Forget Amsterdam and Venice: NYT names Hamburg among best canal cities
The New York Times has looked beyond Amsterdam and Venice for the best canal cities in the world, and Hamburg has made it onto the list.
The New York Times has highlighted Hamburg as one of the top canal cities in Europe, alongside Amsterdam and Venice, despite the latter two being mentioned earlier. The newspaper's six "most delightful" European canal cities include Hamburg, Haarlem, Ghent, Strasbourg, Livorno, and Aveiro. Hamburg, Germany's second-largest city, boasts a network of waterways and cultural landmarks such as the Elphilharmonie and Speicherstadt.
The NYT recommended taking a short ferry ride, the number 62, to explore the city's waterfront attractions in just half an hour. Other cities recommended by the newspaper were Haarlem, a Dutch counterpart to Amsterdam that can be reached in just 20 minutes by train, Ghent with its Gothic architecture, Strasbourg known for its wine and wine cellars, Livorno in Italy with its gondola-like boats, and Aveiro in Portugal.
As Amsterdam's popularity has surged, leading to a record 23.7 million tourist overnight stays in 2025, residents have filed a lawsuit against the city due to the inability to effectively enforce the 20 million overnight-stay cap.
Written by urgent.news from IamExpat Germany (All Germany News)'s reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
