City Statistics
Location
North Germany, on the river Elbe.
Dialing code
49.
Population
1,766,156.
Time zone
GMT + 1 (GMT + 2 from last Sunday in March to last Sunday in October).
Electricity
220V AC, 50Hz; round two-pin plugs are standard.
Average January temperatures
2°C (36°F).
Average July temperatures
22°C (72°F).
Annual rainfall
762mm (30 inches).
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Overview
The second biggest city in Germany (after Berlin), Hamburg has the
cosmopolitan feel, the conspicuous consumption and most of the
cultural accoutrements of a north European capital.
Culturally Hamburg is said to have more in common with its trading partners and neighbors in the Low Countries, Denmark and even England, than it does with southern Germany. Its people are famously modest, yet worldly and usually very helpful.
Visitors will find Hamburg easy to get around thanks to its
compact center and excellent transport system. There are relatively few major landmarks, and nothing of iconic status except perhaps the
red-light district of St Pauli where Hamburg sailors traditionally took their R'n'R.
This is a double-edged sword for the city, yet one it has handled well in recent years, bringing in new and respectable nightlife while retaining the
edgy atmosphere of the district's former existence. It is easy to forget that music (and not just sex) has always been a major part of the area (the
Beatles among many other luminaries paid their musical dues in St Pauli) and on weekend nights the Reeperbahn and surrounding streets throb with activity.
By contrast to the seamy port area, the city's major open space, which begins right in the very center of town, is the
Alster Lake. On a warm summer's day do as the locals do and take a cruise from the
Binnenalster (Inner Alster) to the
Aussenalster and its parkland fringes. Within just a few minutes you will have swapped the steely grey metropolis for a balmy world of green and blue....
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Tourist Information
There are several bus tours, departing from Landungsbrücken or at the rear of the main railway station, Hauptbahnhof. You can take a hop-on hop-off tour or a non-stopping one-hour or two-hour tour (the latter is too much for most visitors). Look for the
Stadt Rundfahrt/Hamburger Hummelbahn sign (the name of the company). It operates red double-decker buses year round and a little land-train known as the Hummelbahn (April to October) (tel: (040) 792 8979; website:
http://www.hummelbahn.de/).
In addition to the harbor tour outlined in
Key Attractions, boats also tour the canals of the Speicherstadt and some combine the harbor and canals. The only difficulty is that English-language commentaries are mostly confined to group bookings. Likewise, many walking tours (covering the city centre, St Pauli by day and by night, the Speicherstadt, Beatles-themed tours and so on) are available only if you have made a group booking.
An alternative is to hire a hand-held GPS audio-visual city guide which will guide you unerringly along three pre-planned routes. You can rent this from the main tourist office. For more details on tours see
http://www.hamburg-tourism.de/ (click on
Sightseeing, then
Themes & Tours)....
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