsbekborough of Hamburg, Germany6.6 km
- Hamburg-Nordborough of Hamburg, Germany7.4 km