The capital of Denmark, Copenhagen is a wonderful vibrant city with lots to keep you busy. There’s beautiful streets, castles and palaces, lovely gardens and even a theme park. However if you have a spare day, it’s fun to head across the water to another country! Malmö is Sweden’s third largest city and has a population of over 365,000. It’s easy to get to with a quick train or bus across the Øresund Bridge. It’s a small city but has enough things to see and do for a lovely day in Malmö from Copenhagen.

Copenhagen and Malmö are only 30km apart and are connected by the Øresund Bridge and tunnel which were opened in 2000. The bridge is 8km long and connects to an artificial island. On the island, the bridge turns into a 4km tunnel that takes you across to Denmark. The easiest way to do this trip is by train, which only takes between 39 and 46 minutes. You can book these journeys on this website or at either station before you travel. The journey will cost about 214SEK or £16 each way.

The other way is to drive by either bus or car. If you drive by car, you’ll have to pay the toll to cross to the bridge which is quite expensive. You can see the prices here but an average car costs 470DKK on the bridge toll or 420 if you buy it online in advance. This comes out to around £53. You can cross much cheaper by bus. The best place to book a bus is on Flixbus as journeys only cost between £5 and £10 each way. Buses leave from a station in Copenhagen that is a 15 minute walk from the main train station. It arrives at the main train station in Malmö. The whole journey takes between 50 minutes and 1 hour 30 each way.

There’s some great things to do to keep you busy for a day in Malmö. Firstly head to Gamla Staden which is the old town where there’s a couple of great town squares. There’s Lilla Torg which is the little square with a beautiful 18th century building in it called Casa Ekströmska. Nearby is Stortorget which is a bigger square with a statue in the middle and some beautiful buildings around it. One of these buildings is the impressive Malmö City Hall, and right around the corner is the Gothic St. Peter’s Church. If you want to learn some history while you explore, check out this Guided Walking Tour or this Sightseeing Boat Tour.

Another impressive building in Malmö is the famous turning torso building. Built in 2005, this 190 meter building is the tallest skyscraper in Scandinavia. It has a unique twisting design and is mostly residential but is fun to visit and can also be seen throughout the city.

After all the city exploring, there’s some great parks next to the old town to wander through. There is Kungsparken and the adjoined Slottsparken, with rivers and ponds running through them. Across a little bridge is Slottsträdgården which is a community garden with a windmill. There are also multiple cafes throughout these parks which are all situated behind the Malmö Castle.

Malmö Castle is another great landmark to spend some time in while in the city. This preserved Renaissance castle was built between 1526 and 1539 and is the oldest in the Nordics. Throughout its history, it has been used as a fortress, a royal residence, a prison, emergency shelter, and since 1937, is home to a museum. Malmö Museum hosts exhibits here and at another nearby building, on history, technology, shipping, science and natural history. There’s even an aquarium! The castle is also the home of the Malmö Art Museum. This means that for the incredibly cheap price of only 60 SEK or £5 you will get entrance to the castle, the Malmö museum, the aquarium and the art museum. It is open from roughly 11am to 5pm every day except Monday, and there is a restaurant and shop inside as well.

You can’t visit Sweden, even for a day, without having a fika. Fika is a Swedish tradition of having a hot drink, a small sweet treat, and sharing in conversation with others. The idea of fika is to slow down and appreciate the interpersonal moments of your day. You’ll see cafes getting busier in the late morning and mid afternoon as the locals take their fika breaks.

Sweden has a lot of amazing baked goods to offer like cinnamon roles, cookies and cakes. We tried chokladbollar, a small ball made with oats, coconut, chocolate and coffee. It’s a great way to slow down and appreciate those around you during your day in Malmö from Copenhagen! If you like, you can try this fika cooking class where you can pick what you’d like to bake, and eat it with a view of the turning torso. It is a 2 hour long class, costs €45 per person and would be such a fun thing to do on your day in Malmö from Copenhagen.

Malmö is a great day trip from Copenhagen, there’s enough to do for one day and you get to experience a new country. It’s easy to get to, with both affordable and fast train and bus options to cross the Øresund Bridge. Once there, the city has a wonderful old town and some beautiful buildings like Casa Ekströmska, St. Peter’s Church and the city hall. There’s also the famous turning torso, and some wonderful parks to wander around and relax in. Lastly you could spend several hours in the Malmö castle with the museum inside and it is absolutely worth a visit. There’s lots to do to keep you entertained in this little Swedish city so you are sure to have a wonderful day in Malmö.

We spent 2 days in Malmö during our time in Scandinavia. Check out what we got up to in our vlog:

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• Navigating the Schengen Area: What You Need To Know (Free Tracker Included)
• Everything You Need to Know About the Tallink Ferry
• How To Do Helsinki and Tallinn In a Weekend