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Hamburg

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Hamburg
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Hamburg Travel Guide

  • About Hamburg
Although it’s several more miles before the mighty Elbe empties itself into the North Sea, Hamburg has all the atmosphere and attributes of a busy harbour town.Hamburg’s status as a heaving international port has seen it labelled as the so-called “gateway to the world”, and the description certainly sits well with somewhere constantly awhirl with different cultural flavours.Hamburg is the second largest metropolis in Germany and has every ounce of the grit and character that this would suggest.Aesthetically, it’s less like Berlin and Munich and more akin to northern European capitals such as Amsterdam and Copenhagen. All are cities set on water (Hamburg in fact has more bridges than Amsterdam or Venice), and many of its buildings stand along quaysides and canals. It’s also Germany’s greenest city, with a full two thirds of its area dedicated to parkland or lakes.Away from the greenery though, Hamburg can change at the turn of a corner. This was where the Beatles nurtured their talents in the early 1960s, playing the dingy clubs of the notorious Reeperbahn red-light district. The area still draws visitors in large numbers – Hamburg’s nightlife and live music scene are both renowned today. Elsewhere, you’ll find moneyed waterside neighbourhoods, colourful fish markets and a handsome spread of period buildings. This is, after all, somewhere that was declared a Free Imperial City more than 500 years ago.Today, the city’s most popular visitor attractions form an appropriately diverse collection. They range from the impressive concert hall Elbphilharmonie which is already Hamburg’s new landmark, the Miniatur Wunderland, a colossal model railway that continues to be expanded, to Hamburg Zoo, open since 1863 and notable for using moats in place of barred cages. Elsewhere, theatres, museums and lakeside walks all add to the city’s all-round appeal.It’s a fantastic place to eat and a great place to cycle – a city where street art meets summer beaches and electronic music meets edgy architecture. To say Hamburg is rarely boring is something of an understatement.
  • Hamburg History
The ‘Hammaburg’ was the name given to a fortified structure, complete with moat, that was first built here by Saxons between the Elbe and Alster Rivers in AD825. The fortress was raided and burnt by marauding Vikings on numerous occasions over the next century, but as the nearby town of Lübeck flourished to become a major regional power, Hamburg, perfectly located 100km (62 miles) from the mouth of the Elbe, gladly donned the mantle of North Sea port and trading post. Commerce then took over as Hamburg’s principle function, and has remained so to this day.By the end of the Middle Ages, Hamburg was really coming into its own as a major economic power in Northern Europe, developing an independent infrastructure, including its own stock exchange and bank.As a fortified and protected city always careful to adopt a politically neutral stance, Hamburg continued to prosper while war and conflict debilitated many other parts of Europe. In fact, Hamburg was further bolstered by a profusion of Dutch seafaring merchants who immigrated to the Elbe region during the ’80-year war’ for religious independence, which ravaged the Netherlands during the late 16th and early 17th centuries.However, this thriving city-state could not escape the clutches of Napoleon, and was annexed into part of the French Empire in 1810. Yet this was short-lived, as the Emperor was overthrown five years later, and by 1819 the newly titled ‘free and hanseatic city of Hamburg’ was enjoying business as usual.Hamburg concentrated on broadening and developing its trading connections across the globe, including Africa, South America and the Far East, and the harbour city expanded dramatically to accommodate new trade, swallowing up many small villages on the southern banks of the Elbe.Yet Hamburg’s more recent history has been less rosy. Fire destroyed a quarter of the city centre in 1842, and a firestorm started by Allied bombing during WWII totally eradicated the eastern half of Hamburg, which took another 20 years to rebuild.Today, however, the city that’s also the continent’s second largest port continues to enjoy its centuries-old tradition of economic good fortune.
  • Did you know?
Hamburg has 2,300 bridges – more than Amsterdam and Venice combined. Opened in 1907, the city’s zoo, Tierpark Hagenbeck, has no cages. Instead, animals freely roam in open enclosures surrounded by moats. The Beatles regularly performed in different clubs in Hamburg between 1960-62 before achieving worldwide fame.
  • Weather in Hamburg
Hamburg has a maritime temperate climate.Spring (March to May) start off cold with an average temperatures of 4°C (39°F), reaching to a comfortable 12°C (54°F) by May when the city celebrates Port Anniversary (Hafengeburtstag Hamburg) along the banks of River Elbe. This is a fantastic time to visit Hamburg.Summer (June to August) is warm, which consequently marks the main tourist season. August is the warmest month with average high temperatures reaching 22°C (72°F). August is also the best month to go swimming in the ocean.Autumn (September to November) is pleasant. In October, the average temperature is 10°C (50°F) and it has about 10 rainy days.Winter (December to February) is cold in Hamburg, although it is getting milder due to global warming. Christmas is a picturesque and atmospheric time in the city; the average temperature is 2°C (36°F) in December and sometimes you can skate on the city’s frozen lakes. January is usually the coldest month.

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