It's easy to see why the youthful Beatles fell in love with Hamburg. Germany's second largest city boasts a magnificent harbour right in its city centre and has more in common with canal cities like Amsterdam or Venice; locals will proudly point out that their city has more bridges than Venice.

Three rivers - the Elbe, Alster and Bille - along with a scenic grid of narrow canals called Fleete traverse Hamburg. As if that isn't enough water, the city centre boasts its very own lakes - the Inner and Outer Alster Lakes. The city centre is also home to most of Hamburg's main attractions. This half-moon area, which arches north of the Elbe, is bordered by a curve of roads whose names all end in wall (ramparts) and which mark the limits of the old city. Cutting through the middle is the Alsterfleet, a canal that separates the Altstadt (Old City) from the Neustadt (New City).