Hard to believe, but Altona and Hamburg were two rivals. Now Altona is part of Hamburg (a nice,…read morecharismatic part), but I guess there still was a need to have its own museum. And I must say, well done guys! Small, but very informative museum, revolving around Elbe and everything which comes with it: shipbuilding, whaling(thank God it's in the past), fishery, sea trade, port and so on. A message is clear: the river is a key to regions past and the future. There's a beautiful collection of figureheads occupying the whole room. Also a hall dedicated to Schleswig-Holstein, Helgoland island in particular. This museum is very similar to surprise Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte (Hamburg Museum), but smaller. It has a few things, which its bigger brother doesn't have: the whole interactive section dedicated to kids - Kinderolymp and a restaurant, Vierländer Kater, a house in the house, replicating typical Northen German tavern of 18th century. The restaurant itself worth visiting, great concept!

I have been to Hamburg so many times that I thought I knew the city…read more Apparently, I can't be further away from being wrong. This museum - that is located on beautiful park with idyllic lake teaches you all about Hamburg and its history. It's located not far from U-bahn stop St. Pauli, so it can't get any easier than that, not to mention it's not far should you be interested to check out all the "interesting" entertainment on the infamous Reeperbahn. Again, dragged by my history and museum geek boyfriend, I came here by force (if not by free will) although I wasn't literally kicking and screaming. If it were up to me, I'd rather spend my time at Monckebergstrasse, but oh well - I guess a little history won't hurt. This museum has very interesting models of pretty much everything in Hamburg. At least you won't be bored by history by looking at interesting teeny weeny intricate models. It taught you what Hamburg really was back then when some Christian missionaries (and bishops) chose to settle here and named the town Hammaburg. It's almost like reading it on wikipedia, but with a lot of cute models. See? not boring. The layout of the museum was cool too and they had a room full of model ships just like in Copenhagen's Orlogsmuseet, and the most cool about this museum is that on the top floor, they have a working railway model of Hamburg in the scale of 1:32. That was amazing to watch. They did have people operating the trains and all. I felt like I went back to my childhood again. On the basement floor they had small exhibition of what Hamburg was like under Nazi reign, along with recreation of shops, places under World War II. Very interesting. All in all, a very interesting place to visit, especially if you're interested about history. ...and oh, did you know that Reeperbahn literally means the rope way? It's where back in the yore they made ropes for the ships. See? More knowledge of history here! I'm getting like 1% smarter than before... :P

The museum itself is a nice museum with a lot of interesting things, but after seeing the miniature…read morewonderland and the maritime museum, I had more than enough miniature buildings and boats. Only was able to stay 15 minutes before I couldn't take anymore of it.

Great space; pieces are great including the two Lagerfeld dresses when you enter the museum. I…read morefound an elevator but I don't think it was listed on the map. Restaurant wasn't too bad and the price was great. The museum store is pretty much what you'd find in any other museum.

This review is for the Tattoo Exhibit only…read more Went to the museum today excited to see what would be portrayed about Tattoo history etc. Basically, it was a lot of photographs of modern day tattoo wearers talking about their tattoos. A few old machines in a display box, a ton of tattoo books on a table, and displayed pigments. The exhibit seemed super touristy in a sense that it was very basic, and maybe curated by someone fascinated by the culture, and not actually a part of it. I'd give it less stars if it weren't for the historic Skin Samples on display. That saved the exhibit. Everything else you can see in the same fashion on the internet. Pictures of pictures etc.

Id read about this secret suggestion on Qype before and desided to take my Dutch friends here on a…read moresundayafternoon. Perfect opportunity considering everything is closed on Sunday and its just near to my house... Actually we wanted to go to the Hagenbeck Zoo, but it was already 3 oclock...And this museum is about animal watching as well...so why not?! This museum is fantastic! The bird section is extremely funny, escpecially the German names. Not that the German language is funny, but more the comparison with the Dutch bird names... The fact that all these animals arent real doesnt make it less entertaining..You can sit next to them, touch them (thats actually forbidden..), take some great photos and compare heights. Last but not least, you dont have to pay entrance, which allows you to just enjoy a short hour of fun and education about animals and the past. Great activity for young and old! And a good laugh..if you go there with some friends.

This museum was really amazing. It reminded me of the Natural History Museum in NYC, but without…read morethe barriers between you and the animals. You could get really close to the preserved animals and it made for a very interesting experience that really gave you a better sense of what the animals are like (you don't realize how big a grizzly is until you stand up next to it).

Oh, this place is so great! It's a spice museum! You can…read morefind plenty of information about spices, their origins, their usage and how there were and are imported. The space is actually in the Speicherstadt, the largest warehouse district in the world, located right in the port of Hamburg. The museum itself is in a warehouse that used to belong to a spice trader, so it's the perfect location for a museum dedicated to educating and advising people on the origin and usage of spices. There are over 500 years of spicy history in this museum! You can touch and even taste over 50 different spices throughout the museum. It's an amazing visit for anyone who is interested in food preparation, history and spices. Also, the entry ticket is a bag of black pepper, so you're getting something out of this visit in any case! You can also buy spices and spice mixtures after your visit. I've been back many times and absolutely love it.

This museum was very fun. It smells very nice inside, although the spices out on display to smell…read morehave pretty much lost most of their smell / blended together with other spices. There were four samples that you could try (roasted chickpeas, sugared chickpeas, and two other sweet things). It was pretty cool walking around and seeing all the different spices.