Connected to the North Sea by the Elbe River, Hamburg sits just a few miles up river from the busiest manmade waterway in the world – the Kiel Canal. Needless to say, Hamburg has a rich maritime history, and this is a city of superlatives on a worldwide scale. It has the most bridges at 2,300, six times as many as Venice. The Speicherstadt district, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is the largest complex of architecturally significant warehouses, and Miniatur Wunderland is the world’s largest model railroad and cityscape. Take a tour of the bustling harbor from Landungsbrücken, a floating dock in the St. Pauli area, where you’ll have an opportunity to see Hamburg’s newest attraction, the striking Elbphilharmonie symphony hall built on the waterfront in the old warehouse district. Or for a more serene boating experience, go out on Alster Lake, right in the heart of the city.
