Malmo

Founded in the late thirteenth century, Malmo rose to become Denmark's most important city after Copenhagen. The high density of herring in the sea off the Malmö coast - it was said that the fish could be scooped straight out with a trowel - brought ambitious German merchants flocking to the city, an influence that can be seen in the striking fourteenth-century St Petri kyrka. Eric of Pomerania gave Malmö its most significant medieval boost when, in the fifteenth century, he built the castle and mint, and gave the city its own flag - the gold-and-red griffin of his family crest. It wasn't until the Swedish King Karl X marched his armies across the frozen belt of water to within striking distance of Copenhagen in 1658 that the Danes were forced into handing back the counties of Skåne, Blekinge and Bohuslän to the Swedes. For Malmö this meant a period of stagnation, cut off from nearby Copenhagen and too far from its own uninterested capital. Not until the full thrust of industrialization, triggered by the tobacco merchant Frans Suell's enlargement of the harbour in 1775, did Malmö begin its dramatic commercial recovery, and the city's fortunes remained buoyant over the following two centuries. The 1990s saw a further commercial crisis after the city had invested heavily in the shipping industry which had been in decline since the 1970, but since the turn of the millennium, there's been a heartwarming reversal of Malmö's fortunes, with the new university and the opening of the Öresunds Bridge, which links the city with Copenhagen, attracting an influx of investment which visitors can't fail to notice and creating an upbeat, energetic and thoroughly likeable atmosphere. The attractive medieval centre, delightful parks and the sweeping beach are all major draws, while the plentiful restaurants and bars and a lively nightlife serve as another inducement to stay awhile.