Hotels near Elbphilharmonie and HafenCity

The Elbphilharmonie is Hamburg's defining 21st-century landmark - a glass wave-form concert hall by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron perched on top of a 1963 cocoa warehouse (Kaispeicher A) at the Elbe river tip of HafenCity. Opened in January 2017 after ten years of construction, the building stands 110 metres tall and holds three concert halls, a hotel and 45 apartments. The Grand Hall (Grosser Saal) seats 2,100 in a vineyard arrangement around a central stage with acoustic panels shaped by Japanese sound engineer Yasuhisa Toyota. The building hosts 500+ concerts per year.

You do not need a concert ticket to visit. The public Plaza observation deck at 37 metres wraps 360 degrees around the building and gives free harbour views - reserve a timed ticket online at least one day ahead (a same-day ticket at the ground-floor box office costs 3 EUR). The 82-metre curved escalator up to the Plaza is a set-piece in itself. HafenCity around it is Europe's largest inner-city development, adding 157 hectares of new city on former dock land - walk the promenades along Grasbrookhafen for the finest new architecture.

Pro Tip: Book the Plaza slot 90 minutes before sunset - you get golden hour on the harbour and evening blue hour without moving. Concert seats in the Grand Hall stalls have restricted views; the vineyard tiers above give the best sightlines and acoustics.