Hamburg in 4 days

Morning

• Speicherstadt Warehouse District1h15

  Walk in from St Pauli or take the U3 round to Baumwall and start with the Speicherstadt canals, crossing to the Wasserschloss and the Poggenmuhlenbrucke. High tide is when the district photographs best.

  TipThis is the largest warehouse complex in the world built on timber piles, put up from the 1880s and UNESCO-listed together with the Kontorhausviertel since 2015. It costs nothing and is best seen twice: once by day for the canals and the loading hatches, and once after dark when the facades are floodlit, which is when the Poggenmuhlenbrucke bridge gives the classic view of the Wasserschloss building. Time a walk here for high tide if you can, as the canals sit empty and muddy at low water.

• Miniatur Wunderland3h

  Take your booked slot at Miniatur Wunderland for two floors of the world's largest model railway, including a working miniature airport with aircraft that take off. Three hours minimum, and walk-up waits run past two hours in the holidays.

  TipThe largest model railway in the world fills two Speicherstadt warehouse floors with miniature versions of Hamburg, the Alps, Scandinavia and a working airport, and it is far better than it sounds. Booking is essential rather than advisable: entry is by timed slot at around 22 EUR for adults, and walk-up waits of two hours or more are normal in the school holidays. Allow at least three hours, and pick an early slot or a late one after 6pm, when it opens long on most evenings and the crowds thin out.

Afternoon

• 1h30

  Lunch on the HafenCity waterfront, then walk the Magellan and Marco Polo terraces and the promenade out toward the Baakenhafen to see the scale of the new quarter built on the old docks.

• Elbphilharmonie Plaza1h

  Ride the long curved escalator to the Elbphilharmonie plaza on your timed ticket and circle the whole deck at 37 metres above the water. Free same-day slots exist at the counter but rarely survive to the afternoon in summer.

  TipThe Plaza is the open public deck at 37 metres where the glass concert hall meets the old brick warehouse below, and it wraps right around the building for views over the harbour, the Speicherstadt and the Elbe. Entry is free but capped by timed slot: book online well ahead for a few euros in booking fee, or turn up at the ticket counter on the day and take a free slot if any are left, which is unlikely at sunset in summer. The long curved escalator up to it is part of the experience, so do not skip it for the lift.

Evening

• Speicherstadt Warehouse District2h

  Return through the Speicherstadt after dark, when the brick facades are floodlit and the canals hold the reflection, then eat back in the centre or in St Pauli. The night walk is free and takes about half an hour.

  TipThis is the largest warehouse complex in the world built on timber piles, put up from the 1880s and UNESCO-listed together with the Kontorhausviertel since 2015. It costs nothing and is best seen twice: once by day for the canals and the loading hatches, and once after dark when the facades are floodlit, which is when the Poggenmuhlenbrucke bridge gives the classic view of the Wasserschloss building. Time a walk here for high tide if you can, as the canals sit empty and muddy at low water.

Morning

• Hamburg Rathaus1h30

  Start at the Rathaus with the free courtyard and the 45-minute English guided tour of the state rooms, roughly 5 EUR, usually at 11.15am, 1.15pm and 3.15pm. Tours are cancelled when the parliament is sitting, so ask at the desk.

  TipThe 1897 town hall has 647 rooms, more than Buckingham Palace, and its arcaded inner courtyard and ground-floor hall are free to walk into during opening hours. To see the state rooms you need the guided tour, which lasts about 45 minutes and costs around 5 EUR, with English departures typically at 11.15am, 1.15pm and 3.15pm on tour days; book online or check at the desk in the entrance hall, as tours are cancelled without notice when the parliament is sitting.

• Chilehaus and the Kontorhausviertel1h

  Walk into the Kontorhausviertel for the Chilehaus, built in 1924 from about 4.8 million bricks, and the Sprinkenhof next door. The courtyards and passages are free and open on weekdays.

  TipThe Chilehaus, finished in 1924 by Fritz Hoger, is the signature building of Hamburg's brick expressionism, with a sharp eastern corner shaped like a ship's prow and about 4.8 million bricks in its walls. It is an office block, so you cannot tour it, but the courtyards and passages are open on weekdays and cost nothing; go to the corner of Pumpen and Niedernstrasse for the prow view. The surrounding Kontorhausviertel, including the Sprinkenhof next door, shares the UNESCO listing with the Speicherstadt.

Afternoon

• The Alster Lakes and Jungfernstieg2h30

  Cross to the Jungfernstieg and walk the Outer Alster shore path, about 7.5 kilometres for the full circuit and roughly two hours at a steady pace, past the rowing clubs and the villas. Cut it short at Krugkoppelbrucke if you have had enough.

  TipThe Alster was dammed in the 13th century and now forms two lakes: the small Binnenalster ringed by the Jungfernstieg promenade, and the much larger Outer Alster behind it. The full circuit of the Outer Alster on the waterside paths is about 7.5 kilometres and takes roughly two hours on foot, all of it free and flat. If you would rather sit down, the Alster boats leave from the Jungfernstieg jetty for a round trip of about 50 minutes, and they run to a reduced timetable in winter.

• 1h

  Stop at one of the lakeside kiosks or the Alsterpavillon on the Jungfernstieg for coffee, or swap the walk for the 50-minute boat round trip if the wind is up, which it often is.

Evening

• Planten un Blomen1h30

  Walk over to Planten un Blomen for the Japanese garden and, from May to September, the free water and light concert on the lake at 10pm, or 9pm once September starts. Twenty minutes early gets you a seat on the terraces.

  TipThis free park on the line of the old city ramparts holds the largest Japanese garden in Europe designed by a Japanese architect, a tropical greenhouse and a lake with a fountain rig in it. The reason to come after dark is the Wasserlichtkonzerte, free water and light shows set to music on the lake, staged nightly at 10pm from 1 May to 31 August and at 9pm through September. Arrive twenty minutes early for a bench on the terraced seating, or stand on the far bank where it is quieter.

• 2h

  Eat afterwards in the Sternschanze, a few minutes on foot or one stop on the S-Bahn, which has the best density of good-value restaurants in the city.

Morning

• Alter Elbtunnel1h

  Walk down to Landungsbrucken and take the 1911 Old Elbe Tunnel, 426 metres long and 24 metres below the river, free and open around the clock to anyone on foot. Surface on the Steinwerder side for the cleanest view of the skyline.

  TipOpened in 1911, the Old Elbe Tunnel drops 24 metres below the river in tiled shafts and runs 426 metres across to Steinwerder, and it is still free and open around the clock for anyone on foot or on a bike. Walk through and come up on the south bank for the single best head-on view of the Hamburg skyline, with the Elbphilharmonie, the church towers and the cranes lined up together. The entrance is in the domed building at Landungsbrucken, and there are lifts as well as stairs.

• Landungsbrucken and Harbour Ferry 621h15

  Back at pier 3, board harbour ferry 62 on your HVV ticket and ride down the Elbe past the Fischmarkt, Dockland and the container terminals. Sit outside on the upper deck and get off at Ovelgonne.

  TipThe HADAG harbour ferries are ordinary public transport, so line 62 from Landungsbrucken pier 3 down the Elbe to Finkenwerder costs no more than a normal HVV ticket and does the job of a paid harbour cruise for a fraction of the price. It runs roughly every 15 minutes and takes about 30 minutes end to end, passing the Fischmarkt, the Dockland building and the museum harbour at Ovelgonne. Sit outside on the upper deck, get off at Ovelgonne for the Elbe beach, and skip the commentary boats entirely.

Afternoon

• 1h30

  Walk the Elbe promenade from Ovelgonne through the museum harbour and, in warm weather, sit for a while on the small Elbe beach watching the container ships come up the river.

• 2h30

  Head up into Ottensen for a late lunch around the Ottenser Hauptstrasse and the Spritzenplatz, then browse the independent shops, the market hall and the old Altona town hall on the way back east.

Evening

• The Reeperbahn and St Pauli3h

  You are already based in St Pauli, so eat locally and then take the Reeperbahn properly after 10pm, including the Grosse Freiheit where the Beatles played their 1960 residencies. Keep the phone pocketed near the working streets.

  TipThe Reeperbahn is a 900-metre strip of clubs, bars, theatres and sex shops that only really starts working after 10pm, with the smaller Grosse Freiheit side street where the Beatles played their first residencies in 1960. Herbertstrasse, the walled-off lane, is closed to women and under-18s and photography is not tolerated anywhere near the working streets, so keep the phone in your pocket. In the second half of September the Reeperbahn Festival fills every venue here for four nights.

Morning

• Altona Fischmarkt2h

  If this day falls on a Sunday, walk west along the Elbe for the Altona Fischmarkt, running since 1703, open from 5am April to October and 7am November to March and finished by 9.30am. The band in the brick auction hall is the point of it.

  TipThe Sunday fish market on the Elbe in Altona has run since 1703 and is the one fixed appointment in the Hamburg week: it opens at 5am from 1 April to 31 October and at 7am from 1 November to 31 March, and every stall is packed away by 9.30am sharp. Go for the shouting market criers and the live band in the old brick auction hall rather than for the fish itself, and note the crowd is half early risers and half people who have not been to bed since the Reeperbahn.

• International Maritime Museum2h30

  Otherwise start at the International Maritime Museum in Kaispeicher B, nine floors of ship models and navigation history in the oldest warehouse of the Speicherstadt. Take the lift to the top and work downward.

  TipNine floors of ship models, navigation instruments and naval history fill Kaispeicher B, the oldest surviving warehouse in the Speicherstadt, dating from 1878. Work down from the top rather than up, because the collection is enormous and most people run out of energy by deck four; entry is around 15 EUR and it is one of the few big Hamburg sights that rarely needs pre-booking. It is a solid rainy-day option and sits five minutes from Miniatur Wunderland.

Afternoon

• Hamburger Kunsthalle2h30

  Spend the afternoon at the Hamburger Kunsthalle, from the medieval altarpieces to Friedrich and the post-war wing. It closes on Mondays, runs to 9pm on Thursdays and is usually free after 6pm on the first Thursday of the month.

  TipThe city's main art museum runs from medieval altarpieces through Caspar David Friedrich's Wanderer above the Sea of Fog to a modern wing of post-war and contemporary work, spread across two linked buildings between the station and the Alster. It opens Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 6pm, stays open until 9pm on Thursdays and closes on Mondays; admission is around 18 EUR, but entry is usually free on the first Thursday of the month from 6pm.

• 1h

  Fill any gap with the shops under the arcades between the Rathausmarkt and the Alster, which also make a dry route across the centre when the rain sets in.

Evening

• St Michaelis Church and Tower1h15

  Finish with the Michel, taking the lift up the 132-metre tower for a last look over the harbour, the Elbe and the lakes before it closes around 6pm. The combined tower and crypt ticket is about 10 EUR.

  TipThe Michel is the city's landmark baroque church, and its 132-metre copper tower carries the best all-round view in central Hamburg, taking in the harbour, the Elbe and the Alster in one turn. The church itself is generally open daily from 10am to 6pm, and you pay around 10 EUR for a combined ticket to the tower and the crypt; there is a lift after the first 52 steps, so you do not have to take all 452 stairs. A trumpeter plays from the balcony at 10am daily and again at noon on Sundays.

• 2h

  Last dinner back in St Pauli or Ottensen, and if you fly out early, note the S1 reaches the airport from the Hauptbahnhof in about 25 minutes on a standard AB ticket, with the train splitting at Ohlsdorf, so board the front carriages.