Elbphilharmonie Exterior Guided Tour in German Only

Learn everything about the world’s best acoustic hall from a licensed guide — history, architectural features, scandals, finances, and insider info.

Your experience

A walk around the Elphi will leave you wondering how the world’s best acoustic hall is located amid the noisiest port, jutting out into the Elbe River teeming with blaring horns and portly commotion. With specially trained and licensed guides, you can dig into everything about Hamburg’s greatest cultural project on this 1-hour guided tour.

World’s best acoustic hall

Your guide will tell you how architects and acousticians collaborated to design a concert hall such that each person feels like a part of the action every time they visit. That’s why whether the hall is full or empty, whether one is seated closest to the orchestra or at the far back, all seats of the Elphi are the best seats! Learn how its walls and ceiling are adorned with 10,000 gypsum fiber panels, each uniquely shaped to reflect and disperse sound perfectly creating a visual stunner, known as the white skin. Your guide will also reveal how 2,100 chairs are brilliantly arranged to rise in steep tiers around the orchestra, each seat not over 30 meters from the conductor. And how all these features increased the cost of construction.

Insider insights

Your knowledgeable guide will also let you in on controversies and scandals shrouding Elphi like how transforming an old warehouse into a brilliant glass facade that resembles a wave and houses the world’s best acoustic hall exceeded budget by 10 times and was completed 7 years later than planned. You’ll also get a glimpse of what happens behind the scenes and the daily maintenance of the Elbphilharmonie. You'll leave with insider information, hidden numbers and obscure facts.