If any country can encapsulate all that looks good into one small space, it is Denmark. Copenhagen has long been rhapsodised as a city of design gods, with everything they touch, from supermarket trolleys to lightswitches, rubbish bins to yachts, designed not only with beauty but functionality in mind.
And true to form, I wasn't expecting the style and design Mecca that I found on my 72-hour visit to Denmark.
There's certainly no better way to begin than with a late afternoon snack at the Royal Café, a downtown establishment owned by the famous Royal Porcelain Factory.
And what a gorgeous, retro-kitsch treat the café is: a pink interior of silver chandeliers, red couches and funny little tables that look like they've been borrowed from Alice in Wonderland, boxes of Kusmi tea, a tray containing orange and lime-green liquorice, bright yellow toy dolls with green hair, traditionally-sewn fabrics, a mannequin with no hair, a wall painted with bucolic scenes, and a washing line in full public view hung lasciviously with lady's corsets and underwear (as the menu says "besides food and drink, almost everything in the Royal Café is for sale").
The super-civilised café has given birth to a new culinary phenomenon: Smushi - traditional Danish smørrebrød with a contemporary sushi twist. The idea was created by "gastronaut" Rud Christiansen, and there are choices ranging from cheese with blackcurrant jelly, smoked salmon, summersalad or egg shrimp and horseradish. You'll want to fiddle with all the odd gifts whilst waiting for your order but be sure to leave room for the huge slices of dark-chocolate cake that taste as good as they look!
You can meander for hours in and out of the design shops and organic eateries. Arne Jacobsen's cutlery - which looked so futuristic even in 1968 - is on display at the Design Centre and you can eat off it at the Radisson SAS Royal Hotel, which Jacobsen designed from top to bottom, and which is full of Jacobsen's famous Swan and Egg chairs.
Vesterbro was a district known since the 1960s for its sex industry and having more butchers per square kilometre than anywhere else in Europe, however, during the last ten years it has undergone a massive transformation. It is now one of the hippest and most fashionable places in the city, centring on Istedgade with its boho-cafés, retro-kitsch clothes shops and cool designer shops.
As dusk falls, I'd recommend Copenhagen's centrepiece, the beautiful Tivoli Gardens, an amusement park and pleasure garden, lit by 110,000 lanterns. It opened in 1843, and has been a source of national pride ever since. Rollercoasters, circus acts, clown shows and pantomime performances provide fun for the family, while for adults there is a wide selection of cabaret, comedians, discos, live jazz and the celebrated Tivoli Symphony Orchestra.
The Nimb, a 12-bedroom luxury hotel and gourmet restaurant, rises up in the centre of the gardens. Looking like a white, Moorish palace lit by thousands of bulbs, it's stunning. Inside is the Summerbird Chocolaterie, where you can buy Grand Cru snowballs, a giftbox of white chocolate and liquorice called Je t'aime, or Summerbird sushi containing dark chocolate with ginger, or Delicacies in a Jar containing Italian hazelnuts cloaked in dark chocolate.
One of the most über-cool Copenhagen cocktail bars is Ruby's, located at Nybrogade 10. Upstairs, the grand rooms ooze history, but downstairs, you pass through a high security vault door to a dimly lit lounge whose creaky leather chairs, antique wallpaper and illuminated glass cases full of vintage whiskeys seem to speak of shady business deals. The Ruby martini cocktails are flowing fast and the place is packed with blonde-haired, blue-eyed Danes. The owner's very own words on their website seem to sum up the place: "despite a slight feeling of rarefied exclusivity, Ruby plays host to all of Our Lords children, despite colour, race, social status or complete lack of dress sense. Uptown socialites as well as downtown socialisers, everyone is welcome."
The next morning, a 25-minute river ferry (it's part of the public transport system) takes me to the contemporary Opera House and then it's a short walk to Christiania, Copenhagen’s alternative side. The 'Free City' of Christiania was established by a group of hippies in 1971 who had just returned overland from Kathmandu and who took control of an abandoned military barracks and abstained from Danish rule. Often called Freetown, today it is one of the most groovy sights in Copenhagen.
The founders made their own rules, tried to be self-sufficient, and lived close to the wild earth. A liberal state allowed the experiment to flourish even though its laws did not apply in this flower power enclave. Indeed, over the years Christiania became a symbol of Danish tolerance and the second biggest tourist draw in Copenhagen after the mermaid.
Christiania is like walking into a time-travel machine: the bars are inhabited by ageing hippies with white beards smoking hash. Houses are painted with 70s style psychedelic art with peace signs, elderly women transport firewood by rickshaw and nobody pays taxes.
Creativity is found in rich measure here for there are paintings, murals and sculptures everywhere and country lanes lead to Hobbit-scaled mushroom houses that seem to have been built from junkyard detritus. These houses, built by the present inhabitants and which nobody owns, are works of art in themselves. Around one corner, I find a Buddhist stupa with prayer flags fluttering above the path. The experimental cafés sell organic asparagus pie or fish cakes, Fairtrade coffee and good beer.
If you're looking for an unusual souvenir, check out Kvindesmedien, a trio of female blacksmiths who make furniture and artwork out of iron. As you leave Christiania, you pass through a gateway which says "You are now entering the EU".
Hiring a car and driving up the coast north of Copenhagen is rewarding for its sleepy, rural idyll qualities and badehoteller (literally, 'bathing hotels'). Surrounded by fishermen's houses, the Skovshoved Hotel is a breezy, romantic place, full of Scandinavian charm, and set between what are reputed to be the two best beaches in Copenhagen - Charlottenlund and Bellevue. Forty kilometres north of Copenhagen, the Louisiana museum offers a blend of art, architecture, music and natural landscape. One exhibit I love is a huge, golden thumb. Further north still, Kronborg is one of northern Europe's most important Renaissance castles - known from Shakespeare's Hamlet.
There are a string of coastal villages where time seems to have stood still, but it is Tisvildeleje that really sings to me. It's a quaint seaside village of wooden houses, a beach of fine white sand, soft dunes, and Denmark's fifth largest forest. It is here you can observe the Danes' great national obsession: a consuming love for the great outdoors. They sing, eat, fish, paint and bathe here. On a midsummer's evening, there is a palpable feeling of magic, enhanced by the quality of light.
"Hygge" is one of the fundamental aspects of Danish culture. "Hygge" may be defined as the presence of, and pleasure from comforting, gentle, and soothing things and complete absence of anything emotionally overwhelming or irksome.
And my feelings of "hygge" could not be more abundant in this beautiful spot.
Factbox
We flew from London Heathrow with FlySAS (www.flysas.com) and stayed at the Front Hotel in Copenhagen (www.front.dk) in a superior room (1660 DKK).
The city's official tourism website contains a wealth of information, VisitCopenhagen.com
To get around, Copenhagen's superb metro runs 24 hours a day 7 days a week. The CPH Card is ideal for 24 or 78 hours visits and allows free admission in over 60 attractions, best to buy before you travel to Denmark (see VisitCopenhagen.com). Most notably, the fastest way from Kastrup International Airport to downtown (Kongens Nytorv) is via the metro (it takes just 20 minutes). Car hire can be organised with Europcar from £32.36 per day www.europcar.com.
Royal café Copenhagen www.theroyalcafé.dk
Ruby's Cocktail Bar www.rby.dk
Tivoli Gardens www.tivoli.dk
The Nimb www.nimb.dk
Christiania www.christiania.org
Louisiana Museum www.louisiana.dk
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