The Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg is located on the rivers Alster and Elbe in Northern Germany, approx. 90 km south-east of the North Sea and approx. 80 km south-west of the Baltic Sea. Hamburg as a city-state is one of the federated states of Germany and the country’s second largest city. It is the seventh biggest city in the European Union and the largest city in the EU that is not the capital of a member state. Around 4.3 million people live in the Hamburg metropolitan region.
Hamburg is renowned as the green metropolis by the water - the port, the river Elbe, the Alster lakes and the numerous small rivers, canals, waterways, inlets and brooks have helped shape urban development and are still characteristic of today’s modern city. With over 2,300 bridges, Hamburg has more bridges than both Amsterdam and Venice together.
In the public squares, boulevards and shopping passages of downtown Hamburg as well as in the port and the young, multicultural districts, one can feel the creative climate that makes this green metropolis by the water something special. The Hanseatic city is recognised as one of the most beautiful cities in the heart of Europe. Inhabitants and visitors appreciate the special quality of life on the Elbe and the Alster, the numerous parks as well as the maritime atmosphere of this unique city.
