Attention span

The opening of a bridge linking Denmark and Sweden affords travellers an ideal opportunity to see the best of both countries THEY may once have been rivals in a bloody European war that makes our battles over single currency look tame, but these days Denmark and Sweden are not only friends and allies, they are actually joined by a fixed road and rail bridge in the area known as Oresund.

The link's effect is that huge change looms for the entire region, and not all of it is positive. In Copenhagen - European City of Culture in 1996 - tower blocks rear up against the horizon. And there's a colossal, new, black glass clump overlooking the harbour - the National Library's "Black Diamond" extension - which has destroyed sizeable chunks of the atmospheric district of Christiansborg.

Elsewhere change is less intrusive. First stop on the "Alternative Bike Tour" run by City Safaris is the unfashionable eastern part of the city, where entire streets of 19th Century tenements are being renovated. "The area, which is very ethnically mixed, is undergoing a complete renaissance," says tall, blue-eyed, blond-haired Steen Birkelund, the handsome ex-history student who runs City Safaris. "Soon it'll be full of cafes, shops and reasonably priced flats." He turns to the sprawling, grimy brick building behind us. "This was the slaughter house, but now it houses art exhibitions and fashion shows." Under the soaring glass roof, it is stunning inside - all white walls, wooden beams, iron pillars and girders.

Even in Christiania, the notorious hippie "free state" which has become a prime tourist attraction, change is apparent. Founded when squatters took over abandoned army barracks in 1966, it still has external hoardings warning "no bullet-proof vests, weapons, or bikers". Inside, marijuana still grows wild among nettles, and ageing bearded hippies in Nepali waistcoats stand behind dope stalls. One, The Christiania Sports Club, boasts a hand-painted sign proclaiming "You'll Never Smoke Alone". But Steen, naturally, is more interested in the successful workshop which makes bikes. "Now shops such as these pay rent and keep their profits, unlike before, when they had to share them," he says.

Back in the centre there are many new attractions, including the voguish new Danish Design Centre (a showcase for a new generation of young designers), and the soaring extension to the National Art Gallery. Then there's Kulturbro 2000, the new biennial arts festival.

When you've had enough culture, you can escape across the magnificent, eight km-long bridge to Sweden. Twenty minutes away, another world awaits. First is Malmo, Sweden's third largest city, which may soon suffer the indignity of being called Copenhagen (East). It claims to be a cosmopolitan town with 150 different nationalities and countless parks, at first it seems uninspiring. Even though it is Saturday morning, the long, bland, typically northern European boulevards are so abandoned it looks as if a neutron bomb has exploded.

Our tour of the town begins with an interminable drive through recently closed shipyards and abandoned industrial factories lining the harbour. Still, Eva, the guide - all Swedish guides seem to be called Eva - assures us that the entire area will soon be transformed by marinas and other leisure developments.

The drive through one of the parks is hardly more promising. Its most interesting feature is the red brick castle behind a moat. "The Earl of Bothwell stayed here, and liked it so much he didn't want to leave," Eva says, before adding, with unexpected Swedish humour (and command of Scottish history): "He should have stayed; he might not have lost his head."

Further along, on the beach, we see a green wooden pavilion jutting into the sea. This is the town's sauna, which has recently been saved from demolition. Behind its tea shop, flabby, naked old men do daily exercises outside decaying cubicles, while past the distant, massive bridge, lowering skies open out to the vast horizon.

The pedestrianised town centre is surprisingly pleasant, with half- timbered, red, yellow and blue houses surrounding a small, cobbled main square. In the middle, under giant white sun umbrellas, people in wickerwork chairs watch giant screens showing the bridge-opening ceremony. Two sleek new grey trains approach each other, two Royal Families emerge onto red carpets, there is flurry of handshakes and floral hats, and choirs of little girls dressed in white sing patriotic songs.

Meanwhile, around the corner, a bearded English street performer juggles with fire on top of a precarious wheel and encourages laughing parents to put money in his hat. "If you don't pay, I'll have to go back to my former job - selling drugs to your children," he grins.

Scane, the little explored region of southern Sweden, is fascinating. As our bus heads east through peaceful countryside dotted with red-tiled farms, the new guide - another Eva - says that this was Denmark's fertile granary for 800 years, before Sweden seized it. "The Danish king was so sad when he heard the news, he had his north-facing windows boarded up so's not to have to look at his lost province," she says.

The region was so rich agriculturally that wealthy Danes built more than 200 castles here. Waiting outside one of them is the owner, Mr. Laarson. In his mid 60s, and now retired, he tells us it was built by a Swedish Prime Minister, before being bought in 1900 by his grandfather, who made his fortune growing sugar beet. He shows us round the rooms, decorated in different styles, including an art nouveau drawing room, a Napoleonic salon and a Renaissance dining room containing his priceless collection of Danish porcelain.

Along the coast, and only an hour away from Malmo, is the pretty mediaeval town of Ystad, with more half-timbered houses than anywhere in Sweden. Eva points to the clock tower in the small, cobbled Main Square. "The night watchman has blown his horn here every 15 minutes since the Napoleonic blockade," she says. "At first people were annoyed, but gradually they got used to it. Not long ago they were very alarmed when they couldn't hear him any more - but he'd only fallen asleep." The town has been wealthy since the 13th century, when its Franciscan monastery was founded, and is now a popular resort, with ferries crossing to Poland and Berlin.

Once past the nearby fortress of Glimmingehus, a spectacular, 15th century gabled fortress, the road winds through beech forests towards the east coast. Eva points to wooden summer huts and caravans tightly packed among trees. "People are attracted here because it's easy to be on friendly terms with your neighbours," she winks. Then she adds, laughing, "Perhaps that's why the birth rate is so high in the south, which contains 85 per cent of Sweden's population."

The eastern part of Skane, famous for its apple orchards and artists, is known as Sweden's Provence. In Vik, a small fishing village with orange-tiled roofs, painter Torsten Erasmie takes visitors inside his minute white gallery. He is a tall, handsome man with elegant grey hair. We follow him down through winding alleys to the little harbour. It is full of fishing boats and is overlooked by cottages covered with roses, blackcurrants and clove. "I first fell in love with Vik when I came 20 years ago," he says. "It's the light which fascinates me - it's never the same, especially during winter."

Returning west, we take the road through middle Skane, where dense pine forests hide wild boar and even wolves. Skane has so many Lutheran churches they say that at any one time you can always see seven. Soon Lund's twin towers appear on the flat horizon. Only 23km from Malmo, this old university town boasts Sweden's largest botanical garden. Once, it was a religious centre and still has a magnificent Romanesque cathedral with an intriguing 14th Century astrological clock. Behind the cathedral is the equally absorbing Museum of Cultural History. Here, transported from different parts of Scane, ancient log cottages, grouped around a grassy clearing, illustrate the humble roots of now astonishingly vibrant Oresund. You could say it is a bridge into the past How to get thereAtlantic Airways flies from Aberdeen to Copenhagen, twice a week. For information and prices call 0845 60727727.

Where to stayThe Palace Hotel, Radhuspladsen 57, is a centrally- located four-star hotel in Copenhagen (0045 3314 4050). For more options see the Wonderful Copenhagen website www.woco.dk PackagesOsprey (08705 605605) offers four nights at a two-star hotel, b&b, flights and taxes for #302; Donald Mackenzie Travel (0141 221 4333) offers four nights at a three-star hotel, b&b, flights and taxes for #329.

Further informationDanish Tourist Board, 55 Sloane Street, London (020 7259 5958). Skane Tourist Board, Skiffervagen 34, Lund, Sweden (0046 4635 0574). Kulturbro 2000 Foundation, Copenhagen (0045 4916 0710). For bike rental contact City Safari, Viktoriagade 19, Copenhagen (0033 23 94 90).

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