Malmö, Sweden
How to Spend a Day in Malmö, Sweden
Have you thought about taking a day trip to Sweden from Copenhagen but aren’t sure where to start?
Malmö Day Trip Itinerary
A friend and I were staying in the city of Copenhagen, Denmark for a few days and on the last day we were visiting, we took the train to Malmö, Sweden during the early morning sunrise. Originally, I didn’t quite have a plan for a Copenhagen day trip to Malmo but I was able to come up with a nice itinerary that worked well for our trip!
The main question I had was… Could I see Malmo in a day? Is Malmo worth a day trip from Copenhagen?
But I learned quickly that both the answers to these questions were: Yes. 100%.
The first step to deciding what to do is to plan.
How to Get to Malmo From Copenhagen
Taking the train across the channel is the perfect way (and most beautiful, in my opinion!) of seeing the sunrise!
RailEurope is one of my favorites! They have a direct channel, the Øresund Bridge, from Copenhagen to Malmö where the average time between is 40 minutes with over 85 trains a day.
Fun Fact: The fastest time frame between the two is 33 minutes!
The Øresund Bridge was smooth and silent as the sun rose over the channel. It is Europe’s largest combined rail and road bridge. We were able to catch one of the earliest trains in the morning, as the cotton candy clouds blended together in the sky.
What to do on a Day Trip to Malmö From Copenhagen
If you’re looking for a day trip, the best advice I would give is to plan ahead! Create a plan of how long you’d like to spend at each place - are you more interested in historical agriculture or looking to spend the majority of your time browsing shops for souvenirs?
The activities I’ve listed are all within walking distance of each other, but if walking is harder for you, there also is public transportation as their bus system is very popular!
Places to Visit:
Malmohus Castle - Maritime History and Modern Art
Disgusting Food Museum - includes a tasting bar!
St. Peter’s Church (St. Petri) - a historic 700-year-old church
Stortorget / Lilla Torg - My favorite point of interest… the town square center where festivals and townspeople gather alike!
Kungsparken - an urban park with mesmerizing fauna and flora
The Old Lighthouse - comes with a great view of the harbor!
Morning
After arriving in Malmö Central Station, you will be in walking distance of Stortorget and Lilla Torg - where you can grab a nice breakfast that won’t break the bank at Ruth’s.
After a nice breakfast, take some time to visit your first monument of the day: St. Peter’s Church, which opens at 10AM.
While enjoying your morning stroll, you can make your way towards Malmöhus Slott (AKA Malmö Castle) which opens each day at 11am.
One can easily spend three to four hours visiting the aquarium, art museum, inside of the castle, and more! So I would plan for an adequate amount of time during this visit. The Kungsparken is also on the grounds of the castle, so I would suggest strolling through the gardens while you are here. There is a café on site as well if you start to get hungry during your visit.
Afternoon
After the castle and the garden, I would make my way over to the Disgusting Food Museum, which is open until 6pm. Although, they do have a tasting bar for unusual items to try - I would recommend having your dinner at a scrumptious restaurant nearby named Bullen as this restaurant is open late, so you will have plenty of time to enjoy your meal!
As you start to make your way back to the central station for the train ride back to Copenhagen, there’s one more stop I would highly recommend: Malmö Fyr - AKA Malmö’s famous lighthouse.
This lighthouse does not have an entry inside but the views of the harbor make it worth it! There are also park benches placed alongside the sidewalk, which is a great place to rest before gathering your things for the train!
When you visit the areas nearby, I would also recommend stopping in the design stores. Sweden is known as the interior design powerhouse of countries, and Malmö displays this so well! The stores I visited had a plethora of designs in their windows and on display - with an added bonus that in each store they offered hot coffee and drinks, as well as chocolates and pepparkakor!
While browsing these stores, I mentally took note of the items that were on the shelves as many of them I hadn’t seen in the U.S. before - including ideas for home design. A few months later - I started to notice these new trends throughout the stores in the states! It felt like I secretly had insider information, which was fun.
The latest train from Malmö departs at 11:35PM and arrives into Copenhagen at 12:17AM so if you’re looking to spend a full day there, you easily can!
While we were visiting, we also noticed there was a festival happening in the main square. We weren’t sure what festival it was nor what they were celebrating, but I enjoyed watching them celebrate!
If you happen to know what they were celebrating, please let me know!
Hope You Enjoy Your Day in Malmö!
If you’re interested in one of my favorite outfits I love wearing while traveling (which I wore consistently on this trip!), you can check out my top Travel 101 Guide!
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