Self-Guided Tours in Hamburg

Hamburg's two walks pull in opposite directions from the same old town. One stays inland, past the Rathaus, St Peter's Church and the jagged brick prow of the Chilehaus, an Expressionist office building shaped like a ship's bow; St Nikolai's bombed-out spire, kept standing as a war memorial rather than rebuilt, marks the route's more sombre stop. The other heads for the water: Landungsbrücken's piers, the Alter Elbtunnel running under the river, the historic Rickmer Rickmers ship moored nearby, and the Elbphilharmonie's wave-shaped roof rising over the old Speicherstadt warehouses.

The two games barely resemble each other. The sightseeing walk arrives as a ten-digit World City Trail code; once it's entered, GPS handles the routing between stops and a spoken option covers any clue you'd rather hear than read. The waterfront game skips the app entirely — after booking, a mobile access code unlocks thirteen puzzle-based challenges built around a fictional pirate cook's story, working through the tunnels and piers and pausing mid-story for as long as you like. Both run close to three hours if played straight through, though neither needs to be.

Practical. Hamburg runs close to 22C in July and 4C in January, with wind off the harbour cutting through both routes more than the temperature alone suggests — a windproof layer matters even in summer near the water. The Elbphilharmonie's plaza is free to visit and gives a wide harbour view without a ticket, worth the detour even outside the puzzle. An HVV day ticket covers buses, trains and harbour ferries, useful if a leg of either walk gets cut short by rain. A fish sandwich from a harbour stall is the standard break on the sightseeing route.