Things to do in Hamburg

Landmark · Harbour

The world's largest warehouse district, built on oak piles in neo-Gothic brick, now a UNESCO site beside Europe's biggest inner-city development project.

Local tip: Walk the Speicherstadt canals at night when the brick is floodlit — it is genuinely spectacular and free. The Elbphilharmonie Plaza viewing level is also free with a timed ticket, separate from any concert.

Nature · Central

A lake in the middle of the city with a seven-kilometre path around it, sailing clubs, and swans that the city moves indoors each winter.

Local tip: The loop is the city's shared running route and the best introduction to Hamburg. In hard winters the lake freezes and, when the ice is officially declared safe, the whole city walks out onto it — an event that happens perhaps once a decade.

Nightlife · St. Pauli

Europe's most famous entertainment district, with a football club that functions as a political statement and the Beatles' formative years attached.

Local tip: The Reeperbahn itself is touristy; the interesting bars are on the side streets and in the Schanzenviertel next door. The Sunday Fischmarkt at 5am is where the night ends rather than where the day begins.

Nature · Central

A large park between the centre and the Messe, with a Japanese garden and free evening water-and-light shows in summer.

Local tip: The Wasserlichtkonzerte run nightly in summer and are free, and almost no visitor knows about them. The tropical greenhouses are free too and a genuine refuge in a Hamburg February.

Neighborhood · West, along the Elbe

A former fishing village of steep stepped lanes above the river, with a genuine sand beach where container ships pass a few hundred metres away.

Local tip: Take the HADAG ferry rather than the S-Bahn — it is part of the public transport network, so a normal ticket covers what is effectively a harbour cruise. The Treppenviertel's lanes have no roads, only steps.

Nature · North

The largest rural cemetery in the world at nearly 400 hectares, with its own bus routes running through woodland, ponds and sculpture.

Local tip: Two public bus lines run inside it, which tells you the scale. It functions as a park — people walk, cycle and picnic — and in spring the rhododendrons are extraordinary. Almost no visitor ever goes.