Informative and fun museum for all chocolate lovers!…read more Being a chocolate lover, coming across a museum dedicated to chocolates in Europe appeared a no-brainer to me. Located in Hamburg near the canal and within a shirt walk to The Miniature Wunderland, this interactive chocolate museum offers great education and hands-on tasting experience. To join a tour, it is recommended that you make a reservation online. Most tours are in German, and there is only one English-speaking tour per day. Therefore, making an advance reservation is critical if you like a guaranteed spot. Before we began, we left our belongings at the locker our front as we were told we would be making our own chocolates. The tour started off with a dipping a plain cookie at a chocolate fountain. Afterward, we were led onto special exhibits to view cocoa plants, cocoa pods, and various aspects of cocoa trades. This was the first time I received good definitions of multiple fair trade labels on chocolate packaging. We were then shown multiple machinery that were used to process cocoa. All the guests were invited to try the cocoa end products after each stage. In addition, each guest was given the opportunity to make their own chocolate. Guests could choose between white, milk, and dark chocolates and pick multiple toppings on their own candy bar. The candy bar was briefly chilled and packaged for each guest to take home. Overall, we had a very fun and yummy experience at the chocolate museum. It was very informative to see how chocolate started from the cocoa plants and the process it took to become our candy bars. After this trip, I greatly appreciate all the hard work and innovation behind every chocolate bar. Must see museum for all chocolate lovers!

Chocoversum is an interesting museum about the history of chocolate, complete with samples at the…read morefar side. You will learn quite a bit about the how of chocolate production, and see some chocolate producing equipment. You will also produce your own chocolate bar from a mold and generate toppings! And obligatory selfie area.

I visited on a Sunday. You have 3 levels with different themes/periods and you start on the top…read morefloor. Got here around 1 pm and not very many visitors. I really liked the simple descriptions of the car/items that gave you some good/quick insights. They had a vintage Porsche drive simulator which was pretty cool. This was quite popular and would imagine a queue during busy days. Although small, they have a good selection of mint or near mint condition vintage cars and concepts. Really liked the 996 display showing 1/2 interior and 1/2 exterior. Although they do have VW and Audi concepts, the majority of the display is Porsche. There is a cafe with gift shop that has an good selection of books and model cars & some clothing. Only 10 Euros entry fee with a friendly and helpful staff. Plan on 1.5 to 2 hours. A must for any Porsche lover and enthusiast!

Do you like cars? Of course you like cars! You HAVE to see this place!…read more The gorgeous, show-room style exhibition place is fantastic and features cards from a multitude of decades, including video installations, toy/marketing products on show and a porsche simulator! Yes, you get to sit in a Porsche and drive it around the Nueremburgring. How fantastic is that! Definitely a must for every car lover and even those with just a mild interest, it's just so beautiful and well presented. Do not miss the second, temporary exhibit downstairs! It's in a separate space, so it's easy to miss. As it's a changing exhibit, I can't say what they'll be showing off when you get to go, but it's always intersting and really well done. So be sure to check it out.

We were 5 minutes late. The tour started without us, and they wouldn't let us join. They wouldn't…read morerefund the tickets. They don't answer their telephone.

What an amazing experience, it was made more interesting due to the language barrier for me…read more Friendly staff and the menu kept me guessing. Once the friendly guide knew I was Australian he made an extra effort to translate most things for me which I really appreciated. I booked online from Australia and the customer service was top notch. All my questions and queries were answered promptly. I went by myself and wouldn't recommend it unless you can speak German as unless you are lucky like I was tonight you will struggle knowing what's happening.

Honestly, when S first told me about Miniatur Wunderland and how it was the largest model railway…read morecollection in the world - it wasn't a place that I felt super enthusiastic about visiting during our time in Germany. Another couple joined us for the Hamburg portion of our trip and they really wanted to go, so I agreed. I'm a believer now! This place is fun for all ages. As someone who prides myself in my skillset re: "attention to detail", this place has me beat and I'm totally impressed. Come early to beat the crowds. It does get pretty crowded in there. You definitely need at least 3-4 hours here, and can probably spend the entire day too if you want. They have lockers for your stuff, and a place to grab a bite to eat on-site. Reservations are a must! We were pretty late in booking our tickets so ended up spending an extra 10 euros to buy the "virtual reality" experience in order to get an any time entry ticket. The 10 min VR experience was pretty meh, so only choose this option as a last resort.

Wow! What an experience! I never anticipated this being something of interest, but hearing so many…read morepositive recommendations when I arrived in Hamburg made me interested. I looked online and it was sold out and the estimated wait time was 3-4hours. I rolled the dice and got lucky with a walk in and only waited 30min. This is was the highlight of my trip, the displays were detailed beyond expectation. Looking forward to going again in the future!

Great museum about the history of sailing and ocean shipping. Exhibits from ancient times until now.read more

This is one of the largest and most well maintained museums I've ever been to. Absolutely an…read moreessential part of your trip to Hamburg if you're even remotely interested in anything maritime related. This includes vikings, trade routes, slave trade, explorers, war ships, cargo shipping, harbour building, pirates, marine animals, fishing, treasures, ship wrecks and much more! The exhibitions stretch over nine stories with additional smaller exhibitions on various sub-floors in between. We didn't have enough time to visit every single room, but everything I saw was super well presented, interesting and dynamic. There are tours at various times in various areas as well as presentations throughout the different floors. We happened to walk in on a presentation of a container ship simulator that let you slowly, painstakingly experience what it's like to drive a large container ship along a canal leading to the harbour. It's slow. It's arduous. I thought it was incredibly boring (the simulator, not the presentation) but apparently people spend hours at home playing with these simulators. And enjoy it. For some reason. I loved the miniature ship exhibition. Thousands of miniature ships spanning several centuries of ship building and design. The piracy exhibit was also quite interesting, while the rooms on the slave trade (including a piece of an actual slave ship showing shakles and chains) and plague ships were quite harrowing though still really well presented. All the history of human activity on the seven seas seems to be brought together in this amazing building. The cafe downstairs is also reasonably priced for a museum cafe and very beautifully designed. We really enjoyed our trip to this museum.

From the owner: Port des Lumières ist Hamburgs neuer Ort für spektakuläre immersive Erlebnisse aus Licht, Klang und…read moreBewegung. Im Herzen der HafenCity – im Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier – beginnt eine digitale Reise, die alle Sinne anspricht. Auf 3.200 Quadratmetern Fläche und zehn Meter hohen Wänden entfaltet sich eine faszinierende Welt, in der Bilder lebendig werden und Musik den Raum durchdringt. Modernste Projektionstechnik, eindrucksvolle Sounds und eine besondere Architektur verschmelzen zu einem immersiven Erlebnis für alle Sinne. Ob pulsierende Farben, ikonische Motive oder eine Reise durch Zeit und Raum – hier geht es nicht um das klassische Betrachten, sondern um Emotion, Staunen und Eintauchen. Port des Lumières ist Teil eines internationalen Netzwerks spektakulärer Digitalshows mit Standorten in Paris, New York und Amsterdam. In Hamburg werden wechselnde Inszenierungen gezeigt. Besucher:innen jeder Altersgruppe können hier frei durch den Raum wandern, sich von den Bildern umhüllen lassen oder von der Aussichtsplattform in Form eines Schiffsbugs aus neue Perspektiven erleben. Das Kids’ Atelier lädt die jüngsten Gäste zum Mitmachen ein. Ob Tourist:innen oder Hamburger:innen, Technikfans, Kunstliebhaber:innen oder Erlebnishungrige – das Port des Lumières ist der perfekte Tipp für alle, die in eine andere Welt abtauchen wollen.

Sundays I find pretty hard to pass in Hamburg with everything shut you sometimes struggle for…read moresomething entertaining or different to do other then stay at home and hang out After having to cancel our walk to Blankenese because of the amount of rain we decided to see an exhibition that is here in Hamburg called American beauties With works from David Hockney and Larry Clark And a series by Nan Goldin for James King in the big apple- This exhibition is definitely worth getting out and seeing. But even though American beauties is the main exhibition being advertised here the highlight for me was definitely the collection from- Arnulf Rainer/Dieter Roth. mixing and separating. collaborative and individual works, 1968 - 2005. The presentation includes photography, paintings, graphic art, experimental collaborative works, videos and publications created jointly by Arnulf Rainer and Dieter Roth between 1972 and 1979, most of them never shown in public before, as well as works from 1968 up until 2005. I found their Photography particularly entertaining :-) After wandering around you can visit the Galleries bookstore-this place is just as entertaining and as beautiful as the galley itself with so many large coffee books on design and photography your going to wish you had thousands to spend in here. A great way to spend a rainy Hamburg afternoon and it only costs 5 euros for students.

I was there for the VisualLeader 2013 (the best photos from newspapers, magazines and internet)…read moreexhibition - it really exceeded my expectations. The photos and video showings are really powerful - and it is going on until October 13th. A must-see!

Quite a stunning museum of the golden years and modern years. With everything you can imagine,…read moregrand buildings, grand entrance (quite a steps to walk up), grands staircase. Reasonable admission fee to get in and a must to put everything away. Several levels of arts displaced. A must visit when you're in Hamburg for sure. I got lost into the history through the art displaces, just fascinating and very intriguing. Everything is down in grand scale for sure.

Traveling to the Hamburger Kunsthalle to see Caspar David Friedrich's "Wanderer above the Sea of…read moreFog" is absolutely worth the trip. The painting feels even more powerful in person, with the misty landscape and solitary figure drawing you into a quiet, reflective mood. The museum itself is calm, well organized, and easy to navigate, which makes the visit pleasant even if you are not an art expert. Staff and gallery attendants are very helpful and approachable, happy to point you toward the Friedrich room or answer questions, so you feel welcomed and cared for throughout your visit.

I have been to Hamburg so many times that I thought I knew the city…read more Apparently, I can't be further away from being wrong. This museum - that is located on beautiful park with idyllic lake teaches you all about Hamburg and its history. It's located not far from U-bahn stop St. Pauli, so it can't get any easier than that, not to mention it's not far should you be interested to check out all the "interesting" entertainment on the infamous Reeperbahn. Again, dragged by my history and museum geek boyfriend, I came here by force (if not by free will) although I wasn't literally kicking and screaming. If it were up to me, I'd rather spend my time at Monckebergstrasse, but oh well - I guess a little history won't hurt. This museum has very interesting models of pretty much everything in Hamburg. At least you won't be bored by history by looking at interesting teeny weeny intricate models. It taught you what Hamburg really was back then when some Christian missionaries (and bishops) chose to settle here and named the town Hammaburg. It's almost like reading it on wikipedia, but with a lot of cute models. See? not boring. The layout of the museum was cool too and they had a room full of model ships just like in Copenhagen's Orlogsmuseet, and the most cool about this museum is that on the top floor, they have a working railway model of Hamburg in the scale of 1:32. That was amazing to watch. They did have people operating the trains and all. I felt like I went back to my childhood again. On the basement floor they had small exhibition of what Hamburg was like under Nazi reign, along with recreation of shops, places under World War II. Very interesting. All in all, a very interesting place to visit, especially if you're interested about history. ...and oh, did you know that Reeperbahn literally means the rope way? It's where back in the yore they made ropes for the ships. See? More knowledge of history here! I'm getting like 1% smarter than before... :P

The museum itself is a nice museum with a lot of interesting things, but after seeing the miniature…read morewonderland and the maritime museum, I had more than enough miniature buildings and boats. Only was able to stay 15 minutes before I couldn't take anymore of it.

My long ambition to get onto more submarines is finally coming to fruition. I've seen 2 in a month!…read moreMy fascination with these relics of the cold war stems mainly from enjoying "The Hunt for Red October" so much. U-434 is a Soviet vessel dating from 1976. She is a Tango-class (NATO designation) attack boat, armed with 24 torpedoes. Powered by 3x 5200 shp 6 cylinder diesels, she was, I believe, the largest non-nuclear submarine in service at the time. A German businessman thought it would be a good idea to buy her for around EUR1M in 2002, and she was transported back from Russia for a further EUR1M and now lies in Hafen City. Admission is around EUR12 with an extra EUR3 for the guided tour, which ou can have in English. I highly recommend the extra tour as you get to see areas of the boat (command room etc.) that you wouldn't be able to otherwise. Sadly, as she was still in active service as a training boat until 5 years ago, the Ruskies removed quite a bit of equipment from her before she was sold. Therefore, you won't be plotting a firing solution as the torpedo computer has gone, along with sonar and communications. For the most part though this is as authentic as it gets. One ping only.

I really enjoyed this, geeky as it may be. There's zero hype, and not much education happening…read more Basically, you're walking on your own through a good portion of a real submarine, free to poke and prod. If that appeals to you, have at it! But take it from me, watch your head. The doors are low at the top, and high at the bottom, and generally have pipes just where you want to stand up after passing through. (Probably not a good outing for a first date.)