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Live bands playing at Hamburg’s Reeperbahn Festival. Photo courtesy of pred2k via Flickr.
Whether hosting the world’s largest port festival or a weekend of partying in the city’s notorious Reeperbahn red light district, Hamburg’s ‘work hard, play hard’ motto means there’s always plenty to see and do in Germany’s second city. From live music extravaganzas to old-fashioned funfairs, here’s our selection of Hamburg’s top festivals and events.
Reeperbahn Festival
The top date for music lovers is Hamburg’s Reeperbahn Festival, held in the city’s hippest nightlife district each September. Following the blueprint of Texas mega-festival South by Southwest, the 3-day festival takes over dozens of music venues, nightclubs and bars along Reeperbahn’s ‘Wicked Mile’ with live music from over 200 new and upcoming bands and artists, and thousands of music industry representatives flying in from around the globe.
Hamburg Port Anniversary
Celebrating its legacy as the one-time ‘Gateway to the World’, Hamburg marks the anniversary of its historic port each May with the world’s biggest port festival. A mammoth 5-day event held along the HafenCity waterfront and pulling in crowds of around 1.5 million, the festival includes a grand fireworks display, a dragon boat race and boat procession, a tug boat ballet and a flotilla of historic ships, along with plenty of live music, family entertainment and street food stalls.
Hamburger Dom
Stretching over a 3.3 km plot at the Heiligengeistfeld fair ground, the Hamburger Dom is Germany’s biggest and longest-running funfair, held 3 times a year in spring, summer and autumn, and entertaining locals with high-speed rollercoasters and hair-raising amusement rides, fireworks displays, circus acts and illusionists. This is the place for good old-fashioned fun, so take a ride on the iconic Big Wheel, try your luck at some nostalgic funfair games and stuff your face with cotton candy and German sausages.
Long Night of the Museums
Hamburg is another city that takes part in Germany’s famous Long Night of Museums, an evening of cultural events held at the city’s top museums and galleries, including the Hamburg Emigration Museum Ballinstadt, Hamburger Kunsthalle, the Hamburg International Maritime Museum and the Deichtorhallen. Tickets include entrance to 53 venues between 6:00pm-2:00am, as well as free shuttle buses connecting the museums, and they’ll be a packed schedule of workshops, exhibitions, live music and artist appearances.
Alster Fair
Summer might be nearly over, but there’s still one event left on the calendar – the annual Alster Fair, held on the Alster Lake waterfront in late August or early September. Centered around the Jungfernstieg promenade, festivities include wake boarding, rowing and boat races, live music and street theater and nightly fireworks displays over the lake, along with a Ferris wheel, a dance floor, a handicrafts market and plenty of delicious street food.
Hamburg’s Top Festivals and Events from Germany Things to Do
