Hamburg

Museums & Exhibitions

The Miniatur Wunderland has been constantly growing since the year 2001. Having started with two layout areas, Harz and Southern Germany, the Wunderland has opened the seventh area, Switzerland, in November 2007. More layout areas were opened in 2014. The Miniatur Wunderland is without doubt a wonder, not only because of its landscape and surface area, but also due to the technology that underpins the exhibit.  Gerrit Braun and the model-making team have pushed the limits of model construction, with a large part of the exhibit custom-designed and built. It was not possible to use only ‘off-the-shelf’ parts and electronics, primarily because such components are not meant for continuous operation. Additionally, there is a lack of a large parts-base to support the scale of 1:87.  Thus, for example, most of the 150 push-button action sequences are custom-created, as are the Car and Ship Navigation systems.   There are also open-to-view workshops and construction areas in Miniatur Wunderland. This means that you can actually see modelers and technicians work on new parts, observe how landscapes emerge and better understand how much effort is put into these outstanding exhibits.

Discover the fascination between waxworks and reality at the Panoptikum in Hamburg – the oldest waxworks in Germany. Experience the fascinating world of wax, merging reality with fantasy, across 700 square meters. Meet more than 120 personalities from history, art, and politics as well as celebrities and superstars – all lifelike and closely replicated as wax figures. Whether Michael Schumacher, Queen Elizabeth II, Vitali Klitschko, Karl Lagerfeld, or Helmut Schmidt – they're all waiting for you! You can also discover the giant woman Mariedl with a height of 2.27 meters as well as a man with 3 eyes and other extraordinary people. A scary corner and a medical-anatomical cabinet complete the exhibition.

This tour takes you on a discovery of Hamburg’s chocolate side. Visit the Chocoversum by Hachez, a museum with an interactive experience in which everything revolves around sweet chocolate. Experts will take you on a 1.5-hour pleasure trip, on which you follow the cocoa beans on their exciting journey from cultivation to the finished chocolate bar. Sample the exquisite delicacies at every stage of production and experience for yourself how the delicate glaze and the fine taste develops to the end product. Follow all of the production steps closely and even create your own chocolate bar to take with you.

Located on the Reeperbahn, right across from the famous Spielbudenplatz - Panik City awaits. The 90-minute multimedia experience highlights the life's work of famous German musician and artist Udo Lindenberg and invites music fans, technic geeks, adults and children, alike. Take a guided walking tour through the museum which can be described as a beautiful symphony of art, culture, and media. Follow in Udo's footsteps - painting with "likörelle" and recording a hit while also learning about life in GDR and Udo's role as an advocate for social justice. The lines between history and present become blurred, thanks to augmented and virtual reality as you are taken on a colorful journey. The tour starts at café 'Alten Liebe – die Panik Bar', where your guide will greet you and take you inside the museum. During the tour, the guide will instruct you on how to use the technical equipment and guide you through the different stages of this experience. After 90 minutes of history, music, and technology the tour will end at café 'Alten Liebe – die Panik Bar', where you will receive a complimentary alcoholic shot. The tour is perfect for families, music fans and technology enthusiast.

See nothing but discover a lot on a visit to the unique Dialogue in the Dark® exhibition. Take a safe and humorous guided walk through the completely darkened exhibition with your blind host in a small group of no more than 8 people. Get to know each other without leaning on appearances, overcome prejudices, and handle daily situations without relying on your eyes. Equipped with a blind cane, discover the world that we usually take for granted in a completely new way. Hear, feel, and find your bearings in various non-visual situations of daily life, like going for a walk in the park and crossing a busy city street. Enjoy an experience that will live long in your memory as even buying something in the dark turns into fun. The last stop on the tour is at the Dark Bar where you can talk about your experience over a drink with the guides. Ask your guide all the questions which naturally arise during the tour and compare notes with your fellow visitors. As this fascinating experience gradually comes to an end after about 90 minutes, slowly return to the well-lit foyer with a brand new perspective on the world.

Go on an imaginary journey to the 1960s and 70s, across the Atlantic Ocean to Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires and back again. Experience life as a lookout on the bridge or stand deep within the Machine Room to feel the steady pulse of the engines. Relax with the passengers in the saloon to the sound of light music while on a fun-filled voyage to South America. Cap San Diego is the largest civil museum ship in the world. It is the last surviving ship in a series of six fast general cargo ships, which were built in 1961/62 for the shipping company Hamburg South and drove to South America until the end of 1981. Hamburg's unique maritime monument has been a museum ship since 1988 and can be visited from bridge to hatch and from heart to head. During your self-guided tour, watch the documentary "A Suitcase Full of Hope - Emigration Port of Hamburg" about the fate of emigrants between 1850 and 1930. In hatch 2, find the permanent exhibition "General Cargo and Container Handling," which clearly documents the history of sea freight transport from 1960 to today with many historical images and explanatory texts.

Welcome aboard. Hamburg's museum ship brings back the glory days of the windjammer. The ship is one of the last great sailing ships, which was built by a German shipyard and exclusively used as a merchant ship. Today, the proud three-master is located in the heart of the Hamburg port, acting as an interactive museum that attracts visitors from all around the world. Use your entrance ticket to start exploring the RICKMER RICKMERS, with full access to all areas. The museum allows its visitors a glimpse into the life of a sailor. The boat is divided into three sections. The first is the museum area, which highlights the history of the ship, and is where all aspects of onboard life have been meticulously restored. In the exhibition area, you'll find a mix of restored nautical objects and changing temporary art exhibitions and photography displays. The onboard restaurant is a great place to sit down and enjoy authentic Hamburg dishes as well as typical nautical food.

Welcome to the Discovery Dock! Embark on a digital and interactive experience through the heart of Hamburg. Learn about what goes on in and around the city. Your experienced tour guide will lead you on a 2-hour journey through its history and introduce you to a world of technology and vision. Breathtakingly realistic and fascinatingly informative – the Discovery Dock turns Hamburg into a multimedia adventure playground, a digital and interactive experience for the curious, adventurous and inquisitive. Load container ships as crane operators, experience the G20 summit as a reporter, support customs in the search for smuggled goods, enjoy a virtual concert, fly over Hamburg, stand next to a container ship in a dry dock and observe the movements of the ships day and night. Prepare to be inspired by the interactive, trend-setting mixed-reality experience that virtually brings the city to life by way of state-of-the-art virtual-reality technologies, projections, live simulations, as well as sound and light effects. In short, enjoy an unforgettable time with us at the Discovery Dock.

Take a voyage of discovery across nine 'decks' at the impressive International Maritime Museum. Housed inside the oldest surviving warehouse in Hamburg, the museum gives you a comprehensive view of the sea and oceans, and how cultures have explored them throughout the millennia. Meet pirates, find out how captains mastered navigation, look at hundreds of nautical uniforms and connect with Hamburg's important nautical history. The exhibition includes more than 40,000 pieces, making it the world's largest private maritime collection. An absolute highlight of this museum is the floor dedicated to marine biology research. This portion of the exhibit was developed in collaboration with leading scientific institutions and is constantly updated. Research instruments, samples from the sea bed, films taken by diving robots, an actual wall of ice and fascinating underwater audio samples deliver a vivid impression of the seas.

Book your entry ticket to Hamburg’s Spicy's Gewürzmuseum and enjoy a free audio guide accessible via an app on your phone or tablet. Experience the world of herbs and spices and taste pepper spice samples and gummy bears. Generously built on an original storage floor, discover the museum’s over 900 exhibits from the last five centuries detailing the history of spices. Learn about the entire production process of a variety of international spices, from cultivation to finished product via antique equipment and machinery.  Put in your headphones to listen to your audio guide as you explore herbs and spices from near and far abroad, partly in containers and partly presented in clay bowls on taster tables. Touch, smell, and taste your way through the diverse collection of spices.