The festival takes place in late August, on stages around the city centre, to cheer up the locals when they get back from their summer break. It starts with a crayfish and beer party with hundreds of people standing at long tables. There's also an array of pop, rock, folk and world music on offer. It goes on for around ten days each year: the local tourist bureau will know the exact dates. Good lively urban summer fun.

2006 dates: August 18-25

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

The main tourist information bureau is opposite the main gate of Tivoli, on the railway station side of the Town Hall square. Lots of leaflets, helpful staff - but usually a long queue. If arriving at the airport there is an information desk there which can usually help and very seldom has more than a couple of people ahead of you - it's diagonally ahead on your left as you come out of the customs end of the arrivals area.

For local (greater Copenhagen) transport info and tickets use the glass box building in the Town Hall square.Its an integrated system and the same tickets cover buses, local trains, the metro and the waterbuses.

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

Most of the museums in Copenhagen are closed on Mondays - go to Roskilde. Visit the medieval cathedral with its royal tombs and wonderful ironwork, then walk down the hill from its west end to the fascinating viking ship museum. It's a group of skeletal wrecks, reassembled after being brought up from where they were sunk to block access, with good interpretive displays, modern full-size rebuilds done by traditional (take a tree trunk and an axe) methods, and, in summer, the chance to take an oar on a short trip out in one of the replicas.

Lots of hands-on activities for children too. It's on the water's edge, with a cafe, and there are more conventional boat trips for those who never fancied being a viking crew member.

Half an hour by train from Copenhagen. There are lots of trains as it is within the local transport net: can use the zone 10 punch strips.

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

Stroget, the long pedestrianised shopping street, has some good places on it, but - rather like London's Oxford Street - has acquired too much tourist tat. The smaller streets running parallel and at angles either side are much more interesting. There are some very good antique shops in the city - concentrated around Bredegade (beyond Kongens Nytorv).

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

Unless you want to use the discounts and free-entry options its cheaper to buy one-day transport cards than the three-day Berlin welcome card. Note that both Schonefeld and Tegel airports are within the area for the card, so get it on arrival at the airport.

Find the local transport desk at Tegel (not obvious - ask) or get cards at the train station ticket office (above ground - don't head down the subway) at Schonefeld

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

This is the Malmö opera and music theatre. Currently being refurbished, the theatre is a very classy modernist building dating from 1941, and was one of the influences on the Royal Festival Hall in London. The theatre houses a programme which encompasses some surprisingly enterprising opera such as Schnitke's Life with an Idiot and a Matrix-styled production of Gounoud's Faust last year as well as specially commissioned premieres of musicals.Programmes will have a plot summary in English.

Ostra Ronneholmsvagen (Up near Triangeln). www.malmomusikteater.se You can buy or collect tickets from the ticket bureau in the Hansakompagniet store just off Gustav Adolfs Torg in the city centre.

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

A lot of the state museums in Stockholm have gone to free entry this year (2005). NB NOT the Vasa or Skansen. Bear this in mind before paying out for a Stockholm card... It does make it easier on the budget and means you can more happily drop in for a short visit. A couple (notably the Nordic Museum and the National Gallery) have rather thwarted the intention by organizing parts of their collections as "special exhibitions" and charging for those, but others are basking in their new popularity. Try the Historiska Museum for its Viking and medieval displays - or at least its collection of viking etc gold in the strongroom in the basement, or the Etnografiska Museum (ie most of the world outside Europe's cultures) which has very atmospheric displays addressing modern impacts as well as traditional ways, and is much more interactive and lively than its title suggests.

Historiska Museet. Narvavagen - five minutes walk up from the Djurgarden bridge.
Etnografiska Museet. Out on the side of Djurgarden furthest from the city centre: bus 69. I'ts in open parkland, with the Technical and the Maritime museums and the TV tower nearby.

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

Following on the comment about not going at midsummer, watch out for the Scandinavian saturday - not so much of a big deal in Stockholm, but shops close early (from midday onwards), public transport links are worse than any other day and pack up early, and concerts are often held in the afternoon not evening. All good locals obviously go off to be with the family.

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

Of the three main opera houses, the Staatsoper (Unter den Linden) is the poshest. It's very elegant but its bars are a bit cramped and the staff a bit flunkified. Most of the audience are smartly dressed. The Komische always sings in German; if you can cope with that it has interesting productions. The audience there are regular goers rather than people making an occasion of it. Sit high up - if bored you can always admire the unexpected statuary and mirrors decor.

Deutsche Oper is a bit marooned in the old west, but actually has the most comfortable public facilities. Sit in the long rake of the stalls rather than upstairs. They're all reasonably priced by UK standards, and usually have tickets available at short notice/on the day

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends