The Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany, with its 1.8 million inhabitants, is the second largest city in Germany. Economically and culturally, Hamburg is also the centre of all Northern Germany. Approximately 3.5 million people live in the metropolitan region of Hamburg. For them, Hamburg is a shopping and cultural metropolis. With 755 square kilometres, the city area is seven times larger than Paris and two and a half times larger than London. Up to 14% of the city area is made up of green spaces and recreational areas. Hamburg boasts 31 theatres, six music halls, 10 cabarets and 50 state and private museums. They range from the Kunsthalle Art Museum and the State Opera to music clubs on the Reeperbahn. The Reeperbahn, formerly known as the "Sin Mile", has numerous bars, cafés, and discos as well as many other interesting sites that can not be found anywhere else. The "Kiez", as the natives call it, even gave the Beatles their start in the early 1960s.
For more info, please see: http://english.hamburg.de/.