In summer especially there's a varied range of lively street entertainment, while at night there are plenty of cosy bars and an intimate club and live music network that can hardly be bettered. Ibis is not to mention the city's beckoning collections of history and of Danish and international art, as well as a worthy batch of smaller museums. If you're intent on heading north into Scandinavia's less populated (and pricier) reaches, you'd certainly be wise to spend a few days living it up in Copenhagen first. There was no more than a tiny fishing settlement here until the twelfth century, when Bishop Absalon oversaw the building of a castle on the site of the present Christiansborg. ТЪе settlement's prosperity grew after Erik of Pomerania granted special privileges and imposed the Sound Toll on vessels passing through the 0resund, then under Danish control which gave the expanding city tidy profits and enabled a self4;onfident trading centre to flourish. Following the demise of the Hanseatic ports, the city became the Baltic's principal harbour, earning the name Kabenhavn ("merchant's port"), and in 1443 it was made the Danish capital. A century later. Christian IV began the building programme that was the basis of the modem city: up went Rosenborg Slot, Borsen, Rundetimet, and the distiicts of Nyboder and Christianshavn; and, in 1669, Frederik III graced the city wth its first royal palace, Amalienborg, for his queen, Sophie Amalie. Like much of the Copenhagen of that time, these structures still exist, and the taller of them remain the major peaks on what is a refreshingly low skyline. It's an easy city to get around: you're unlikely to need to venture far from the central son, still largely hemmed in by the medieval ramparts (now a series of parks), which is where most of the activity and sights are contained. '™aUnformationid getting around PuD intoth Copenhagen youll be within easy reach of the centre. Trains fownstaiPi rt? Station (Hovedbanegarden), near Vesterbrogade. (July to midSept daily 7amlam), restricted to leftW f holders, is a useful refuge for longdistance travellers, with message bodi showers (lOkr), cooking facilities, a rest area and a ort bus or . buses from other parts of Denmark stop only a ¦"KatRvBat" c® b® centre: buses fiom Arhus stop at Valby; fiom udsen Hade F • H; and those fiom Hantsholm on Hans "tes' walk from®® Norway and Sweden dock close to Nyhavn, a few nnect with tiifTr Planes use Kastrup Airport, 8km fiom the city and with Radh, , Station every twenty minutes by SAS coach (20min; 'uspiadsen by the slower (but cheaper) city bus #32. Information Once here, your first stop should be UseIt centrally placed in the Huset complex at Rdhusstraede 13 (midJune to midSept daily 9am7pm; rest of the year Mon Fri lOampm; ®33156518). They provide a full rundown on budget accommodation, eating, drinking and entertainment, will hold mail and store luggage, and in summer, issue Playtime, a small but \dtal free newspaper.