Somewhere for the weekend... Copenhagen

WHY GO NOW?

Copenhagen's modest size, civilised air and fantastic bars and shopping make it the perfect destination for a weekend break - and the live music scene is thriving. Performers take over the Danish capital each July for one of the best jazz festivals in the world, but for a more intimate experience you can attend the smaller, winter festival, taking place right now. There are performers every night at the Copenhagen JazzHouse at Niels Hemmingsens Gade 10 (00 45 33 15 47 00; www.jazzhouse.dk) and also this weekend at Pumpehuset at Studiestraede 52 (00 45 33 93 19 60). Expect to pay up to 100 Danish kroner (£10) for international performers. Jazz aside, though, the best way to cope with the icy Arctic blasts is to follow the Danes' lead and take a leisurely tour of the city's fine bars, cafés and clubs.

DOWN PAYMENT

The lowest fares may well be from Gatwick on Maersk Air (020-7333 0066; www.maersk-air.com), which at press time had a return flight for £126.40. EasyJet (0871 750 0100; www.easyjet.com) flies twice a day from Stansted to Copenhagen's Kastrup airport, and once a day from Newcastle: return flights for this weekend start at about £140. SAS flies from Heathrow for a similar fare (0870 60 727 727; www.scandinavian.net); British Airways' lowest fare on the route is £302 (0870 850 9 850; www.ba.com).

From Kastrup, super-efficient trains whip you into the central station in 12 minutes for a fare of Dkr24 (£2.40).

INSTANT BRIEFING

Radhuspladsen, the square in front of the fairy-tale town hall, is a good place to get your bearings. On one side is the fabulously chintzy Tivoli amusement park (open only in summer and at Christmas) and the main train station. On the other is the beginning of the pedestrian-only street and shopping drag, Stroget (which, incidentally, is pronounced "stroll"). Nearby, on the corner of Vesterbrogade and Bernstorffsgade, is the Wonderful Copenhagen tourist office (00 45 70 22 24 42; www.visitcopenhagen.com), which is open from 9am to 4pm from Monday to Friday and 9am to 2pm on Saturday (closed Sunday). Walking tours of the city depart from here.

Also closed over the winter are the popular guided canal cruises, but river-buses buzz this way and that across the icy harbour and down to the Little Mermaid statue. A single trip costs about Dkr15 (£1.50), and offers an unusual perspective of this low-slung city, where the tallest structures are bronze church spires.

The Copenhagen Card (Dkr159/£16), sold by the tourist office, is valid for 24 hours and gets you free access to 40 of the city's attractions. A Copenhagen Plus card (Dkr395/£40) gets you this same deal for 72 hours and free transport, but if you're staying in the centre it's probably quicker and more fun to walk.

REST ASSURED

71 Nyhavn, whose name is its address (00 45 33 43 62 00; www.71nyhavnhotelcopenhagen.dk) is a conversion of two former warehouses right on the waterfront, at the end of a historic canal of the same name. It is close to the western end of Stroget. During the week it's a bustling business hotel, but the decor is anything but corporate, with low-beamed ceilings, cosy furnishings and candles everywhere. Prices drop at the weekend; doubles start from Dkr1,290 (£130), but it's worth paying extra for a view of the harbour (Dkr1,590/£160).

Another option in Nyhavn is Hotel Bethel Somandshjem (Nyhavn 22; 00 45 33 13 03 70), a charming former seamen's hostel, with doubles costing from Dkr795 (£80) per night. Otherwise, the family-run Absalon at Helgolandsgade15 (00 45 33 24 22 11; www.absalon-hotel.dk) is a three-star hotel situated only five minutes' walk from the main station; doubles start from Dkr895 (£90). All these rates include generous buffet breakfasts.

MUST SEE

Temperatures in Copenhagen have fallen to as low as minus 15C lately, so you'll probably want to keep outdoor activities to a minimum. North of Stroget on Kobmagergade is the Round Tower, built as an observatory and completed in 1642 (00 45 33 73 03 73, open 10am-5pm daily, admission Dkr20/£2). It has great views and, halfway up, an excellent gallery with regularly-changing exhibitions. It is often a venue for classical music concerts.

The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek is a huge and beautiful sculpture gallery at Dantes Plads 7 (00 45 33 41 81 41; www.glpytoteket.dk). It also contains a brilliant Gauguin collection (the artist's long-suffering Danish wife administered his art sales while he kicked up his heels in Tahiti). It opens 10am-4pm daily except Monday, admission Dkr20 (£2), or free on Wednesday and Sunday.

Another Sunday option is to join the scores of Danish families for a walk in the Frederiksberg park, in the genteel suburb of the same name, where you can also go ice skating.

MUST BUY

From Poul Henningsen's sculptural lighting to the exquisite cutlery of Georg Jensen, Denmark has a deserved reputation as a world leader in design. But you'll have to get going early - Saturday shopping is only from 10am-4pm, and nothing is open on Sundays. If time is limited, Illium Boghums at Amagertorv 11 is a good place to start. Homewares in particular are of extremely high quality, so go for eiderdowns, flat-pack light shades, Holmegaard china or - if you can be bothered carting it on to the plane - a groovy, beautifully crafted chair. For something a little more portable, pick up a tealight holder for about Dkr10 each from any of the excellent junk shops on the streets parallel to Stroget, and you'll be able to recreate that rustic café look in your own home.

The shops of Denmark's new and emerging designers tend to be clustered around Norrebrogade, so it might be worthwhile making the trek there. For the girls, Pilgrim is a Danish label that produces colourful, dangly, funky - and best of all, cheap - jewellery. Or head to Flying A at Kronprinsensgade 5 for trendy, if a tad overpriced, men's and women's clothes and accessories. This is the only place at which that supermodel-turned-photographer Helena Christensen will go shopping in the city. Apparently.

MUST EAT

As can be expected for a chilly northern country, the Danish diet revolves around meat (usually pork) and potatoes. In the hippy area of Christiania, Spiseloppen at Badmandsstraede 43 (00 45 32 57 95 58) is a former vegetarian restaurant that now serves excellent organic meat dishes. It has a very good New World-leaning wine list, and a three-piece jazz band often plays.

Fish features strongly in the Danish diet, too, notably in smorrebrod (pronounced "smer-bror"). This is a dark rye-bread open sandwich with herring, often served with schnapps for brunch in pubs and cafés, for Dkr100 (£10) or so. Krogs Fiskerestaurant at Gammel Strand 38 (00 45 33 15 89 15) is an outstanding fish restaurant if you're in the mood to splurge; meals cost upwards of Dkr400 (£40) a head.

With a reasonably priced modern European menu and scrumptious house beers, the upstairs restaurant at the swanky microbrewery Norrebro Bryghus at Ryesgade 3 (00 45 35 30 05 30; www.noerrebrobryghus.dk) is always packed. For a quick bite between shopping, though, everyone loves polser, the Danish fast food. You'll find these hot-dog stalls on street corners; a frankfurter with bread bun and condiments costs about Dkr20 (£2). Incidentally, a "Danish" pastry in Copenhagen is called Wienerbrod, or "Viennese bread".

INTO THE NIGHT

For a break from all that jazz, the buzzing places in town right now are Norrebro and Istedgade. The latter is east of the main train station and is one of the more multicultural parts of the city. It's here, at Istedgade 130, that you'll find Bang & Jensen (00 45 33 25 53 18), a cheery café popular with the fashionable late-twenties set.

Crime is low in Copenhagen, and its streets are very safe at night. After midnight, choose from the metropolitan Vega at Enghavevej 40 (00 45 33 25 70 11; www.vega.dk), a three-storey bar/disco complex stuffed with designer fittings and beautiful people; or, opposite Radhuspladsen on Vesterbrogade, the large nightspots Scala and The Baron and The Baroness. Each has DJs, decent food and plenty of nooks and crannies for chatting and people-watching. Worth checking out in Norrebro is Rust (Guldbergsgade 8, 00 45 35 24 5200; www.rust.dk), a live music venue with hip-hop on Thursdays and Fridays.

Additional research by Charlotte Martins

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