Helsingborg, Sweden

Long gone are the days when the locals of HELSINGBORG joked that the most rewarding sight here was Helsingr, the Danish town whose castle (best known as the "Elsinore" of Shakespeare's Hamlet) is clearly visible just 4km away over the Öresund. With its beautifully developed harbour area, an explosion of brilliantly styled bars, cafés and restaurants both at the water's edge and among the warren of cobbled old-town streets, and an excellent museum, Helsingborg is one of the best urban bases Sweden has to offer: bright, pleasing and basking in a tremendous sense of buoyancy.