Places/Germany

Hamburg

Hamburg

A port city of warehouses, water and weather. Not a smaller Berlin, and not a fairy tale.

Hamburg made its money on the river and still behaves like a port: practical, brick, and serious about a proper lunch. The Speicherstadt is brick warehouses and canals, handsome in a working way.

It rains. That is not a reason to skip it. It is a reason to have a museum or a long café in the plan.

See

• The warehouse district

  Walk the canals in the morning. The Elbphilharmonie is a building you may enter for the view if you booked, and a skyline if you did not.

• The harbour

  A short boat if the weather is clear, or the promenade if it is not. The port is the subject, not a backdrop.

• The Alster

  The inner lake is the city’s polite face. Walk it once so the port is not your only idea of Hamburg.

• A neighbourhood evening

  Sternschanze for dinner. Leave the Reeperbahn unless that specific night is why you came.