I love the Modelleisenbahn Miniatur Wunderland. It’s really great. You feel like a little child even when you are really old. You have to got there really early or take a lot a time with you cause the queue is always quite long. But it is definitly worth it.

Miniatur Wunderland is the world's largest model railway, open to the public as a museum of incredibly small things in Hamburg's Speicherstadt district. Spanning two floors, the museum makes an incredible effort to recreate some of the world's most interesting locations at incredibly small scales. The vehicles and trains are all traditional model sized, which means that everything else is even smaller - the people (and there are a lot of them) are all 2cm tall, hand constructed and hand painted. Most of the vehicles around Miniatur Wunderland are actually moving, with magnets under the roads pulling cars along (EDIT: Not exactly. Jay16k explains this best here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/liron/2206559543/#comment721... ).

The attention to detail at Miniatur Wunderland is astounding - detailing on cars, people, trains... the most amazing detail of them all is the interaction between elements, like spontaneous traffic jams which clear themselves out.

Every 10 minutes or so they dim the lights to red to simulate sundown, then fade to complete darkness for about 3 minutes before gradually bringing up "morning" with blue lights and then turn the lights back on entirely. This gives you a good chance to see some of the more impressive installments in their "natural" surrounding which they are most famous for, such as Las Vegas or the Reeperbahn.

We went through the entire museum twice, and only discovered some of the "hidden" constructions, like area 51 and Atlantis, on our second round. There are a ton of these around the museum, like cities underground and trains running under the floorboards, so make sure you look both down and up when walking through!

At Miniatur Wunderland you can visit:
Knuffingen (Fictional German city)
Hamburg (Germany)
Harz (Germany)
Kiruna (Sweden)
Yosemite National Park (USA)
Mount Rushmore (USA)
Miami, FL (USA)
Las Vegas, Nevada (USA)
Cape Canaveral (USA)
Key West (USA)
Grand Canyon (USA)
Area 51 (USA)
The Austrian Alps
Tessin (Switzerland)
Wallis (Switzerland)

France and Africa are in the works and should be finished in 2012 (!)

Extremely recommended, a wonderful way to spend a sunday! Don't forget to bring your camera (I did, which is why all my photos are horrible quality and taken with a cellphone cam).

See my photos in the Qype place gallery (or here on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/liron/sets/72157603761714749/) and catch my video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy2ZiHNtGVs

if you haven't been there, go there! the miniaturwunderland is a incredible place. suited in beautiful old warehouses of the hamburger speicherstadt two model railway freaks built the worlds biggest model railway. they started 2001 with a model of the hamburg harbour but since then the wonderland has grown continuesly year by year. the alps, norway, switzerland, usa, etc. everything is sculptured beautifully and filled with tons of details (which are the true highlights of the hole thing, because you can find millions of funny and bizarre everyday situations, which often refer to current news/events, i.e. strike of the bundsbahn 2007). and it is not only about railways, the whole thing is a computer controlled super system, which includes day and night changes every five minutes, streets full of traffic, police and fire brigade operations, boats travelling on the seas and in the harbour, etc... amazing! and it is getting bigger and bigger every day...

Reason for this report:
1. Personally, I am a railway fan and own a digital model railway in scale 1:87 constructed by Märklin of Göppingen in Germany.
2. Men and women differ much from each other's. Whereas men are mostly interested in technical stuff, women are more interested in landscapes.
In this report I want to invite every visitor to Hamburg to go and see the "Miwula" as the Mini Wonderland call themselves. Additionally, I shall give a few tips.

Owner:
At the end of the 90s the Braun brothers Gerret and Freddy of Hamburg had the idea to build the world's largest model railway and to show it to the public against entrance fees. As they both seem to be "crazy guys", they have not only tried to be the largest, but also to amend unique highlights. Unfortunately I don't know any of them, I have seen them only on TV.
Until today, their company has grown to as much as 100 employees.
Site:
The "Miwula" is located in the "Speicherstadt" (= storage quarter where old storage houses are located) on the 4th level of Block D on the street Kehrwieder #2. It can best be reached by public transport. The subway station "Baumwall" on the yellow line "U3" is only 10 minutes walk away from the "Miwula". For car fans, there are some pay parking lots available, which are quickly overcrowded on the weekend or during the holiday season.

Waiting hours:
Since the "Miwula" has opened in 2001, it has become one of the main attractions in downtown Hamburg. As it is only possible to see something if there are not more than about 100 people inside, the Miwula Management has decided not to let more than these 100 people inside. If there are more visitors, they will have to wait until other people have left again. On weekends and during the holiday season, it may happen that you wait more than an hour.
VERY GOOD: as a spezial serviced the "Miwula" offers on ist website statistics about the waiting hours of the past and predict the visitors of the next days including waiting hours. Usually, there are more visitors around lunch time.

NICE: on the homepage you can also find suggestions where to go elsewhere in Hamburg. What a pity that they have only two suggestions.
Opening hours:
Daily from 9.30 AM until 6.00 PM, on Tuesday until 9 PM
On the weekend from 8.30 AM until 8 PM. Especially in the evening hours the "Miwula" is highly flexible, also during special event like the Harbor Anniversary or the Football World Championship.

Entrace fees:
Adults € 9 (~£ 6 or $ 11.50), Children under 16y € 4 (~£ 2.70 or $ 5), Children smaller than 1 meter are free. They have a variety of rebates for seniors and groups and even yearly subscription cards. For a family with two kids the total entrance fee would be €26. I personally believe that it's worth its money.

About the Traings and landscape:
The "Miwula" only shows trains in scale 1:87 (which in Germany is called H0 = half nill), most trains go on the Märklin digital system with 16V AC power. In the US contruction part, however, the trains go on DC power system. Most visitors won't realize this fact, however this construction makes it impossible for the trains to switch between these two systems. On the other hand this is quite realistic, as you will hardly find US trains in Europe and vice versa.
Every 15 minutes the lights will turn from white to red, then blue until they are switched off for a few minutes to simulate the night. Interestingly, the constructors have also achieved that the train and car traffic is reduced in volume during this time. It is a very realistic simulation of the night & day changes.
Phase 1 of the construction reflects Southern and Central Germany and was constructed within eight months. On the 300 square meters there are 3 kilometers of tracks with 450 switches. 230 trains with 2,400 coaches roll over the layout. Already in Phase 1 the constructor were very successful to implement small scenes with much love for details. In one area you see prisoners escaping from jail, in another a loving couple in the forest, and yet in another some strike activities in a coal mine. As a further technical highlight, there are many model cars in the same scale driving through the many streets. It is always big fun when the fire engines get out to address a burning house or castle. Quickly after finishing the first Phase, the "Miwula" got quickly known and attracted many visitors.

In November 2002, Phase 2 was opened showing Hamburg and the North German Coast line. You see the separate subway systems, street demonstrations, a Techno Move and many other fabulous details. One of the most important models is the making of the Hamburg Football stadium. Even the large screens in scale 1:87 work and can be illuminated in whatever direction.
Ín December 2003 Phase 3 was finished: America. Here you can find Las Vegas with all its lights, models of the famous Big Boy - the largest ever built steam engine, you see temperature announcements on the highway in °F (instead of °C), and on Area 51 some marsians have just landed. This all is shown in scale 1:87.

In July 2005 Phase 4 was completed: Scandinavia. The technical highlight are ships shipping on real water. Also this phase is extremely large and shows numerous details. In comparison to the other phases, this site looks somehow flat, but I guess this is due to the fact that Scandinavia is a little less vegetative.
The next two phases are currently under construction. One shall be the Alpes in a new format. You will go by stairs through a mountain and get to a lower level so that you can see giant mountains.

And in phase 6 they constrct a really working airport. One may be excited about how the "Miwula" will make it happen to show startingt and landing aircrafts.
The next phases 7 (France and Italy) and 8 (Africa) are already in planning. The "Miwula" also think about Hungary, the Middle East, Underground or Space. It will take them several more years to get all these ideas finished.

My Voting:
Of course, as a Model Railroad Fan I am fascinated how hundreds of trains roll over the layout. I personally also like the variety of models shown there.
But the visit will also be interesting for "Non-Railroaders" (if I may say so) for the following reasons:
• The partners will like the landscapes that have b een built with love for details and that is built in harmony with the railway tracks, so that in the end it is all in all a well-done mixture of models and railways.
• The are many side stories as I mentioned earlier.
• Kids will find buttons to initiate extra functions, like a diver hunted by a shark.
• The cafeteria offers hot and cold meals, that are quite okay. Just around the corner there is a play corner for kids. I personally think that the owners could invest a few bucks and buy some new toys. After so many years, there is now more "junk" and working toys. It appears, however, that the kids can well deal with all these broken toys.
• You can watch the owners build the layout in the next open construction sites.
Fazit:
Better than every museum, a Must-see in Hamburg that will entertain the entire family. Very good effects in scale 1:87. For me the entrance fee is acceptable.