Hamburg or Bremen or ...

How long is your trip? Where else are you going? How long were you thinking of spending in Hamburg and/or Bremen? Who is traveling with you, and what are the ages and interests of the travelers? Will you have a car? and, most important: How did Hamburg and Bremen enter into your travel equation (in other words, why are you asking about them specifically)? Without this kind of information, no one could even begin to guess an answer to help you.

Personally, Hamburg is my favorite city in Germany. I've only driven through Bremen, so I can't really comment too much on it. But of course, we need all the information noted by the last poster to make any kind of informed recommendation. As much as I like Hamburg, it isn't very convenient if the rest of your Germany trip includes, for example, Munich and the Bavarian Alps.

Hi, Hamburg is, of course, much more popular than Bremen. It's been twenty years since I was last in Bremen. Given just the two, I would choose Hamburg, although on my first trip to Germany, I went to both. Whether you should skip them depends upon at the expense of which city and your time factor. Say, if it's between Frankfurt, Köln, Düsseldorf or Bremen, I'd skip Bremen...to be sure. There are a lot more interesting cities/towns up north worthy of visiting than Bremen. If you are spending most of the time in Bavaria, you can take the CNL night train Munich-Hamburg. From there take the ICE to Berlin, if that city is also part of your itinerary.

Thank you and sorry, I see my question was not clear. Essentially, if you had to pick one, which one would it be. It's a stop over on the way to Scandanavia from Italy. We've seen a lot of Germany and don't plan to see any of it on this trip, but I've always been curious about Hamburg and Bremen, but wonder if there is enough touristy things to keep us entertained for a stop on the way further north... or skip it all together and focus on Scandanavia.

Fun stuff to do in Hamburg... Miniatur Wunderland. Walk around HafenCity, Speicherstadt, and the area around the Binnenalster. Pretty good municipal art museum (has several of Caspar David Friedrich's best known paintings), the huge International Maritime Museum, the haunting ruins of the former St. Nikolai-Kirche. Enjoy the local seafood-heavy cuisine, which is completely different from what most people think of as typical German food. Check out the huge Rathaus, which is bigger and more elaborate than many countries' national parliament buildings. And if you like your evening entertainment a little... um.. more "blue", there's this street called the Reeperbahn in the St. Pauli district...

Hi, If it's history you are interested in, specifically Prussian hiatory, choose Hamburg; you can go to a couple of Hamburg's suburbs, Pinneberg and Friedrichsruh, by taking the S-Bahn from Hamburg Hbf. to see these interesting, worthwhile museums/houses. Both are within walking distance from the S-Bahn stop.

Definitely Hamburg! Michaeliskirche, Landungsbruecken, townhall, Jungfernsteg and of course walking thru the Old Elbe Tunnel (over 100 yrs old). Best of all: no admission charge (except for the elevator to the top of Michaelis Kirche). If it rains: Miniatur Wunderland (get advance tickets - otherwise long line-ups).