Surroundings, Copenhagen

Tårnby, the southernmost part of Copenhagen, lies on the island of Amager, which is joined to the inner city by a large lift bridge (Langebro); when a ship passes this can be raised or lowered in a very short time. On Amager is situated the "Bella Center" exhibition and congress center and Copenhagen Airport south of Kastrup.

On the east coast of the island of Amager lies the little town of Dragør, a popular holiday resort which has retained the character of a rural fishing community - more than 50 houses are listed buildings. A visit is recommended to the Local Maritime History Museum at Havnepladsen.

Store Magelby, in the south of the island of Amager, was once known as "Dutch Town", as its first inhabitants were 16th C. Dutch settlers who drained and cultivated the land. A half-timbered 18th C. building houses the Amager Museum, which exhibits, for example, costumes worn by those early Dutch immigrants.

Off the island of Amager near Copenhagen, to the east is the island of Saltholm, a bird sanctuary, linked to Kastrup by ferry.

In 1991 an agreement was signed by Denmark and Sweden aimed at building a bridge across the Øresund, from Malmo to Copenhagen. The plan is for a suspension bridge with supporting pillars which will lead from the Swedish coast to two artificial islands south of saltholm. There the road will enter a tunnel which will come to the surface near Copenhagen Airport (Kastrup). A start was made on the work at the Copenhagen end in 1993, but has since been stopped because the Swedish prime minister Bildt came up against problems; his coalition partners, the Center Party, disapproved of the plan and threatened to undermine the coalition.Part of the Øresund project are plans for an improved road and rail link from Kastrup (Copenhagen Airport) southwards towards Rødby, as well as from the Main Station to Kastrup.

The Lyngbyvej highway leads from Copenhagen to Lyngby. There, in a park, stands Sorgenfri Palace, built in the 18th C. and since 1789 the property of the Royal Family (entrance to the southern part of the park).

Near Lyngby is the Open-Air Museum (Frilandsmuseet), which belongs to the Danish National Museum. Within its area of 35ha/86 acres are farmhouses, dwellings and mills from all parts of Denmark and some from the Faroes, each building furnished with old fittings and utensils. There are also old houses from Schleswig-Holstein and Sweden, as well as picnic-sites.

Beautifully situated in Brede, not far from Lyngby in the Copenhagen area, is an Ethnological Museum, with a restaurant, cafetaria and cinema attached. Exhibitions are held on such subjects as "Fashion and Clothes" and "Industrialization and Society in the Molleåen Region".The museum displays permanent exhibits of the history of Danish culture: "People and disguise" and "The cradle of industry".

The old Tuborg bottling plant now houses an "Experimentarium", a center for new technology. Visitors are invited to carry out their own research experiments on such subjects as aerodynamics and astronomy and natural science in general.

North of Copenhagen in Charlottenburg will be found Denmark's Aquarium (Akvarium), with about 3,000 brightly colored fish and other denizens of the deep, which is very popular with visitors. The fish include fluorescent fish, sharks, electric eels and exotic species such as the notorious piranhas.

Past Charlottenburg north of Copenhagen, the visitor will come to Dyrehave, a large park with a game reserve where deer can be seen grazing. In the magnificent beech wood lies the Eremitage, a royal hunting lodge built in 1736 in Roccoco style which is still used today.From here there is a fine view of Øresund and Sweden beyond.

North of Copenhagen, on the E47 northwest of Dyrehave lies the little village of Nærum, with the interesting Sommers Oldtimer Museum. The collection consists of more than 20 vintage cars (1923 Bugatti, 1925 Bentley, 1937 Jaguar, etc.) and numerous oldish model cars.

North of Nærum, a Karen Blixen Museum (Karen Blixen Museet) was set up in 1991 in the Rungstedlund mansion. The Danish authoress (also known by the name of Tania Blixen and other noms de plume) was born in this house and after her return from Africa lived here until her death in 1962.On display are books and pictures, including portraits of members of the Kikuyu tribe, which she painted.Her grave is in a far corner of the gardens.

Denmark's pivotal airport is Kastrup International Airport. This is about 10km/6mi to the southeast of Copenhagen on the island of Amager and half-an-hour from the city center.In recent years the airport has been made far more attractive, mainly through the construction of a highly modern zone in the departure and transit area. The duty-free shop has also been enlarged and is now one of the cheapest in Europe.

This museum houses a collection of French art, mainly impressionism, and a series of 19th and 20th century Danish The collection is housed in a beautiful old house in the middle of a scenic park.

This museum documents much of the cultural history of the last 200 years and traces suburban development from 1900.

This museum displays a collection of Italian, Dutch and Danish paintings from the 15th to the 19th century.