You’ll never fly in or out of Hamburg’s Knuffingen Airport, but it might just be the most interesting airport you ever visit.
One of an incredible array of dioramas at Miniatur Wunderland, Knuffingen is without doubt the world’s largest and most intricate miniature airport.
It’s probably the most expensive too, costing €3,500,000 to construct – that works out at just under £3 million!
Just like the other installations at Miniatur Wunderland, the attention to detail is nothing short of breathtaking.
First off, the airport has both daytime and night-time guises. Next, everything is built to scale – not one piece looks out of place.
But it’s the dynamism that really brings it to life … cars circulate around the roads around the airport, planes taxi to and from the airport, buses deliver passengers to the terminal, trucks deliver food to planes … you name it, it happens before your eyes.
And that brings us to Knuffingen’s pièce de résistance – the simulation of planes taking off and landing is ingenious. Planes don’t just taxi to the runway then roll down it only to peel off on another unfulfilling loop. They actually lift off and fly out the side of the exhibit!
Words can’t do it justice, so check out the video below to see what we mean.
As far as we know, the only model airports that come close are those at the various Legoland’s around the world (like the original in Denmark below).
Written by insider city guide series Hg2 | A Hedonist’s guide to…
(Featured image supplied by Miniatur Wunderland)
