There are few nicer places to be on a sunny day than sitting at an outdoor table at a cafe on the quayside of the Nyhavn canal. The canal was built to connect Kongens Nytorv to the harbour and was long a haunt for sailors and writers, including Hans Christian Andersen. He wrote The Tinderbox, Little Claus and Big Claus and The Princess and the Pea while living at No 20, and also spent time living at Nos 18 and 67.

　　The oldest house on the canal is number 9, remarkably unaltered since its construction in 1681. Today Nyhavn is a tourist magnet of brightly coloured gabled town houses, salty boats and foaming beers. It's also a handy place to hop on a boat ride with Canal Tours Copenhagen.