March/April: The Night Film Festival takes place in Copenhagen from late March-mid-April and features a vast number of films in their original language. www.natfilm.dk

Denmark has a proud tradition as a film nation. In recent years, international attention has particularly been focused on such outstanding directors as Bille August and the founders of the much-acclaimed Dogme films; directors Lars von Trier, Thomas Vinterberg, Søren Kragh-Jacobsen, and Kristian Levring The flourishing Danish film world is centered on Copenhagen, which is the base for most film companies and major first-class cinemas.

At this festival, audiences can watch handpicked top-quality films from countries that rarely feature in cinemas, such as Asian films, which are always well represented. The festival also screens a number of new films that are premiered later in the cinemas, and also re-runs old classics and cult films.

April 16: The Queen's Birthday is celebrated with the royal guard in full ceremonial dress as the royal family appears before the public on the balcony of Amalienborg Castle.

May: Copenhagen Fashion & Design Festival; Copenhagen City Center (33 55 74 80). Every year, the city's leading fashion shops and designers take over the city to celebrate the very best in Danish and foreign fashion design

Late May: Swingin' Copenhagen jazz festival in Swingin' Copenhagen focuses on more traditional jazz and also takes place in the clubs, concert halls, streets, and squares of the city. Further information is available on www.swingin-copenhagen.dk

May: Copenhagen Carnival includes boat parades in Nyhavn and costumed revelers in the streets.

May-August: The Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen open with rides, concerts, and entertainment. Special activities and concerts are planned for the 145th anniversary of the Tivoli Guard.

June: The Roskilde Festival is held on the last weekend in June in a huge field near the city of Roskilde, half an hour's drive from Copenhagen City. It is becoming more and more popular. The 70,000 tickets available are usually sold out long before the program is published. It is one of the biggest rock events in the world.

The Roskilde Festival is a huge party, where people eat and drink in vast quantities. Apart from the concerts, there are hundreds of stalls selling everything from jewelry and clothes to massage and tattoos. There is a computer café, cinema, theatre, dance hall, and much more. The festival mainly attracts a young crowd from all over Europe. In recent years, more attention has been given to safety and security. www.roskilde-festival.dk

June: Images of Asia is a cultural festival taking place in Denmark in the second half of 2002 in the cities of Copenhagen, Århus, Odense and Ålborg. The festival aims at fostering cultural understanding and cooperation between Denmark and partners in Asia, and will address the issue of Images by providing a platform for dialogue among makers and creators of images, artists, scholars, critics, NGOs, educators, media, business and the general public.

The festival continues a tradition of Images festivals in Denmark, based on a concept where art institutions, NGOs, media and cities work jointly to develop the project with partners outside Denmark. Previous festivals include Images of Africa (1991, '93 and '96) and Images of the World (2000).

Images of Asia will coincide with the ASEMIV, which also takes place in Copenhagen, Denmark, in the second half of 2002, where Denmark chairs the European Union's Council of Ministers.

July: The Copenhagen Jazz Festivals. This festival is held for ten days in July. Copenhagen has a long tradition as a jazz metropolis. Over the years, many of the great international jazz musicians have been based permanently in Copenhagen. Together with the city's own wealth of skilled professional jazz musicians, this has created a unique environment for jazz that can be experienced live every day, all year round, in Copenhagen. During the Copenhagen Jazz Festival, jazz comes bubbling out of every corner of the city.

Squares, parks and a wide range of cafes and clubs are involved in the biggest jazz event of the year, featuring around 450 concerts. Many of the concerts are free. The festival has become immensely popular and attracts jazz fans not only from Denmark and its neighboring countries, but also from countries as far away as China and Australia. Throughout the years, Copenhagen Jazz Festival has presented a line of important international artists. (33 93 20 13, fax 33 93 20 24) www.cjf.dk.

August: Between the 7th and 10th, the Cutty Sark Tall Ship Race brings more than 100 ships to the Copenhagen harbor.

August: The Copenhagen International Ballet Festival is held every summer in Frederiksberg, a few minutes outside the city of Copenhagen. This is the venue for the annual summer festival, featuring the Copenhagen International Ballet Group, founded by Danish ballet dancer Alexander Kølpin, with principals and members from the New York City Ballet, Ballet Béjart, Lyon Opera Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, and the Hamburg Ballet. The ballets are always staged outdoors in beautiful surroundings in the atrium courtyard of The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University. Here audiences can experience the well-loved classics as well as completely new works, under the wonderful night sky. (33 32 52 52) www.xproduction.com

Mid-September-Mid-December: The Kulturbro 2002 biennial. To celebrate the birth of the new Danish-Swedish region - the Øresund Region, an extensive cultural biennial has been founded. This biennial was launched in 2000 as a celebration of art, design, music, theatre, and dance in the Øresund Region. More than a hundred Danish and Swedish museums, galleries, theatres, concert halls, and dance stages hosted a vast number of special exhibitions, plays, and performances, whose common aim was to draw international attention to the cultural potential of this new region. The next celebration will be in 2002.

For further information on Kulturbro 2002, contact: Wonderful Copenhagen tel: 33 55 74 00 fax: 33 55 74 10 or by visiting www.kulturbro.com

First week of November: A few years ago the Copenhagen Jazz Festival gave rise to an offshoot, which has become another important part of the city's musical scene; Copenhagen Autumn Jazz. Includes indoor jazz concerts at a number of the city's best venues.