14. July 2025
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Museums & Exhibitions

Cap San Diego Museum Ship Hamburg

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

Cap San Diego Hamburg

9.50 EUR
Cap San Diego Hamburg
4.2

Rating

 4.2/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Amazing large historic ship
  • A vast part of the ship is accessible
  • Several tours available per year

Flyctory.com Cons

  • At some point, I missed the directions of the tour

The Cap San Diego is a general cargo vessel, which has been in duty between 1962 and 1986. Since then, it is located at Hamburg Harbour as a museum ship. The 11,750 hp vessel, which is roughly 160 meters long and 21 metres wide, is the largest museum ship in the world, which is still able to navigate. It is not just only doing some 20 trips a year (under non-Covid conditions), but also serves as a hotel and restaurant while at the quay in the center of the Northern German city.

 

Cap San Diego – Location & Admission

The Cap San Diego is locted in the very center of Hamburg’s harbor district, the Speicherstadt with the Elbe Philharmonic Hall and Germany’s best rated attraction, the Miniatur Wunderland, is just a short walk away. Apart from ferry boats, many harbor cruise tours depart from that area. Another famous museum ship, the Rickmer Rickmers is located in short distance as well. I recommend to use public transport for your visit. The next Underground station is Baumwall (U3), the next S-Bahn commuter rail is departing from Landungsbrücken.

Adult admission to the Cap San Diego is 9.50 Euro. You can typically visit the ship daily from 10:00 to 18:00 hrs. I would in general recommend to check their website or social media in order to avoid that the ship is cruising that day or that it is in a wharf for repair work.

 

Cap San Diego Museum Ship – The Visit

In general, there was a round trip marked in the ship. Unfortunately, that one had some confusing spots (aka: I have been too dumb to follow), so that I split my review in an on deck and an under deck section.

Cap San Diego – On Deck

The Cap San Diego is regarded to be one of the most beautiful freight ships ever building. Even though it is still made for carrying freight and thus is less comfortable than a passenger vessel, it is really lovely to explore all the facilities of it. The vessel even features a small water pool (which is not in use). A major part of being on deck is of course to enjoy the views of Hamburg and the harbor.

 

Cap San Diego – Under Deck

Going below deck is of course the key part of the visit. You could explore quite a lot of facilities during my visit. However, parts of the rooms and cabins can only be watched through plexiglass shields. Regarding that the Cap San Diego is a freight ship, it felt surprisingly comfortable.

One of the most interesting parts of the visit is of course visiting the navigation offices and the bridge of the ship.

The freight room of the ship features an arts exhibition, which I visited rather shortly. You head deeper down the vessel, where you pass the crew compartment and sections, before heading down to the engine room. The engines are of course in excellent conditions as the ship is still able to maneuver.

 

Cap San Diego Museum Ship – Services

There is a cafe on board the Cap San Diego, which also features bistro alike snacks. At the time of my visit (which was already quite late that day), it was closed. The ship also features absolutely fine sanitary equipment.

 

Cap San Diego Museum Ship – My View

No matter if it is a rather small boat like the Georg Breusing in Emden, East Frisia, or a large ship like the Cap San Diego – I really enjoy visiting historic nautical vessels. This one is of course really special and it is a lot of fun to explore all the rooms on board the ship – or just grab a deckchair and enjoy the sun and the smell of Hamburg Harbor. Great that you can visit so many places and there is a lot of information around so that you can dive deeper into the history of the ship or its functions, if you like.

 

Hamburg – Travel-related postings

Here are all my Travel-related postings about Hamburg:

 

Superb 2021 Travel Reviews

Here are all my travel reviews released in 2021, which got a rating better than 4.5:

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