International Maritime Museum Hamburg

It is one of the biggest maritime museums I have been, 6 or 7 floors , each floor is huge with plenty of information and history. It is fascinating and informative even I am not a fan of maritime history. From ancient history on lower floors and modern history on highest floor. Seriously it can take you 3-4 hrs to visit. Highly recommended! Perhaps you can start from the top floor first with modern stuff and slowly coming down to ancient history. It was a nice walk too from the cityhall to the museum, amazing views of Hamburg. Car Parking will be tricky in this area. Storage rooms and lockers are available in museum.

This was an amazing few hours spent here. The museum boasts maritime and naval history for Germany, Europe and the world. There are so many displays including the largest collection of ship models and miniatures I have ever seen. Spanning 9 decks and some sub decks, there is something for everyone from the beginning of maritime history to the modern day. Resonance priced entry and also an excellent gift shop and an easy walk from the City centre.

What an amazing museum! This was not my first visit, but I discovered something new yet again! Pitty that the part on slave boats & trade is no longer included. The floor with models is simply mind-blowing with the amount of details as well as the quantity. Fantastic job!

We weren't planning on visiting here and only walked over after breakfast from our hotel which was close by because the weather was misty and damp. It was possibly the best unplanned visit to anywhere we've ever been, it has a very reasonable entrance price with lockers to put coats etc in for a deposit of €1. There are lift's but we chose to use the stairs as there is good things to see from them, if I remember correctly there are nine floors with off shoots running from them ! Every floor is packed with wonderfully interesting items including paintings, model boats (lot's of them !) photos, displays of various maritime equipment and memorabilia, we found the museum overwhelming in size and needs practically a whole day to appreciate properly, there is a nice cafe on the ground floor so you can get a drink and some nice food to have a well deserved break for a while. We were amazed at this museum it's a brilliant place.

Thoroughly enjoyed the museum. Very comprehensive collection and well displayed. 10 floors of artifacts! Scale models, beautiful art works, engine plant displays, weapons, anything to do with maritime history and also it's connection to Hamburg. Highly recommended!

Very big museum with 9 levels to explore! Can spend about 2 to 3 hours or more here. Lot to see and learn with interactive experiences. Good place to bring your children.

Terrific museum with so much to see. Definitely an all day visit needed. The exhibit information in English is excellent! Germans seem to know English much better than we do ourselves!

An amazingly full museum where you can spend more than 4 hours!!! It's got 9 floors with different themes, from Ancient to Renaissance ships, going up to WW2, and also some yachts and cruise ships in there. Also you get to see lots of ship-related replicas and models. Incredibly fun and interesting, worth visiting!

Great museum about the history of sailing and ocean shipping. Exhibits from ancient times until now.

This is one of the largest and most well maintained museums I've ever been to. Absolutely an essential part of your trip to Hamburg if you're even remotely interested in anything maritime related. This includes vikings, trade routes, slave trade, explorers, war ships, cargo shipping, harbour building, pirates, marine animals, fishing, treasures, ship wrecks and much more! The exhibitions stretch over nine stories with additional smaller exhibitions on various sub-floors in between. We didn't have enough time to visit every single room, but everything I saw was super well presented, interesting and dynamic. There are tours at various times in various areas as well as presentations throughout the different floors. We happened to walk in on a presentation of a container ship simulator that let you slowly, painstakingly experience what it's like to drive a large container ship along a canal leading to the harbour. It's slow. It's arduous. I thought it was incredibly boring (the simulator, not the presentation) but apparently people spend hours at home playing with these simulators. And enjoy it. For some reason. I loved the miniature ship exhibition. Thousands of miniature ships spanning several centuries of ship building and design. The piracy exhibit was also quite interesting, while the rooms on the slave trade (including a piece of an actual slave ship showing shakles and chains) and plague ships were quite harrowing though still really well presented. All the history of human activity on the seven seas seems to be brought together in this amazing building. The cafe downstairs is also reasonably priced for a museum cafe and very beautifully designed. We really enjoyed our trip to this museum.

If nine floors of model ships floats your boat, you'll love this museum. If not, I'd give it a miss.

Best museum I have ever visited and my background is in heritage preservation and anthropology so I have seen a lot of museums. Beautiful building which houses 10 floors of what used to be a private collection. The layout, design, and thoughtful displays are amazing! Great children's section on every floor where kids can interact with displays. Each floor is themed starting with cultures earliest interaction with the sea. Navigation, ship building, art, miniatures, sea life, a gigantic lego ship....sooo much stuff. This was one of the most pleasurable museums to walk around, it is serene and dim inside which really sets an amazing mood.

Can't believe I am the first one to write a review on this world-class museum! International Maritime Museum in Hamburg has information on absolutely everything related to maritime history of the world: from Vikings to Jacques-Yves Cousteau. The museum was opened in summer 2008 as a home to the biggest in the world private maritime collection. And believe me, this collection is enormous: 10 storeys filled with boat models, sea maps, navy uniforms, weapons, mini boat models and much much more. In fact it is so overwhelming, that I could hardly manage the last storey. Information provided on English as well, there are a lot of 'interaction points' so that you don't get bored. The entry is not cheap but it's so worth it. In two words: highly recommended!

Amazing maritime museum completed in 2008. Extremely comprehensive-- nine stories in all, with sub-floors in-between. Largest collection of miniature ships ever assembled -- all by the die cast process. Highlight for me: Topographic map of the entire planet showing the islands throughout the Pacific -- even Catalina Island. Topography of South American coastline shows how incredibly deep the drop-off is. The Alps, the Andes, and the Himalayas jut out dramatically. Other highlights: all types of torpedoes and other naval weaponry. Also: WWII periscope -- in working order. And a huge model of the QE II made out of legos. I was happier than a pig in sh*t.