Hamburg's harbour is the biggest in Germany and the second largest in Europe. Its promenade on Landungsbruecken has lots of fish restaurants and views of the bustle on the River Elbe. If you want to join a one-hour boat cruise, sign up with one of the men in a captain's jacket yelling: 'Hafen rundfahrt!' (harbour round trip). For something different, head to the Portuguese Quarter around Dietmar-Koel-Strasse, or pop into one of the area's Spanish or Italian bars.
3 Speicherstadt (Warehouse City)
Follow the whiff of roasted coffee and tropical spices to the east of the promenade and you'll reach the Speicherstadt. Its red-brick buildings (dating from 1885 to 1888) are still used to store coffee, tea, spices and Oriental carpets, and there are several small museums dedicated to Hamburg's maritime legacy in the area. The Spice Museum (
www.spicys.de) hints at exotic voyages, while Miniatur Wunderland (
www.miniatur-wunderland.de) boasts the world's largest model railway. Not far from the Afghan Museum (
www.afghanisches-museum.de), built by a local Afghan merchant, is the horror house Hamburg Dungeon (
www.hamburgdungeon.com) - a party and corporate events venue.
4 Rathaus
This 19th-century, predominantly neo-renaissance-style city hall (
www.rathaus.hamburg.de) is the focal point of the Moeckenbergstrasse shopping district and the backdrop for the Christmas market and other festivals in the city square. The Hygeia Fountain, dedicated to the Greek goddess of health, can be found in a rear piazza. Guided tours of the Rathaus are available daily.
5 Nikolaikirche
A charred steeple is almost all that remains of St Nikolai's Church (Ost-West-Strasse 60,
www.mahnmal-st-nikolai.de), named after the patron saint of sailors. Destroyed by allied bombing, the neo-gothic spire now serves as an anti-war monument. A glass lift takes visitors to a 76-metre-high platform at its top for panoramic city views, and the crypt is now an exhibition hall dedicated to the renunciation of violence.
6 Reeperbahn
The Reeperbahn red-light area is as rowdy as it was when the Beatles frequented it in the 1960s. Two of the Fab Four's haunts were the Club Indra and the Kaiserkeller, both of which still offer live music nightly. A few chic bars have cropped up in the area, but if you're post-partying, stop for your last beer - or first coffee and wurst - at nearby St Pauli Fischmarkt, if you can stand the vendors' bellowing. It's open every Sunday morning from 5am to 10am.
7 Alster Lakes
The Small, Inner and Outer Alster Lakes are the heart of the city, and their boat rentals, ferry trips and waterside restaurants are busy. People-watchers can go to the Venetian-inspired Alster Arcades, next to the Kleine Alster, which overlooks the Rathaus. The banks of the Inner Alster offer spectacular views of the surrounding neo-renaissance buildings, while Hamburg's rich live on the shores of the Outer Alster, which is ringed by a leafy 7km promenade.
8 Parks
In the Planten un Blomen (
www.plantenunblomen.hamburg.de), you can walk from the harbour at Landungsbruecken to Dammtor in the northeastern part of town. Attractions include the rose, herbal, tropical and Japanese gardens. Jenisch Park, in the smart Blankenesse neighbourhood, is distinguished by a vast meadow and tall ancient trees. The Ernst Barlach Haus Museum is dedicated to the eponymous sculptor.
9 Bohemian neighbourhoods
One of Hamburg's most chic addresses is Ottensen in Altona, which was ruled by the Danes from 1664 to 1864. Formerly populated by blue-collar workers, Turks and political activists, it's the haunt of immigrants, punks, students and artists, and peppered with speciality shops, cafes and restaurants, especially in the cobblestoned streets around Altona railway station. The recent emergence of restaurants and boutiques suggests gentrification is also in progress at Karolinenviertel and Schanzenvierte.
10Art Mile
In the area around the Haupt-bahnhof Station, known as the Art Mile, you'll find galleries and museums such as the Hamburger Kunsthalle (
www.hamburger-kunsthalle.de), which exhibits 19th-century and contemporary works. The Museum fuer Kunst and Gewerbe (Art and Craft Museum;
www.mkg-hamburg.de) offers applied art and design, and the 6,000-square-metre Deichtorhallen (
www.deichtorhallen.de), once a market hall, shows contemporary art and photography.
