Here you can spend hours roaming the world in miniature scale and find many beautiful details. Who sees the skiing children in Norway, pop star DJ Bobo at the concert in Switzerland and aliens at the basketball game in the area USA?

Anyone who steps through the doors of the large brick building quickly forgets that they are in present-day Hamburg. The actors, who are beautifully costumed and made up, make sure that visitors immediately feel as if they were present at the Great Fire of 1842 or on their way with a group of buccaneers to free Klaus Störtebecker.

It could be that Hamburg's city center is home to the most seductive museum of all: There's a delicate hint of chocolate over everything, and at the end of a tour, there's something to snack on, too. In the Chocoversum, you can learn about the journey cocoa beans have to take before they become a sweet treat, and you can put together your own dream bar in the Chocowerkstatt.

Wax or reality, that's the question here. You won't find William Shakespeare here made of wax, but you will find deceptively real replicas of Hamburg's panic musician Udo Lindenberg, fashion czar Karl Lagerfeld or Queen Elizabeth II. In Germany's oldest wax museum, you have to look closely to be sure that a figure hasn't just blinked.

Impressive and beautiful cars are the focus here - and without glass walls, so you can take a close look at exhibits. In addition, there are always special exhibitions, a museum cinema and a Porsche 356 driving simulator, with which you can get up to speed very quickly.

Whatever animal you call your favourite, in Hamburg’s iconic zoo Hagenbeck you possibly will find it. More than 14,000 animals from all continents live in spacious compounds and lovely parcs. Do not miss the Arctic World, the House of orang-utans and the impressive elephants herd. Hagenbeck also provides educational sessions and rallies for little kids to learn and explore the wildlife.

Panik City is neither an ordinary exhibition nor a museum with the collected works of Udo Lindenberg. Here you can paint liqueurs like the panic rocker, stand on stage with him with 3D glasses and finally become a member of his background choir.

The goal at Dialoghaus? Visitors are to enter into a dialogue with people who live very differently from themselves. You'll find out just how exciting this is when you follow the blind or deaf guides through the exhibitions, where they show you what it's like to live in the dark or in silence.

We so often hear about people who left their homeland to make their fortune somewhere else. But what does that actually mean? How did they get to another country, what did they experience on the way and why do people emigrate from their home countries nowadays? These questions are answered by the very impressively designed permanent exhibition and the special exhibitions in the BallinStadt Emigration Museum. The location of the museum is also something very special: In these "emigrant halls" migrants waited at the beginning of the 20th century for the start of their journey to a new life.

Over big cities like Hamburg, it can sometimes be hard to see all the stars in the sky because the city itself shines so brightly. But don't worry, the planetarium can help. There, the impressive images of the starry sky or the Milky Way are accompanied by explanations and stories. No wonder the planetarium is also called the "star theater".