Hamburg is after Berlin Germany’s second largest city. With 1.7 million inhabitants in the City of Hamburg and 4.3 million in the Greater Hamburg area it is economically and culturally the center of all of Northern Germany.

Hamburg is both a city and one of Germany’s 16 federal states. The city area is six times bigger than Paris.

Hamburg has 2,302 bridges – more than Venice and Amsterdam combined.

Hamburg’s harbor ranks at #2 in Europe and #9 worldwide.

Between 1850 and 1934, more than 5 million people emigrated through the port of Hamburg. For them, Hamburg was literally the Gateway to the World.

The origin of the “hamburger” is not very clear. One version is that at the end of 1800's, European emigrants reached America on the ships of the Hamburg Lines and were served meat patties quickly cooked on the grill and placed between two pieces of bread.

Hamburg’s sister city in the United States is Chicago.

The local soccer team Hamburger SV (HSV) is the only soccer team to have played in the Bundesliga (Germany’s top soccer league) in every season since the league’s formation in 1963.

The Beatles started their musical career in a Hamburg nightclub.