Things to do in Hamburg
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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.
Admission tends to be fairly low, but it's the mandatory drink minimum that drives up the cost. Ask at the bar how much drinks cost; we've heard reports of people being charged nearly €100 for a couple of watery cocktails.
As for Reeperbahn itself, even those not interested in strip shows usually pay a quick trip to Hamburg's vast red-light thoroughfare of the Reeperbahn ju…
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Süllberg Hill
Once, a former fishing village and haven for cut-throats, the suburb Blankenese now boasts some of the finest and most expensive houses in Germany. For visitors, the area's attraction lies in its hillside labyrinth of narrow, cobbled streets, with a network of 58 stairways (4864 steps in total!) connecting them.
The best views of the Elbe (nearly 3km wide here) and the container ships putting out to sea are enjoyed from the 75m-high Süllberg hill (head through the restaurant at the summit). Getting off bus 48 at Weseberg - having passed the clutch of beachfront restaurants and cafés and reached the summit of the following hill - you'll see a sign pointing to the nearby Sü…
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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.
To the west of St Pauli, a sturdy grey structure is topped by a giant copper cupola. This striking piece of architecture is the entrance to the St Pauli Elbtunnel, a 426m (1400ft) passage under the river, built in 1911.
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Elbphilharmonie
A squat brown-brick former warehouse is being transformed into the new Elbphilharmonie, due for completion by 2012. 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. This time, however, they're being far more ambitious, as the glass facade should be taller than its brick base and the roof line will rise in wavelike peaks to reflect the waterfront location.
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Tierpark Hagenbeck
Hamburgers prefer not to call Tierpark Hagenbeck a zoo. That's because its 2500 animals live in very open enclosures over 27 hectares. In addition to elephants, tigers, orang-utans, toucans and other creatures, you'll find a replica Nepalese temple, Japanese garden, art-deco gate and other similar attractions. A petting zoo, pony rides, a miniature railway and playground mean you'll have to drag the kids away at the end of the day.
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Le Canard Nouveau
Turkish-born chef Ali Güngörmüs has deservedly claimed a Michelin star for his intricate dishes, such as turbot with polenta soufflé, duck with apple-ginger purée, and chocolate cake with rhubarb jelly, marinated strawberries and honey-and-sour-cream ice cream. Definitely book ahead. Güngörmüs also runs regular cooking classes, which cost €200 for five hours, including meal and wines.
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Café Paris
Within a spectacularly tiled 1882 butchers' hall and adjoining art-deco salon, this elegant yet relaxed brasserie serves classical French fare like croque-monsieur (toasted ham-and-cheese sandwich), croque-madame (the same, but with a fried egg), and steak tartare (minced meat, but pan-fried, not raw). Its breakfast for two (€23.90) is a veritable feast.
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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. There are no fewer than 647 rooms here, but the guided 40-minute tours only take in a small number.
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Musikhalle
The premier address for classical concerts is this splendid neobaroque edifice, home to the State Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. Along with the opera house, it's now artistically directed by the world's leading female conductor, Australian Simone Young.
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Fischereihafen
Traditional and incredibly elegant, Fischereihafen serves some of Hamburg's finest fish, including regional specialities, to a mature, well-heeled clientele. Its 1st-floor, subtly maritime-themed dining room overlooks the Elbe.
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Miniatur-Wunderland
Kids and trainspotters will delight at this, the world's largest model railway, with astonishing recreations of recognisable landmarks. In busy times, prepurchase your ticket online to skip the queues.
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Fleetschlösschen
One of the cutest cafes you ever saw, this former customs post overlooks a Speicherstadt canal and has a narrow, steel spiral staircase to the toilets. There's barely room for 20 inside, but its outdoor seating areas are brilliant in sunny weather. The owner's collection of Kleinods (small treasures) includes centuries-old Dutch pottery unearthed during the construction of HafenCity.
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Top-Tour Hamburg
As with boats, there is a confusing array of bus tours, although these aren't quite such a quintessential Hamburg experience. Top-Tour Hamburg offers a choice of four tours, the most popular being the eponymous Top-Tour. This passes all the leading sights in a double-decker bus during jump-on, jump-off 1½-hour sightseeing tours.
You can board at the Kirchenallee exit of the train station and Landungsbrücken, plus the Rathaus, St Michaeliskirche, the Reeperbahn or Speicherstadt. Commentary is in German and English.
Also check out HHB or ask the tourist office about other deals.
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Lago Bay
Lago Bay is wedged between Hamburg del Mar (which looks like a pirates' cove with its famous St Pauli skull-and-crossbones flags) and Hamburg City Beach Club (with its Moroccan lounge). Refreshingly, you can actually swim at this chic retreat. Sun-loungers are arranged around the outdoor pool, while free exercise classes will help you keep fit, er, between cocktails.
S-Bahn Königstrasse will get you here, or catch bus 112 to Hafentreppe/Fischmarkt and walk for five minutes straight ahead or west from Hafentreppe; downhill from Fischmarkt to the riverbank and then right or west.
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Museum Für Hamburgische Geschichte
East of the Reeperbahn, the kid-friendly (and kid-at-heart-friendly) Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte is chock-full of intricate ship models, has a large model train set (only open at certain times; check ahead), and even the actual bridge of the steamship Werner, which you can clamber over. As it chronicles the city's evolution, it reveals titbits such as the fact that the Reeperbahn was once the home of rope makers ( Reep means 'rope'). There's a reduced admission price of €6.50 for ticket-holders to Miniatur-Wunderland.
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Chilehaus
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 that look like decks. Designed by architect Fritz Höger for a merchant who derived his wealth from trading with Chile, the 1924 building is a leading example of German expressionist architecture. It's situated alongside other so-called 'Backsteingotik' buildings ( Backstein refers to a specially glazed brick; gotik means 'Gothic').
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Die Bank
The banking industry no longer has the cachet it once did, but don't let that dissuade you from dining in this 1st-floor former bank. Flanked by magnificent marble columns and gleaming timber, and opening onto a large terrace, the finance theme continues in the outsize sepia-toned photos of piles of coins, and 'banker's platters' (prawns, crabs, more prawns and lobster), as well as rich dishes like truffle-infused veal, which you can check out on the computerised menu at street level.
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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.
The shop is now run by Rosenberg's daughter; ask her about insider tours, in English, of the secrets of the St Pauli district.
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Museum für Völkerkunde
The newly refurbished, Museum für Völkerkunde demonstrates seafaring Hamburg's acute awareness of the outside world. Modern artefacts from Africa, Asia and the South Pacific are displayed alongside traditional masks, jewellery, costumes and musical instruments, including carved wooden canoes and giant sculptures from Papua New Guinea, and a complete, intricately carved Maori meeting hall. The approach is refreshingly respectful of the cultures it presents.
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Golden Cut
Hamburg scenesters love this restaurant for three reasons. Firstly, the well-executed menu runs the gamut from carrot-coconut soup with baked black tiger prawns in tempura to French black pudding with truffles. Secondly, patrons can show off in the high-ceilinged room with its olive-green leather chairs and copper-plated leaf chandeliers. Thirdly, and most importantly, they can bypass the strict person on the door and walk straight into the exclusive adjoining club.
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International Maritime Museum
The centrepiece is the new International Maritime Museum. It takes 10 floors to house this, the world's largest private collection of maritime treasures. Professor Peter Tamm Sr has amassed an astonishing 26,000 model ships, 50,000 construction plans, 5000 illustrations, 2000 films, 1.5 million photographs and much more, including innumerable nautical devices, uniforms, military and other objects documenting 3000 years of maritime history.
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Das Weisse Haus
A converted fisherman's cottage, the 'White House' is (unlike its US namesake) surprisingly cramped, given its status as a major culinary player. Diners book a month ahead to submit themselves to 'surprise' dinners (vegetarian and other dietary requirements can be accommodated to a limited degree). Lunch is a simpler, à la carte affair, but reservations are still advised. The best seats among the artfully low-key rooms are in the front winter garden.
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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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Museum Für Kunst und Gewerbe
The Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe isn't quite so exalted, but is still lots of fun. Its vast collection of sculpture, furniture, fashion, jewellery, posters, porcelain, musical instruments and household objects runs the gamut from Italian to Islamic, Japanese to Viennese and medieval to pop art, and includes an art-nouveau salon from the 1900 Paris World Fair. The museum cafe is integrated into the exhibition space.
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Ti Breizh
Once you get past the souvenir shop selling striped Breton sailors' tops, there's some cool, contemporary Breton artwork on the walls of this canalside restaurant. You can wash down galettes (savoury crêpes, made from buckwheat), such as a Brocéliande (Roquefort cheese and walnuts), and sweet crêpes, like Morgane (caramelised apples and chestnut cream), with Dan Armor Breton cider. Yec'hed mat (cheers) !
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