So, I can sadly say that Denmark is not a contender. Not because the Danes are not a pleasant people or the country isn't beautiful. It's just that I'm in Denmark shooting an episode of HQ . . . The Holiday Quiz as I write and it is unspeakably cold.

The Danes take a ghoulish pleasure in describing to shivering visitors that this is nothing; that up north, the sea freezes to five metres deep.

Apart, then, from the home of our Viking cousins, two places immediately spring to mind. Firstly, Barcelona, for its unrelenting beauty. Even off the tourist trails, there are streets which you can happen upon that are stunning; places that, if they were located in Dublin or Cork, would take pride of place. Barcelona has forgotten more beautiful buildings than most cities will ever know. And you haven't had real tapas until you've visited there. Eating in restaurants is a waste.

And secondly, New York, because it is always the way you expect it to be;

because it seems to have the highest per capita concentration of characters than any city on earth; because its buzz is such that when you leave, you always wonder about going back to live there.

But as I say, such opinions are usually influenced by how one feels at the time.

And halfway through a marathon trek of cities in Europe, the far east and the Antipodes, when I'm tired and looking around another strange hotel room, my favourite place is Howth, where my family sleep, waiting for Daddy to come home with the presents he's promised.

Sean Moncrieff presents HQ . . . The Holiday Quiz every Sunday evening at 8.30 on RTE One