Hamburg in 4 days

Miniatur Wunderland about 3 hours and 15 minutes

The world's biggest model railway, with miniature landscapes, cities and an airport built in remarkable detail inside a Speicherstadt warehouse.

Speicherstadt warehouse district (UNESCO walk) about 1 hour · heart of the city

A maze of red-brick warehouses, canals and little bridges that makes up one of the world's largest warehouse complexes, listed by UNESCO in 2015.

Elbphilharmonie Plaza (public viewing platform) about 1 hour

The open-air viewing platform on the 8th floor of the concert hall, reached by a very long curved escalator, with views over the harbour and the city.

Planten un Blomen (city park) about 1 hour and 30 minutes

A free 47-hectare city park with a Japanese garden, a rose garden, playgrounds and, in summer, evening water-light concerts.

St. Michaelis Church (Hauptkirche St. Michaelis, "Michel") about 1 hour

Hamburg's baroque landmark church with a 132 m tower, a crypt and a panoramic platform over the harbour.

Harbour boat tour (Hafenrundfahrt, 1 hour) about 1 hour

The classic one-hour boat trip around the port and the Speicherstadt, leaving from the Landungsbrücken piers.

Old Elbe Tunnel (St. Pauli Elbtunnel) about 45 minutes

A 426 m pedestrian and cycle tunnel under the Elbe from 1911, free to walk through at any hour.

St. Pauli Landungsbrücken (Landing Piers) about 45 minutes · heart of the city

Hamburg's busy floating piers where harbour tours and ferries depart, with the clock tower and a view of the port.

Green Bunker St. Pauli - rooftop garden and Bergpfad (Bunker Feldstraße) about 1 hour

A WWII flak tower turned into a planted hill: a free, 560 m path winds up to a rooftop garden 58 m above St. Pauli.

Binnenalster and Jungfernstieg about 1 hour

Hamburg's postcard lake in the middle of the city, with the Jungfernstieg promenade, the Alsterarkaden and the Alster fountain in the warmer months.

Hamburg City Hall (Rathaus) about 45 minutes · heart of the city

Neo-Renaissance seat of Hamburg's Senate and parliament on Rathausmarkt, with a courtyard and guided tours of the grand state rooms.

St. Nikolai Memorial (Mahnmal St. Nikolai) about 1 hour and 15 minutes

The ruined Gothic Revival church left standing as a war memorial, with an underground exhibition on the 1943 bombing and a panoramic lift up the tower.

Deichstraße and Nikolaifleet about 30 minutes

A short pedestrian lane of old merchants' houses along the Nikolaifleet canal - the last such ensemble in Hamburg, and where the Great Fire of 1842 began.

Hamburger Kunsthalle about 2 hours and 15 minutes

One of Germany's big art museums, from medieval altarpieces and Caspar David Friedrich to Monet and contemporary art, a short walk from the main station.

Övelgönne: Elbe beach, captains' houses and Museum Harbour (Övelgönne) about 1 hour and 30 minutes

A car-free strip of sand and old pilots' and captains' cottages right on the Elbe, where you watch container giants glide by next to a harbour of historic ships.

Blankenese Treppenviertel (stairs quarter) and Süllberg about 3 hours

A former fishing village on a steep Elbe slope, where white villas and gardens are linked by thousands of steps and car-free lanes up to the Süllberg hill.