Germany (Lonely Planet, 6th Edition) - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [597]
That maritime spirit also continues to shape the city’s evolution, including the all-new HafenCity waterside precinct, hip industrial-style restaurants strung along the Elbmeile docks, and mould-breaking design hotels and hostels that are seeing Hamburg steal the international limelight from Munich and Berlin. Visitor numbers (particularly city breakers) are booming, as the construction of new hotels races to keep up with demand.
The world, it seems, is finally returning some of its gateway’s attentions.
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Highlights
Go Up… Ride up the spire of St Nikolai to its panoramic viewing platform
…And Up Take to the skies above the Speicherstadt aboard Hamburg’s moored High Flyer Balloon
Float your Boat Rent a row boat Click here to explore the Alster Lakes
Get Back Time travel through the Beatles’ career at the Beatlemania Museum near the venues where they once performed
Fast Forward Peer into Hamburg’s future through architectural plans and scale models at HafenCity
Telephone code: 040
POPULATION: 1.77 MILLION
AREA: 755 SQ KM
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HISTORY
Dubbed the world’s ‘most mercantile city’, Hamburg’s commercial character was forged in 1189, when local noble Count Adolf III persuaded Emperor Friedrich I (Barbarossa) to grant the city free trading rights and an exemption from customs duties. This transformed the former missionary settlement and 9th-century moated fortress of Hammaburg into an important port and member of the Hanseatic League.
The city prospered until 1842, when the Great Fire destroyed a third of its buildings. While it managed to recover in time to join the German Reich in 1871, this then saw it involved in two devastating world wars. After WWI, most of Hamburg’s merchant fleet (almost 1500 ships) was forfeited to the Allies. WWII saw more than half of Hamburg’s housing, 80% of its port and 40% of its industry reduced to rubble, and tens of thousands of civilians killed.
In the postwar years, Hamburg harnessed its resilience to participate in Germany’s economic miracle (Wirtschaftswunder). Its harbour and media industries are now the backbone of its wealth. The print media are especially prolific: the majority of Germany’s largest publications are produced here, including news magazines Stern and Der Spiegel and the newspaper Die Zeit. The city is also a major Airbus base.
About 15% to 20% of the population are immigrants, giving the city a vibrant international flavour.
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ORIENTATION
Hamburg is as watery as Venice and Amster-dam. Set around two lakes, the Binnenalster and Aussenalster (Inner and Outer Alster Lakes) in the city centre, it’s also traversed by three rivers – the Elbe, the Alster and the Bille – and a grid of narrow canals called Fleete.
The half-moon-shaped city centre arches north of the Elbe and is bisected diagonally by the Alsterfleet, the canal that once separated the now almost seamless Altstadt (old town) and Neustadt (new town).
The Hauptbahnhof (central train station) is on Glockengiesserwall on the centre’s northeastern edge; the ZOB (central bus station) is behind it to the southeast. Three other mainline stations lie west (Altona), south (Harburg) and north (Dammtor) of the centre. A network of S-Bahn (suburban trains), U-Bahn (urban rail) and buses criss-cross the city.
Within the sprawling city are distinct neighbourhoods. East of the Hauptbahnhof is St Georg, a gradually gentrifying red-light district and hub of the city’s gay scene. The immense HafenCity development is evolving south of the Hauptbahnhof. West of the centre, St Pauli is home