Copenhagen

This Month in Copenhagen:

Shopping: Want to look like a Copenhagen hipster? Head to Wood Wood (1 Grønnegade), set up in 2002 by three former students of Denmark's Royal Design School and selling casual clothes designed both in house and sourced from brands including Comme Des Garçons and Chloe Sevigny for Opening Ceremony.

Sightseeing: The Copenhagen Marathon (copenhagenmarathon.dk) takes place on 20 May. For fitness fanatics, it's a great way to see the city as the course takes in many of the capitals major sights, or for the more sedate, position yourself along the inner-city route and witness the streets come to life with cheering, flag-waving Danes.

Key areas: The 33-hectare site of the old Carlsberg brewery is filled with interesting historic buildings including Carl Jacobsen House, the Elephant Gate & Tower, the Lime Tower and the Carlsberg Museum. If you go between 10-12 May, you can combine sight-seeing with beer drinking as the Copenhagen Beer Festival (ale.dk), which showcases both old and new products from national and international breweries, is being held in TAP 1, a huge hall that once formed part of the brewery.

Day trips: The 45-minute train ride north to Elsinore is well worth the effort as the town is packed with things to see and do including Kronborg Castle, made famous by Shakespeare's Hamlet and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Elsinore City Museum, The Danish Museum of Science and Technology and the newly built Culture Yard. The old cobbled streets of the city lined with galleries, shops and cafés are worth exploring too.

Copenhagen News & Gossip

Travelling with the family

BABY ON BOARD

COPENHAGEN
Location Small, perfectly formed and largely pedestrianised, this city is easy to explore and buggy-friendly.

Attractions The Children's Museum (nationalmuseet.dk) lets kids play with the exhibits, while the petting area at København Zoo (zoo.dk), the delights of Tivoli Gardens (tivoli.dk) and, if you can stand the pester power, the giant LEGO store (37 Vimmelskaftet) are all wonderful for under-eights.

Stay Avenue Hotel (avenuehotel.dk) has excellent family rooms, gardens, sandpit, toys and mini library.

KIDS IN TOW

AMSTERDAM
Location Canal tours, museums and indoor activities make this the perfect city for kids, even on rainy days.

Attractions Check out the Gordon the Warden trail at the Rijksmuseum (rijksmuseum.nl), designed specifically for six to nines, then hit the TunFun Speelpark (tunfun.nl) for indoor active play, or let them take charge of cooking at The Kinderkookkafe (Children's Cook Café, kinderkookkafe.nl) in the city's green Vondelpark.

Stay Forget landlubbing - kids will love the novelty of a stay on the canals, so choose a houseboat (houseboathotel.nl).

TRAVEL WITH TEENS

VIENNA
Location A combination of outdoor tours and off-kilter museums mean this smart, stylish city will hold teens' goldfish-like attention span.

Attractions Segway is the way to sightsee with teens this year (segway-vienna.at). Take them to the Spanish Riding School (srs.at), visit the Bestattungsmuseum (Funeral Museum, bestattungwien.at) or, for in-line skating, head to Donauinsel (Danube Island, wien-vienna.com).

Stay They'll love the quirky, retro-mixed- with-modern design of 25 Hours Hotel Spectacle (25hours-hotel.com).

Copenhagen Trivia

• May: Copenhagen has over 100 public playgrounds, 28 of which are staffed by trained educational personnel and more than a third of which are located within a green area.

• April: Seventy-seven per cent of Danes are happy with the monarchy and only 16 per cent want a republic, according to a Megafon poll published this year in the Politiken newspaper.

• March: The name København is derived from the the old Danish name Køpmannæhafn, which means "merchant's harbour".

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