Experience the best of Aalborg

Aalborg stretches along the south shore of the Limfjord, a long sound that cuts across northern Denmark. The old centre keeps the spire of Budolfi Church, the sixteenth-century Aalborghus castle and Jens Bangs Stenhus, a merchant house of 1624 with a carved stone facade. Jomfru Ane Gade, a single lane of restaurants and bars, fills in the evening, and on the waterfront the Utzon Center was designed by Jørn Utzon, architect of the Sydney Opera House.

Across the fjord, Lindholm Høje is a Viking-age burial ground with hundreds of graves marked by stones, some set in the outline of ships. The Rebild Hills and the Rold forest lie to the south, the North Sea beaches of Løkken and Blokhus are to the north-west, and at the northern tip of Jutland, Skagen's light and dunes attracted a colony of painters in the nineteenth century.

Smørrebrød, open sandwiches of herring, roast beef or egg, and plaice are the usual lunch, and oysters and mussels come from the Limfjord. The city has a long tradition of distilling akvavit, the caraway-flavoured spirit. Summer evenings stay light until late, and winters are dark, damp and mild.