Hamburg is a vibrant city on Germany’s north coast. It’s one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country and if you hire a car, you’ll get to see why.
Many tourists begin with a tour of the harbour; one of Europe’s biggest, before heading into the city to look at the magnificent rathaus and the iconic church of St Michaelis, known locally as just ‘Michel’. There, the church’s massive spire is covered entirely in copper and acts as a land mark for ships sailing into the harbour as well as having been the symbol of the city for centuries.
Hamburg Mini Guide
Hamburg has all the character which is readily associated with port cities and this German city-state is one of Europe’s foremost harbours. The harbour is the second largest in Europe after Rotterdam and the ninth largest in the world while Hamburg itself is Germany’s second biggest city. Hamburg is located in the north of Germany just south of Denmark at the mouth of the River Elbe.
If you are not arriving by boat then Hamburg’s airport is known as Fuhlsbüttel and is the fourth largest in Germany. It has recently been modernised giving it good facilities though there is still a bit of a walk between gates.
Unusually the airport closes at night, meaning that any delayed flights get rerouted to the other German airports such as Hanover or Frankfurt. This should be borne in mind when making your travel plans. If you were hoping to find a cheap flight option with Ryanair there is another airport, Hamburg Lübeck Blankensee Airport. You can also go from Lübeck Blankensee to Milan Bergamo, Pisa, London Stansted, Dublin and Shannon, Glasgow, Stockholm Stavsta and Gdansk in Poland with Wizzair.
Not only can you hire cars from Hamburg, but we have low cost vehicles available as part of our
car hire Hamburg airport fleet. Just fill out some details and we can give you a quote.
Known as the 'Gate to the World', in the 13th century Hamburg was part of the Hanseatic League which ruled European trade at the time. The other two main industries are media - more than half of Germany’s newspapers have their roots in Hamburg – and aerospace development in which Hamburg is only behind Seattle and Toulouse.
To orientate yourself in the city take a tour through the centre past the city hall and Radio Hamburg building where you will see some interesting buildings, shopping areas and the central railway station.
If you happen to go past the Rathausmarkt in the summer you may even be lucky enough to see some live outdoor events being put on. There are also canals and a large artificial lake if you want to take a pleasant walk by the water and look at the boats. Hamburg has quite a few activities to keep children entertained. Visit the Hamburg dungeon in the harbour or take little ones to the Minatur Wunderland. The latter is the world’s largest model railway layout and will be of interest to some older tourists too.
To drive to Hamburg from Berlin you will use the A24 road, the A7 gets you there from Hanover and the A1 goes to Hamburg from Bremen.
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