Hamburg Dungeon

The Hamburg Dungeon in the Speicherstadt is the city's only horror show, and at the same time a well-made interactive run through its history - roughly 90 minutes in which live actors guide you through eleven rooms covering medieval Hamburg, the witch trials, the Great Fire of 1842, the plague, Klaus Stoertebeker and his execution on the Grasbrook. Effects, theatrical animation, suddenly opening trapdoors, lurching swing-ships and a final free-fall drop ('Free-Fall of the Damned' - 5.5 meters of sudden plunge) deliver a suitably controlled fright. Unlike a classic museum, this is about experience rather than instruction. It works for teenagers, stag parties and families with children aged 10 and up (anything younger would be traumatic). Tickets from 28 € (walk-in) down to 22 € (online advance with timed slot); family rates available. Booking ahead is essential - only leftover tickets are sold at the door. Getting there: U3 Baumwall, then a 5-minute walk over the Brooksbruecke, or U1 Messberg. Next door: Miniatur Wunderland and the Maritime Museum - on a wet Hamburg day, a perfect five-hour Speicherstadt combination. All shows can be booked in either German or English.