Hamburg is one of Germany’s largest cities and home to some of the most iconic images of the country. Hamburg tends to invoke polarizing opinions among people, as either you love the city or its a boring waste of time. It lacks the heritage and cultural identity of Munich and the youthful urban culture of Berlin. It also cannot really be described as a compromise between the two. The city was thoroughly destroyed in WWII, and very little prewar architecture survives, but the uniqueness of the cityscape makes Hamburg somewhat endearing. Its is full hidden corners, dramatic canals and dense Urban environments that are otherwise not found in German cities. It is a city worth exploring in its own right.
The city was subjected to a firebombing comparable to that of Dresden. As a result, virtually nothing survives of prewar Hamburg other than several areas of reconstructed buildings, including the famous Speicherstadt. Much of inner-Hamburg was built of relatively modern stone and concrete architecture. This made reconstruction was more feasible than in the elegant baroque cityscape of Dresden. That being said, you will find very few old buildings outside of the immediate city center. The exception is western part of Altona, which looks to have survived the firebombing, but not the 1970s.
