Going ashore
Much of the old town was bombed in World War II but Deichstrasse and Peterstrasse have fine restored architecture. The vast,Renaissance-style town hall is stupendous. The Kunsthalle is one of Germany’s best art museums,especially for works from the German Romantics,French Impressionists and 20th-century artists such as Picasso and Warhol. Wallringpark incorporates botanical and Japanese gardens. If you have children,Carl Hagenbeck’s Tiergarten is one of Europe’s best zoos.
Don’t miss
Speicherstadt’s former warehouses line the canal.Credit:iStock
The harbour front,as if you could – 19th-century Speicherstadt has splendid,turreted red-brick warehouses along canals,now converted to fashion boutiques and cafes. Further on is Europe’s biggest urban redevelopment,HafenCity,with eye-catching buildings from some of the world’s top architects,not least the jagged Elbphilharmonie cultural centre,which looks like a melting iceberg.
Get active
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Long waterfront promenades are easily walked,jogged or cycled,and you don’t have to look far to find red public bicycles from the StadtRAD rental system. The popular jogging circuit around city-centre Aussenalster lake takes you 7.6 kilometres. Although a little out of town,quirky Blankeneser Treppenvierte or Stairs Quarter is a leafy residential suburb with great views over the Elbe,crisscrossed by 58 footpaths with 4864 steps to give limbs and lungs a workout.
Best bites
Seafood features prominently on Hamburg menus:oysters,lobster,and fish such as turbot and sole. Eel soup is a local specialty. The city’s signature dish,Labskaus,is made from herring accompanied by potatoes,pickles,onion and cured meat. Many of Hamburg’s best restaurants are found in Altona district. Its Sunday fish market has been running since 1703. Fischereihafen is perhaps the best seafood restaurant:the specialty is grilled turbot with salmon mousse. Landhaus Scherrer features innovative northern-German cuisine such as roast goose and duck,fish dishes and stuffed oxtail.
Further afield
Those interested in seeing the working bowels of a major harbour can take one-hour boat tours along the Elbe River. Some cruises offer excursions to Berlin,but that involves a six-hour round trip by coach,so reconsider your options,especially as Hamburg itself is worth seeing. An alternative to Berlin is Lubeck only an hour’s drive away – an attractive,UNESCO-listed Hanseatic League old town set amid waterways.