Even if you don't have a consuming passion for modern art, Denmark's outstanding Louisiana should be high on your 'To Do' list. It's a striking modernist gallery, made up of four huge wings, which stretch across a sculpture-filled park, burrowing down into the hillside and nosing out again to wink at the sea (and Sweden). The collection itself is stellar, covering everything from constructivism, CoBrA movement artists and minimalist art, to abstract expressionism, pop art and photography.
Pablo Picasso, Francis Bacon and Alberto Giacometti are some of the international luminaries you'll come across inside, while Henry Moore's monumental bronzes and Max Ernst's owl-eyed animals lurk between the hillocks of the garden. Prominent Danish artists include Asger Jorn, Carl-Henning Pedersen, Robert Jacobsen and Richard Mortensen. Six to eight temporary exhibitions take place each year, and the museum's evening programme often includes art lectures and live music.
Kids are spoiled with an entire wing of their own, where they can create masterpieces inspired by the gallery's exhibitions, using everything from crayons to interactive computers. With its large sunny terrace and sea views, Louisiana's cultured cafe is a fabulous spot for a reviving coffee, while the museum shop stocks art books, prints and coveted Scandinavian design.
Louisiana is in the leafy town of Humlebæk , 30km north of Copenhagen. From Humlebæk train station, the museum is a 1.5km signposted walk along Gammel Strandvej. Trains to Humlebæk run at least twice hourly from Copenhagen (Dkr108, 35 minutes) and Helsingør (Dkr36, 10 minutes). If day-tripping it from Copenhagen, the 24-hour ticket (adult/child Dkr130/65) is much better value.
