Malmo
Sweden'S Third City, Joined To Copenhagen By The Oresund Bridge Since 2000; Medieval Squares, Malmohus Castle, Ribersborg Beach And Cold Bath House, And The Turning Torso Tower · Malmo, Skane County
Malmo is Sweden's third city and the capital of Skane, the southern province that was Danish until 1658. Its old core, Gamla Staden, sits inside a ring of canals and holds two very different squares: Stortorget, the big 16th-century market square with the town hall, and Lilla Torg, a small cobbled square of old half-timbered houses that is now one long outdoor restaurant. West of the centre stand Malmohus, a Danish-built Renaissance castle that houses the city's museums, and green parks that run down to Ribersborg, a long sandy beach with a wooden cold-bath house on a pier. Beyond it the Western Harbour, a former shipyard, has become a district of waterfront homes around the twisting Turning Torso tower. Since 2000 the Oresund Bridge has joined Malmo to Copenhagen by road and rail, and many visitors use Malmo as a cheaper base for both. People come for the food, multicultural Mollevangen and the sea bathing. The honest caveat: it is a working city rather than a showpiece, the old core is small, and a few suburbs make national news for crime, though visitor areas are generally calm.
Central Malmo: Gamla Staden, Stortorget and Lilla Torg, Malmohus Castle and the Western Harbour, Malmo, Skane County, Sweden
The city itself is always open. Malmohus and the Malmo Museums usually open daily in summer and are often closed on Mondays or keep shorter hours the rest of the year - check the current schedule. The Ribersborg cold-bath house is open year-round, typically from morning to evening with shorter winter hours and closures on some holidays such as Midsummer Eve and Christmas - confirm locally. Moderna Museet Malmo is normally closed on Mondays. Shops close early on Saturdays and many on Sundays; Systembolaget is closed all day Sunday. Getting there: Oresundstag trains run from Copenhagen Central and Copenhagen Airport across the bridge to Malmo Central in roughly 35-40 minutes, often every 20 minutes by day; SJ trains reach Malmo from Stockholm in roughly 4.5-5 hours and from Gothenburg in about 2.5-3 hours. Nothing in the old town needs booking, but book summer restaurant tables on Lilla Torg and hotels during the Malmo Festival week in August.