The Alter Elbtunnel, or Old Elbtunnel as English speakers call it, hides one of Hamburg's odder pieces of Victorian engineering. Two vast lift shafts once lowered horse drawn buggies, two abreast, some twenty three and a half meters beneath the river Elbe. A string dangled inside each doorway, and any buggy whose driver clipped it was judged too tall and sent away before it could descend. Cars eventually replaced the horses, though since a 2019 renovation they too have been banned, leaving the tunnel to pedestrians and cyclists wheeling their bikes into the lift.

Step out on the south side and the reward is one of the city's finest harbor views, looking back toward the Landungsbrücken.

VoiceMap's Hamburg harbor tour uses the tunnel as a literal shortcut, guiding walkers beneath the Elbe and setting them down on the river's quieter southern bank before the route turns back toward the city.