The Portugiesenviertel (portuguese district) is located in the heart of the city, just between the Landungsbrücken and the Michel. The district got its name in the early sixties during a wave of immigration by Portuguese Harbour Workers which settled down in this area. Nowadays a lot of Portuguese restaurants, cafés and pastelarias are located in the district, especially the main street "Ditmar-Koel-Straße" is a popular place to go for tourists, but also a lot of employees working near to the district are coming here for lunch. In the last years the Portugiesenviertel became more and more a place-to-be and even if there aren't so many Portuguese living anymore, this place still feels like "Little Portugal" and has a special Mediterranean atmosphere.

Near the quays where the ferries dock, the "Landungsbrücken", stands the building housing the entrance to the old tunnel which runs underneath the river Elbe. It was opened in 1911. The classicist style of the brown sandstone square building, with its cupola and tall windows, is reminiscent of the Pantheon in Rome. A much simpler version stands at the other end of the tunnel on island of Steinwerder where the docks are. Escalators, stairs and elevators (for vehicles) descend to two parallel-running tunnels which are 410 metres long. Hundreds of light bulbs on both sides are reflected in the tunnels" tiled walls decorated with maritime motifs.