Hamburg
A city full of highlights
© Mediaserver Hamburg
Whether it’s the harbour, our concert hall the Elbphilharmonie or the Reeperbahn – Hamburg is a city where you can experience a lot! Today we would like to take you to some highlights and hotspots that you can – and should – only experience in Hamburg!
As a proud commercial metropolis, Hamburg has always cultivated its own style over the years, which can be felt everywhere in the city today. Always mindful of the city’s reputation but not of lavish ostentation, you will find sophisticated corners and buildings as well as down-to-earth, lively districts.
Hamburg always remains true to itself – with typical Hanseatic understatement and North German flair.
© Karsten Bergmann/Pixabay
Our World Heritage and Modernity
It towers like a lighthouse in the middle of HafenCity. Our landmark, the Elbphilharmonie. The building’s curved roof reflects the wave motion of the Elbe, the concert halls have hosted nearly every first-class orchestra in the world, and the view over the harbour and city thrills millions of visitors.
The Elbphilharmonie is not only the city’s cultural centre of attraction, but also shines as a symbol of Hamburg visible from afar. Anyone standing in front of the concert hall inevitably finds themselves in one of the most exciting, modern and at the same time one of the most traditional corners of the city. The area around the Elbphilharmonie combines all three of these attributes in an inimitable way. Because this is where contrasts, that you perhaps cannot experience like this in any other city, meet.
On the one hand, we have the Speicherstadt, which has been officially listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2015. The City of Warehouses is the largest contiguous historic warehouse complex in the world. You can feel history at every corner here.
For centuries, coffee, tasty spices, carpets and exotic goods from all over the world were stored in the Speicherstadt. Today, the numerous brick buildings still serve as warehouses, but in the meantime you will also find numerous companies and exciting incentives that blow a breath of fresh air into our cultural heritage.
HafenCity adjoins the Speicherstadt directly. Hamburg’s youngest district nestles ideally – despite its rather modern appearance – next to the Speicherstadt, which is steeped in history. HafenCity is considered Europe’s largest inner-city urban development project and serves as a model for the new sustainable European city on the waterfront. Hamburg – tradition meets modernity.
© Karsten Bergmann/Pixabay
Our city centre
Hamburg’s city centre is wonderfully interwoven with canals and rivers. Situated directly on the Lake Alster, it offers shopping fans a true paradise. In addition to numerous flagship stores and exciting retail concepts, Hamburg’s city centre has an appearance that shows Hamburg’s history. For example, Hamburg’s town hall, which sits enthroned like a kind of castle between Jungfernstieg and Mönckebergstraße.
Since 1897, the town hall has been the seat of the Senate and the Parliament of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. The Alster arcades connect the Rathausmarkt with the Jungfernstieg. Originally, the Jungfernstieg was filled in as a dam in the Middle Ages in order to operate a grain mill with the help of the dammed-up course of the river.
With the planting of trees, a promenade was created in the city centre in the 17th century, which was used above all on Sundays to take out the unmarried daughters of respected Hanseatic citizens. This kind of bridal show eventually gave the street its name – Jungfernstieg means „Maiden Street“ in english.
In 1838, the street was the first in Germany to be asphalted. Today, the Jungfernstieg offers a view of the fountain in the Binnenalster and the Alster ships that depart from here for round trips and sightseeing tours.
© Mediaserver Hamburg / Konstantin Beck
Our entertainment districts
Hamburg pulsates. Trendy districts, cultural hotspots, lively hustle and bustle. This is what characterises the areas of St. Pauli and Sternschanze. A little red light, a little alternative flair, a lot of life! The Reeperbahn is famous (and infamous) because of many aspects.
One of the most famous stories is certainly that of the Beatles, who took their first serious steps on stage on Hamburg’s “Kiez”. Indra, Star Club, Kaiserkeller are keywords that make music fans’ hearts beat faster.
Even today, the St. Pauli district, although it is actually a normal residential area, is still characterised by music, culture and hip clubs. Numerous theatres, stages and live concert venues form the lively heart of subculture in Hamburg.
In the immediate vicinity, the Schanzenviertel stretches from the Millerntor Stadium of FC St. Pauli to the “Schulterblatt”, a street named after an old inn that used a whale’s shoulder blade as its signboard. Cafés, restaurants and pubs rub shoulders with record shops, trendy or unusual shops and a young hip crowd.
Despite the fact that the Schanzenviertel is one of the hipper districts in Hamburg, the traditional and maritime flair still resonates here, as the old pub with the whalebone in front of the door probably already exuded.
PHOTO © MEDIASERVER HAMBURG/KONSTANTIN BECK
© Karsten Bergmann/Pixabay
Our city coast
We love the ships, the sea and the harbour – we can only subscribe to these lines from a Hamburg hip hop band. You can probably feel this love most at the water, because that’s where we are at home. Directly on the water is “on the Elbe”. A view that probably every Hamburger knows is the one over the Landungsbrücken, directly onto the lifeline of our city.
A backdrop that always gives even the most hardened Hamburg water rats goose bumps on their arms. The picture shows the Elbphilharmonie upstream, the dome of the old Elbe tunnel on the right, and the eye wanders on over the well-known and mighty docks of Blohm and Voss, ending at the fish market and the Altona fish auction hall.
The area around the Landungsbrücken is lined with cranes and numerous ships. Among them are well-known museum ships like the „Cap San Diego“ or the three masted ship „Rickmer Rickmers“. Along the clamour of seagulls, ideally with fish sandwiches and a cool beer in our hands, we quickly reach the Speicherstadt again on foot.
It’s clear that Hamburg is an excellent city to explore on foot. However, if we continue downstream along our “city coast”, beautiful beaches present themselves that you wouldn’t expect in the middle of the city. Heart, what more do you want? Small beach cafés and beach clubs, for example? Of course we have them too, don’t worry!
You can’t tell Hamburg stories, you have to experience Hamburg. This sentence is a promise! Because it assures that the MICE destination Hamburg offers more than excellent meeting and congress facilities. Our city wants to be experienced after a business meeting. We have the possibilities. We promise!
