Hygge, brygge and the bridge

I've just got back from a few days in Copenhagen. When people found out that I was going to Denmark, they asked me if I planned on seeing the Little Mermaid, the Carlsberg museum or Hamlet's castle at Helsingor, but like many British tourists what actually drew me there was watching Danish political dramas Borgen and 1864 and Scandi noir detective series The Killing and The Bridge, set on and around the five mile long road and rail link across the Øresund Strait which I travelled over by train to Malmö in Sweden.

I was warned about the price of beer, which comes in at the equivalent of £5 to £8 a pint. My favourite pub was the Taphouse, with 61 taps on the back of the bar, one of which dispensed an excellent half litre of Schlenkerla Rauchmärzen. I also went to the Storm Inn, where I was surprised to find cask Timothy Taylor Landlord, Sam Smiths beermats and a barman from Barnsley, and the destination craft beer bar Mikkeller, where I had a decent imperial stout and chatted to the young Danish barman, who like all his compatriots it seems spoke flawless English, about beer and football.

Copenhagen doesn't feel like a big capital city, having, pardon the cliché, a homeliness about it thanks to historic buildings like the town hall and railway station, the compactness of its centre and what appears to be half the population riding their bikes along its long wide streets.