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Cap San Diego
At the piers at Hamburg's port, you'll find the 10,000-tonne Cap San Diego. It hosts some interesting temporary exhibitions on immigration and shipping.
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Chilehaus
For some visitors the city's most remarkable building isn't the Rathaus, but another that lies south in the Merchant's District. The brown-brick Chilehaus is shaped like an ocean liner, with remarkable curved walls meeting in the shape of a ship's bow and staggered balconies to look like decks.
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Condomerie
People gather outside the Condomerie , with its extensive collection of prophylactics and sex toys. They're usually gawping at the gargantuan (and nowadays slightly grubby) condom in the window, to which the shop owner has appended a €100 gift voucher offer to any gentleman who can properly fit it. They say the prize has been awarded twice. Ouch.
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Davidwache
South of the Reeperbahn stands the Davidwache. This brick building, festooned with ornate ceramic tiles, is the base for 150 police who maintain St Pauli's reputation as the safest area in Hamburg.
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Deichtorhallen
The converted market halls of the wonderful Deichtorhallen show international touring exhibitions of contemporary art - Warhol, Lichtenstein, Haring etc - as well as photography by Helmut Newton, Annie Leibowitz and other prominent shooters.
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Dialog im Dunkeln
A pitch-black journey with a blind guide through re-created natural and urban landscapes gives a memorable impression of what it's like not to see.
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Elbmeile
In the last few years, Hamburg's western riverfront, from Altona to Övelgönne, has metamorphosed into one of Germany's hottest dining scenes. None of the restaurants along the so-called 'Elbmeile' (Elbe Mile) has been awarded a Michelin star (at least not at the time of writing). However, the sheer concentration of eateries and the setting - sometimes stunning, sometimes laughably industrial, sometimes both - is certainly memorable.
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Elbphilharmonie
The squat brown-brick former warehouse at the far west of HafenCity is being transformed into the new Elbphilharmonie. Pritzker prize-winning Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron are responsible for the design, which, like their Tate Modern building in London, boasts a glass top.
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Erotic Art Museum
The Erotic Art Museum does exactly what it says on the tin: presents erotic art from S&M to (mainly) soft porn.
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Fischmarkt
The Fischmarkt has been a Hamburg institution since 1703 and still defines the city's life and spirit. In the wee hours of Sunday morning a fleet of small trucks roars onto the cobbled pavement and hardy types with hands the size of baseball gloves emerge to artfully arrange fresh fruits, seafood and plant matter for trading.
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Grosse Freiheit
Just north of the S-Bahn station is the Grosse Freiheit . Grosse Freiheit literally means 'great freedom' street, an apt name with its bright lights, dark doorways and live sex nightclubs. Smarmy doormen try to lure the passing crowd into clubs; if you're interested, ask about the conditions of entry.
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Hamburg Kunsthalle
Behind the green cupola and columns that dominate Glockengiesserwall awaits the famed Kunsthalle , consisting of two buildings linked by a underground passage. The main building houses works from medieval portraiture to 20th-century classics, such as Klee, Kokoschka and Munch. There's also a memorable room of 19th-century landscapes by Caspar David Friedrich.
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Harry's Hamburger Hafenbasar
This shop-cum-museum-cum-whatever is the life's work of the late, great Harry Rosenberg, a bearded character famous with seamen around the globe for his intense collecting of worldly souvenirs. The result is this curio-crammed shop that is free to visit as long as you buy something, which is easy if you're in the market for a set of Zulu drums.
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Herbertstrasse
Some 50m south along Davidstrasse in Reeperbahn, you'll see a painted tin wall on the right. This bars views into Herbertstrasse, a block-long bordello that's off-limits to men under 18 and to women of all ages.
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Krameramtswohnungen
Below St Michaeliskirche, in a tiny alley off Krayenkamp 10, are the Krameramtswohnungen , a row of tiny half-timbered houses from the 17th century that, for nearly 200 years, were almshouses for the widows of members of the Guild of Small Shopkeepers. Taken over by the city in 1863, they became seniors' homes until 1969 and are now just a tourist attraction. Only one home is a museum; others are shops or restaurants.
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Kunsthalle
The Hamburger Kunsthalle consists of two buildings - one old, one new- linked by a memorable underground passage. The main building houses works ranging from medieval portraiture to 20th-century classics, such as Klee, Kokoschka and Munch. There's also a memorable room of 19th-century landscapes by Caspar David Friedrich.
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Kunstmeile
Keep an eye out for special exhibitions in the museums along Hamburg's Kunstmeile, extending from Glockengiesserwall to Deichtorstrasse between the Alster lakes and the Elbe. In particular, the converted market halls of the wonderful Deichtorhallen show international touring exhibitions of contemporary art as well as photography.
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Museum der Arbeit
The Museum der Arbeit chronicles the development of the workplace in the Hamburg area, with a focus on the changing rights and roles of working men and women. There's also a section on printing, appropriate for this media city. The museum is on the grounds of the former New York-Hamburg Rubber Company.
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Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte
The Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte is a bit of a boy's own dream. It's chock-full of intricate ship models, has a large model-train set (only open at certain times; ring ahead) and even includes the actual bridge of the steamship Werner , which you can clamber over. Furthermore, it chronicles the city's evolution, revealing little titbits about its Masonic societies and the fact that the Reeperbahn was once the home of ropemakers ( 'Reep ' means rope). Most exhibits have English annotations.
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Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe
The Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe has posters, ornaments and temporary exhibitions that are always lots of fun. Its vast collection of sculpture, furniture, jewellery, porcelain, musical instruments and household objects runs the gamut from Italian to Islamic, from Japanese to Viennese and from medieval to pop art eye-candy.
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Museum für Völkerkunde
The Museum of Ethnology demonstrates sea-going Hamburg's acute awareness of the outside world. The exhibits themselves are stunning, particularly the domed room at the top of the entrance hall's steps, with its carved wooden canoes and giant sculptures from Papua New Guinea.
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Planten un Blomen
Close to the centre is the much-loved Planten un Blomen, a landscaped park where there are water and light displays in summer.
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Port of Hamburg
Each year about 12,000 ships deliver and take on millions of tonnes of goods here. The port accounts for 12 percent of Hamburg's entire surface area. Two vessels that aren't going anywhere are the 1896 windjammer Rickmer Rickmers , which now serves as a museum and restaurant, and the Cap San Diego , a behemoth built in Hamburg during the 1960s.
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Rathaus
Hamburg's baroque Rathaus is one of Europe's most opulent, renowned for the Emperor's Hall and the Great Hall, with its spectacular coffered ceiling. Indeed, there are 647 rooms here, but the guided 40-minute tours only take in a small number. North of the Rathaus, you can wander through the Alsterarkaden, the elegant Renaissance-style arcades sheltering shops and cafés alongside a canal.
