A trip to Copenhagen and Malmö 🇸🇪

After visiting Bergen in Norway the previous year, I wanted to see another Nordic country. Looking at the map gave me a better idea: why not visit two Nordic countries at once?

Copenhagen in Denmark and Malmö in Sweden are only around 40 kilometres apart, connected by a train across the Øresund Bridge every 20 minutes. The journey takes approximately 40 minutes.

Flying to and from Copenhagen

Copenhagen Airport is located almost halfway between Copenhagen and Malmö. Several airlines fly there from Prague every day, and for most of the year Copenhagen is among the cheapest destinations reachable by air from Prague.

Few airlines use Malmö Airport, which is actually farther from Malmö than Copenhagen Airport. Flying to Copenhagen was therefore the obvious choice.

To maximise the available time, Czech Airlines offered a morning flight to Copenhagen and an evening flight back to Prague.

Accommodation in Malmö

Malmö was the obvious choice for accommodation. Its hotels are considerably cheaper than those in Copenhagen—almost half the price in my search. The journey from Copenhagen Airport to Malmö takes only 25 minutes, compared with 15 minutes to Copenhagen.

I planned to spend two days in Copenhagen and two in Malmö anyway, so from this perspective it made little difference which city I used as a base.

Combining Malmö and Copenhagen is common not only among tourists. Thanks to the excellent transport connection, many local people live in cheaper Malmö and work in Copenhagen.

Cash, contactless cards and Apple Pay

Although Denmark and Sweden are both in the EU, each uses its own currency rather than the euro. You do not need to buy Danish or Swedish kroner when visiting, however, because it is possible to manage entirely without cash.

In Copenhagen, I found only one small shop that did not accept cards, only a local mobile-payment app. The shopkeeper was happy to convert the price into euros and let me pay in cash that way.

Cards were accepted everywhere in Malmö, even at public toilets. Some shops displayed a “cash free” logo and did not accept cash at all.

Every payment terminal I encountered supported contactless payments, so I used my Revolut card through Apple Pay.

The airport and transport

Copenhagen Airport seemed slightly less friendly to tourists. At the entrance to the railway station, signs indicate which platform serves Copenhagen and which Malmö, but beyond that both connections are treated as ordinary trains. The route map is particularly unhelpful: beyond the airport, it shows only a line labelled Sweden, giving you little indication which train goes to Malmö. In fact, every train heading from the airport towards Sweden does.

The journey to Malmö crosses the Øresund link, a fascinating structure. On the Danish side, it begins with a four-kilometre underwater tunnel from the mainland to the artificial island of Peberholm. An eight-kilometre bridge then continues from the island to the Swedish mainland.

Interestingly, passport checks take place on the train at Hyllie, the first station on the Swedish side, even though both countries belong to the Schengen Area. Travelling in the opposite direction, from Sweden to Denmark, involves no such delay and is therefore faster.

The centres of both cities are easy to explore on foot without even breaking a sweat. Temperatures remain pleasant in summer and the terrain is almost entirely flat. Bicycles are consequently everywhere, especially in Copenhagen, and you are more likely to be hit by a cyclist than a car.

Malmö

Malmö is Sweden’s third-largest city, with around 300,000 residents. It is a modern city with new architecture dominated by Santiago Calatrava’s skyscraper shaped like a twisting human body.

A free Malmö walking tour can help you get your bearings.

You can relax in one of several parks or rent a pedal boat and travel along the canal.

To try Swedish cuisine, order meatballs. They genuinely taste different in Sweden from those at IKEA back home.

Unexpectedly, Malmö’s local speciality is falafel.

The beach is also a welcome option in summer. A temperature of only 24°C is enough for it to fill up, and you may even see a few people in the water.

Pleasant little details appear throughout the city, including cat sculptures, a miniature Øresund Bridge in a playground and blue objects on the hill above the beach.

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is Denmark’s largest city, with around 700,000 residents, and lies across two islands in the Baltic Sea. It feels much older than Malmö, with many historic buildings, including those around Nyhavn harbour.

A free Copenhagen walking tour can help you find your way around.

To experience modern Danish food, visit Torvehallerne, a large food market similar to Lisbon’s Time Out Market. The highlight is smørrebrød, a Scandinavian open sandwich.

In typical Scandinavian style, you can take your smørrebrød for a picnic in the King’s Garden.

Christiania, an unusual social experiment, should not be missed.

There are probably few other places where you will find a street lined with stalls selling various drugs.