Port of Hamburg: Gateway to the world

Hamburg’s modern HafenCity

This ever developing city quarter with its exemplary modern architecture is located in the Hamburg-Mitte district and is home to offices, hotels, shops and official buildings as well as residential developments. The HafenCity project has been dubbed an ‘urban regeneration’ since the old port buildings were redeveloped into a new and thriving part of the city. It is one of the largest rebuilding projects in Europe and you can explore it at your leisure. HafenCity is eaily accessible by bus, train and ferry or simply by foot. The area is home to some of the city's most important landmarks such as the Marco Polo Tower, a beautifully designed residential building, or the newly built Elbphilharmonie, an ultra modern concert hall overlooking the river Elbe. Explore every aspect of the incredible HafenCity when you visit the Port of Hamburg.

Hamburg’s historic Speicherstadt

North of the ultra modern HafenCity lies its beautifully contrasting counterpart the Speicherstadt, which is the world’s largest warehouse district. Built between 1883 and 1927, the Speicherstadt is a historic part of the Port of Hamburg. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is a city quarter in which buildings stand on timber pile foundations, allowing canals to flow around them and also allowing the warehouses to be entered both from water and by land. The buildings were used in the past to store goods such as cocoa, coffee, tea and spices. Since it is one of Hamburg’s most important tourist locations there are a variety of things to do including museums such as the German Customs Museum and the Miniatur Wunderland, a model railway museum. Guided boat tours of the canals are also available. Most of these tours depart from the St. Pauli Piers, also known as the Landungsbrucken, and traveling through the neo-Gothic architecture by water is an unforgettable experience, You can even explore this historic location by foot either by day or at night when hundreds of spotlights illuminate the buildings and canals.

Hamburg’s Landungsbrücken

The Landungsbrücken, also known as the St. Pauli Piers, is Hamburg’s largest river landing place and a major attraction in the Port of Hamburg. This area of the city is the centre of public transportation with various train, bus and ferry terminals. It is also home to numerous restaurants, cafés and departure points for ferries. Here you can take a ferry and travel to a number of destinations throughout the Port of Hamburg, including the Altona Fish Market, Teufelsbrück and Finkenwerder. At the end of your journey you can take the Finkenwerder ferry right back to where you started, on the way viewing the city’s immense container port. You can also visit the Old Elbe Tunnel, a pedestrian and vehicle tunnel under the river Elbe which was built in 1911.

Hamburg’s legendary fish market

Visit Hamburg’s famous fish market located in the Altona district of the city. Around 36,000 tons of fresh fish are processed annually, accounting for 14% of all fish processed in Germany. Over 70 000 visitors a year visit the fish market which takes place every Sunday from 05:00 to 09:30 in the summer and from 07:00 to 09:30 in the winter. In addition to fish you can also buy a wide variety of food, flowers, clothing and household goods at this weekly market. Many Hamburg residents get up early in the morning to ensure that they have a good choice of the products for sale at the market, using public transportation including trains and busses to reach the location.

Author: Ricardo Carvalho

Guest Relation Manager of NH Collection Hamburg City

In Hamburg we say “Moin”! My name is Ricardo Carvalho and I'm a “Hamburg Jung” (Hamburg boy) with Portuguese roots. I was born here, and I live in and love Hamburg.
In order to share my enthusiasm for the city, I started training as a hotel specialist at the NH Hamburg Altona in 2007, and moved to the NH Collection Hamburg City in 2015.
With the philosophy of the NH Collection brand as well as the special service Guest Relations offers I have found my perfect job! I am always happy to show my guests the most beautiful city in the world and enjoy making their visit to Hamburg as memorable as possible.