2 Best Sights in Hamburg, Germany

The oldest residential area in the Old Town of Hamburg now consists of lavishly restored houses from the 17th through the 19th century. Many of the original, 14th-century houses on Deichstrasse were destroyed in the Great Fire of 1842, which broke out in No. 38 and left approximately 20,000 people homeless; only a few of the early dwellings escaped its ravages. These days the narrow cobblestone street is flanked by a number of lovely little restaurants specializing in fish or German cuisine, which have taken residence inside its historic buildings.

The hottest nightspots in town are concentrated on and around St. Pauli’s pulsating thoroughfare, the Reeperbahn, and two buzzing side streets called Grosse Freiheit (Great Freedom) and Hamburger Berg. The Grosse Freiheit is also the border between Altona and Hamburg, and its name commemorates the religious freedom that existed in the former but not in the latter. In the early 1960s, the Beatles famously cut their teeth in clubs just off the street, playing 12-hour-long gigs in front of drunken revelers. The Kiez is a part of town that never sleeps and is home to some true nightlife institutions such as the Ritze, famous for its box ring, and the Elbschlosskeller, which opened its doors in 1952 and literally didn't close them until the lockdown in 2021—at which time the owner realized that the lock on the door didn't even work!