Europe 2024 Trip Report So Far: Back from 18-day Europe Trip, Review: Iberia Business Class DFW to MAD, Hits and Misses from my First MSC Cruise, DoubleTree by Hilton Amsterdam Centraal Station Review, Two Days in Amsterdam, Visiting Efteling the Dutch Fairytale Theme Park, Hilton Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Slumming it in Economy on KLM from AMS to Houston, Two Nights at Holiday Inn Hamburg–Hafen City, Visiting the Beautiful Fjords of Norway, Visiting Copenhagen and Alesund
Since our cruise left out of Kiel, Germany, we spent the night in nearby Hamburg before and after. To be honest, Hamburg was my least favorite stop on our 18-day trip. There’s nothing wrong with Hamburg, don’t get me wrong. It just didn’t stand out compared to Efteteling, Amsterdam, Copenhagen and the Norwegian Fjords.
The Speicherstadt
Our hotel was located in the Speicherstadt warehouse district. We walked around to get a feel for this UNESCO World Heritage Site.
I was a bit surprised at how few people were in this area, considering it is one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions.
Miniatur Wonderland
I booked advance tickets to Miniatur Wonderland, which is a big indoor model train display. It’s really much more than model trains, though. There are model cruise ships, airplanes, theme parks and more inside.
Of course, my favorite part was the model airport:
The planes actually took off and landed!
Despite requiring a timed ticket, Miniatur Wonderland was still fairly crowded, in my opinion. I’m glad we went, but I wouldn’t go back a second time.
Katzentempel Cat Cafe
My daughter considers Katzentempel cat cafe to be the highlight of our time in Hamburg.
If you’re not into cats, I don’t recommend it. The food is all vegan.
My daughter loved it so much that we went twice! Notice the cute cocoa paw prints on the plate:
Final Thoughts
While Hamburg wasn’t the highlight of our European trip, it was a clean city that was easy to navigate. Since we were worn out by this point in the trip, we skipped a few other Hamburg highlights including Chocoversum and Elbphilharmonie.
I hope the vegan food doesn’t apply to the cats.
@Christian Hehe. We saw quite a few vegan restaurants in Hamburg.
Yes! My daughter is also obsessed with cats but we can’t own one do to allergies
My kids are obsessed with cat cafes! We let them go to the one in Poland 5 times (no joke). I personally don’t get it, as we have two cats at home., though they live outside. We can create a cat cafe of sorts on our porch.