This extraordinary museum of modern and contemporary art should be high on your "to-do" list even if you're not normally a gallery-goer. Along with its ever-changing, cutting-edge exhibitions, much of the thrill here is the glorious presentation. Louisiana (louisiana.dk; adult/child 145kr/free) sits in a garden landscape facing the Øresund, and its maze of halls and glass corridors integrate seamlessly with the grounds outside, where there's a sculpture garden that includes works by Alexander Calder, Roy Lichenstein and Alicja Kwade. Architects studied the landscape for months before breaking ground in 1958, and it shows. There's access to the beach and Jean Nouvel–designed jetty, and you can swim from here, though if you want to return to the galleries, you need to go around to the front entrance.
It's hard to predict exactly which pieces from the gallery's huge, stellar collection will be on display. Such is the quality and breadth that even works by Pablo Picasso and Francis Bacon stay in storage much of the time. There's a better chance of seeing pieces by Alberto Giacometti and prominent Danish artist Asger Jorn, but rotations every two months or so mean that there's always more to discover. The children’s section is even aligned with current exhibitions, where kids can draw and paint in expert-led workshops. The museum shop is also a design treasure chest, and posters from here decorate seemingly half the flats in Copenhagen.
Louisiana is in the pretty coastal town of Humlebæk, 30km north of Copenhagen. From Humlebæk train station, the museum is a 1.5km signposted walk northeast. Trains to Humlebæk run at least twice hourly from Copenhagen, but if you're day-tripping, the 24-hour Copenhagen ticket is much better value.
