Außenalster

The Außenalster is Hamburg's living room writ large: 164 hectares in the middle of the city, the biggest contiguous inner-city body of water in Europe. Created in the 13th century by damming the Alster river to power mills, it is today a popular-sports arena, a Sunday-walking boulevard and the place where Hamburg quietly shows off its sunnier side. The seven-and-a-half-kilometer shoreline path circles the lake in roughly an hour on foot, 25 minutes jogging or an unhurried hour by bike - cycle routes 6 and 10 lead all the way round. Between May and September, the Alsterdampfschifffahrt runs its historic boats from the Jungfernstieg jetty via Mühlenkamp, Uhlenhorster Fährhaus and Krugkoppel (10 €, one-hour round trip - a Hamburg classic; the harbor tour is fine, but this one is incomparably relaxing). In summer the water swarms with sailors: the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein and the Hamburger Segel-Club have produced their share of Olympic talent. Sunday-morning meeting point: Café Ferdinand at the Eppendorfer Mühlenkamp jetty, or the Alsterpark behind the Fairmont. From the Krugkoppel viewpoint you get the most famous Hamburg postcard view: the inner-city spires rising behind the open water. Getting there: U1/U3 Kellinghusenstraße (west bank) or Mundsburg (east bank), or a 15-minute walk from the Hauptbahnhof to the Lombardsbrücke.