Why it's time you took a break in Germany's most liveable city

You’re either an Elbe river or an Alster lake kind of person,” said Lydia, a geborene Hamburgerin, or a local born and raised in Hamburg, who I met on a bridge in HafenCity. 

The maritime city is defined by the ebb and flow of water. The Elbe, the city’s industrial shipping artery, is an immense tidal river that courses into the North Sea. On my visit, the second largest harbour in Europe seemed endless, with rows and rows of vessels from all corners of the globe, locks, canals and titanic cranes that from afar look like characters straight out of Transformers.

Then, emerging from the banks of the river like a glacier, was the glass-panelled Elbphilharmonie, the city’s new concert hall designed by the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron. The building, which is now the city’s defining landmark, dominates Hamburg’s skyline and houses three concert halls, The Westin Hotel and 45 apartments.

The halls’ acoustics – the work of Yasuhisa Toyota, one of the world’s most acclaimed acousticians – are exceptional. The grand hall is decked throughout with grooved plaster and paper panels, each individually designed to create balanced resonance. The overall effect is dazzling, resembling sea shell imprints in the right light.

On one end of the hall, 4,765 organ pipes gleam like silver iceberg icicles. Such beauty comes at a price: the original forecast for the “Elphi” was €272 million (￡243 million); the final bill came to a controversial €789 million. In addition to being the home of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the venue also hosts a varied programme from musicians including Philip Glass, Yo-Yo Ma and Brian Eno.

London’s Barbican and the Royal Festival Hall simply do not compare, and seeing a concert in this fine venue is reason enough to visit the city. That night, I saw Wagner’s Das Rheingold conducted by Marek Janowski with soloists Katarina Karnéus as Fricka, Michael Volle as Wotan and Johannes Martin Kr?nzle as Alberich. Under Janowski’s guidance, the orchestral transitions were handled deftly and opera and symphony were in complete sync. 

After the performance, I wandered through the viewing plaza’s curved glass entrance. Built between the building’s new prismatic facade and the old brick warehouse it sits on, the platform is open to the public seven days a week, even to those without a concert ticket (entry is free but you can also make an advance reservation of €2 online if you’d like to skip the queues).

I sat on one of the benches and admired the views: boats moored on the side of the river, a train chugging along a raised rail track and the city’s spires soaring above flat-top buildings. Here was the city in full view, the river winding along docks and buildings old and new. 

Elbphilharmonie is the crown jewel in Europe’s largest urban development project, HafenCity, which has transformed 2.2 sq km of tumble-down docks along the city’s port into a buzzing shopping and residential area during the past decade (final completion is due between 2025 and 2030).

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But it’s not the new developments I was enamoured with, it was the historic Speicherstadt that made an impression. A labyrinth of lofty 19th-century warehouses and narrow canals that was once the centre of Hamburg’s port, it’s now a Unesco World Heritage Site lined with fashion showrooms, artists’ studios and tea rooms. I popped into Wasserschloss and surveyed and sniffed the 250 teas on offer and finally sampled an “Elbufer” tea and a traditional cinnamon bun. This, I thought, was a very pleasant way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Further afield, I ventured to the Alster lake, another one of Hamburg’s defining bodies of water. Unlike the Elbe, it is placid and classically beautiful. I took in the views aboard a steamer cruising along the large lake, dotted with small sailing boats and ringed by leafy banks, green parks and white stucco villas. 

Later, I wandered along the Neuer Wall, an elegant street that runs along the lake, lined with Art Nouveau townhouses, jewellers and boutiques: affluent Europe in all its glory, with a self-assurance built on the city’s chic pedigree (as the birthplace of Karl Lagerfeld and the home of Jil Sander). 

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Hamburg’s Kunstmeile or “art mile” comprises five major galleries, flanked by two very different museums on either side. A Kunstmeile pass costs €36 and is valid for 12 months, allowing you to visit each of the five institutions once. At the northern end, a short walk from the closest station, Hauptbahnhof Nord, is the superb Kunsthalle, holding one of Europe’s largest art collections.

The main Kunsthalle is all wood-panelled walls and black-and-white checkered floors, exhibiting old masters such as Lucas Cranach the Younger as well as 20th-century artists. Next door is a glass contemporary gallery, showcasing work by Andy Warhol, David Hockney and Tracey Emin. At the opposite end is the Deichtorhallen, two historic former fruit, vegetable and flower market halls converted into exhibition spaces for contemporary art and photography.

The stark art hall features cutting-edge artists such as Gilbert & George, Antony Gormley and Georg Baselitz, while exhibitions at the Haus der Photographie range from Richard Avedon, Martin Parr and Viviane Sassen. If time is limited, I’d recommend the Kunstverein Hamburg, where famed German photographer Wolfgang Tillmans has a solo show until Nov 12 displaying his art beyond the camera.

At the Kunsthalle, an exhibition called Art and Alphabet until the end of this month explores languages and writing systems through various art forms, from painting to installations.

A requisite Beatles tour was next on the agenda. The Fab Four played around 300 concerts and spent more than 12,000 hours on stage here and John Lennon said: “I grew up in Hamburg.” Musician Stefanie Hempel, armed with a ukulele, led our group through the old red light district as she sang the songs the Beatles performed in the clubs and strip joints of the Reeperbahn and Grosse Freiheit. “The Beatles will be the Schuberts and Schummans of the 20th-century,” Hempel quoted Leonard Bernstein.

Back at the Elbphilharmonie, I stepped on to the spaceship-like escalator and waited patiently for two and a half minutes to be beamed up through a white tunnel studded with thousands of glimmering discs. As I emerged on to an observation platform, a compelling vision of the River Elbe and the sweeping waterfront, fringed by cranes, came into view. The sun made its way down to the edge of the harbour, casting a white glow over the dark grey river. I couldn’t really decide what kind of person I was, whether I was an Alster or an Elbe.

Maybe, like the city, I was both. 

Essentials

Book tickets to the Elbphilharmonie (00 49 40 357 666 66). 

Tickets for the International Music Festival from April 27 – May 25 2018 are on sale from December; website as above