THE fortunes of Helsingor reside in fiction.

Helsingor - the main hub of the north Sealand Riviera - would most likely be filed away under “pretty but fairly unremarkable” were it not for the robust Hamlet industry surrounding its Kronburg castle, immortalized as “Elsinore” in Shakespeare’s famous work.

Each year, thousands of pilgrims chasing the power of Shakespearian legend flock to brutish Kronburg, one of Northern Europe’s most important Renaissance castles. Afterwards they stay on for a spell, sampling the town’s perky café society and taking in Helsingor’s quaint pedestrian streets with their blanket of half-timbered dwellings, Gothic churches and medieval market squares.

Forty km north of Copenhagen, Helsingor’s other lucrative feat is the four-kilometre sliver of water separating it from Sweden. Packed ferries scuttle continuously out of Helsingor harbour, bound for Swedish twin Helsinborg - and the numerous other delights that lie beyond the sound.