Frederiksberg: Copenhagen

If the elegant, wide boulevards of Frederiksberg seem in contrast to the rest of Copenhagen, it could be something to do with the fact that the area is actually a separate municipal district – at a little under six square miles, it is the smallest in the country. Frederiksberg is named after its founder, King Frederik IV (1699-1730), who developed the district around his new stately home. Just a couple of Metro stops from Indre Byen, Frederiksberg has rapidly shaken off its image as stuffy residential neighborhood, and visitors can now enjoy lively cafes and stores at a calmer pace than that downtown.

Frederiksberg is also home to one of the city's best parks, Frederiksberg Have - just the place for a weekend picnic or a boat trip on the lake. In the center of the park is Frederiksberg Slot, a grand palace built in 1703 by Frederik IV. South of the well-maintained lawns of Frederiksberg Gardens lies Søndermarken, a wilder recreation area popular with local dog walkers - and home to the novel underground gallery Cisternerne - and Copenhagen Zoo, one of the city's most perennially popular attractions, particularly with children.

Visitors expecting Copenhagen and indeed all of Denmark to be uniformly flat may be surprised by the sharp incline at the edge of Søndermarken and the zoo. Valby Bakke, as this hill is called, leads down into the Valby district, once a bland suburban residential area which has seen an image change in the last decade. While Valby boasts a vibrant cafe life around Valby Langgade, an abandoned box factory on Carl Jacobsens Vej (close to Sjælør S-Station) witnessed the influx of a number of artists' galleries a number of years ago, at number 20.

South of Søndermarken, on the border of Frederiksberg, Vesterbro and Valby, is the original home of the Carlsberg brewery, most of which has now been relocated elsewhere. That's not to say this area lies dormant, however: not only is the Carlsberg Museum and Visitors Centre to be found on Gamle Carlsbergvej 11 (and everything you ever wanted to know about Denmark's national drink), but DANSEhallerne, Northern Europe's largest center for modern dance, has recently been launched at nearby Pasteursvej 14-24.

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