What should I do on a weekend in Hamburg?

[Whistle73]

Going with DH at end of June for two nights - what's not to be missed? We'd like a bit of culture, some sightseeing, people watching, food and beer. Not bothered about shopping and won't have time to travel out I don't think.

Has anyone any suggestions?

St. Pauli is Hamburg’s coolest neighbourhood. Literally every single wall or door is covered with colorful artwork here. The streets are lined with little artsy stores and quirky cafes where you can spend an entire day. It also has a lot of history. You can see it in the architecture, old houses and churches.
Check out the underground Elbtunnel. You can access the entry point from the harbour and reach the other side. When you enter, you can walk from one side to another in less than 10 minutes and explore the area on the other side of the harbour.
Miniature Wonderland is amazing. There is a tiny version of literally everything – houses, cities, roads, volcanoes, stations, airports, festivals, beaches, swimming pools and little people. There are buttons that you can press to play around and move the trains, make people dance and move other things around.
On Sunday morning from 7 am to 9:30 am, the fish vendors set up der Fischmarkt.There is food, live music and an atmosphere like no other. Its actually one of the most popular things to do in Hamburg.
Evening illumination cruise through the harbour.
Guided tour of Elbphilharmonie
Check out Nikolaifleet – Hamburg’s prettiest canal.

Thanks- that's massively helpful! Love the sound of the tunnel, fish market and boat trip particularly but it all sounds wonderful

the zoo is pretty nice too.
boat trips - harbour or alster lake
if you are sporty - running walking around the big lake is amazing (it's about 5 miles)
for a special meal: have 'labskaus' at 'friesenkeller'

The 'new' opera house is worth a look, especially if you can get tickets. The programme is very varied, with lots of different music genres included.

https://www.elbphilharmonie.de/en/

I can also recommend the casual dining at Stoertebeker's

The view from the plaza is great and lots of large windows means there is shelter from the rain for the days you need it. Entry to the place is free but you need a ticket (see website)

The city is quite small and easy to get around in the integrated public transport system. You can get a ticket for one, three or five days which gives you free access to public transport and discounted entry to attractions.

https://www.hamburg.com/elbphilharmonie/

The city hall is lovely, regular tours open to the public, the English and the French versions run at least once a day.

https://www.hamburg.com/sights/history-and-heritage/11747650/city-hall/

Hamburg is famous for having more bridges than Venice.

In the dumber months, a boat tour of the central lakes (inner and outer alster) and/if the harbour are lovely.

https://alstertouristik.de/fat-event/alster-round-trip/?lang=en

Lots of different routes, all covered in English on that site.

Stroll down the Reeperbahn at night it starts to get busy from around midnight! There's plenty of pubs and clubs, the old cellar clubs where the Beatles once played are largely still there and host new, young bands. You can make a night of it and then go straight to the Fischmarkt (I think starts earlier than 7am?) for breakfast (Fischbroetchen) and to enjoy the atmosphere.
For boat tours, you don't have to buy an expensive tourist tour. There's boats by the public transport system, the HVV, that you can go on if you have a day ticket anyway. It goes up the Elbe to (I think) Finkenwerder and back; you can just stay on and make it a round trip.
Also nice is the Lange Reihe in St Georg - it's the 'gay quarter' and has super nice little cafes and restaurants, many of them Portuguese and Vietnamese /Thai. There's also the odd bar or two if you rather fancy cocktails. They all tend to have a few tables outside so great for people watching
The zoo is lovely and there's also a great park in the city, Planten un Bloomen.
The new 'Elphi' (opera house) is meant to be great but I've never been in it so can't quite say!

Another vote for the Friesenkelker restaurant , which is close to both the city hall and the quay for the boat trips at Jungfernsteig I tried to find a web site but it looks permanently closed.

Loads of other restaurants along Jungfernsteig and colonnaden

https://www.hamburg.de/colonnaden/

The restaurant at the city hall is also lovely for a treat

Loads of fast food outlets all over, you won't starve...

https://plantenunblomen.hamburg.de/veranstaltungskalender/

The musical fountains play around 22:00 on summer evenings. Uncanny how the fountains, water and light are synced to the music.

A river cruise that takes in the Speicherstadt, Fischmarkt at 7am or before after an evening in the Kiez / Reeperbahn. Shopping and coffee outside the Rathaus, a stroll around the lakes,

fischmarket used to be open from 5am (student days were 20 years ago...)
we used to go clubbing, krabbenbrötchen, first tube home.

Oh yes, @greenelephantscarf

As a family, We would go to the fish market reasonably early. There would always be some people in evening dress on their way home. To me they seemed impossibly glamorous, I would love an evening followed by home via the fish market

Open in summer from 5am, sigh

https://www.hamburg.com/sights/maritime/11747570/fish-market/

Thanks everyone, this is all really great. Going to have to convince DH he really wants to go to Miniatur Wonderland! I bet he'd love it if he did. I'll swap him for going round the U boat in the harbour!

if you like a good view, going up (stairs or lift) the michel church tower is very nice too.

Just wanted to update - we had a really good time!

I recommend getting the ferry from Langdungsbrucken to Övelgönne to the beach there - and there are some good beach restaurants and bars there. We zipped up and down in the ferry a lot using our Hamburg Card which also gets you free bus and tube travel.

We did the markets on Sunday and did a lake cruise too which unfortunately was all in German but still fun.

I highly recommend St Nikolai church tower which had great views and was a very moving war monument.

The Portuguese quarter was great for food and fischbrotchen are just about the nicest things ever!!

One point - the shops are great too but everything is closed on a Sunday.