Copenhagen to Malmö… The Best Places to Visit in Malmö in 1 Day!

Are you taking a day trip from Copenhagen to Malmö? Are you looking for the best places to visit in Malmö? Or are you wondering what to visit in Malmö, Sweden? Then read on, and join us as we take a day trip from Copenhagen to Malmö, find things to see in Malmö Sweden, and find the best places to visit in Malmö?

Malmö is Sweden’s 3rd biggest city behind Stockholm and Gothenburg. And while it may not be quite as famous as Stockholm or nearby Copenhagen in Denmark, it’s super easy to travel from Copenhagen to Malmö on a day trip, and it’s a great city to explore with some beautiful architecture and unique museums to experience! Here is our itinerary for a great day out from Copenhagen to Malmö, including the best places to visit in Malmö and the best things to see...

Here is a quick video of some of the best places to visit in Malmo...

Morning in Malmö… The Best Places to Visit in Malmö Sweden

Travelling from Copenhagen to Malmö

If, like us, you’re travelling from Copenhagen to Malmö, then the very first sight you’ll see is the famous Øresund Bridge. 

Made so famous by the hit TV show The Bridge, the huge cable-stayed bridge is the second longest in Europe with both a railway and motorway crossing it. And having both transport links, it makes it super easy to travel from Copenhagen to Malmö!

We take the train direct from Copenhagen main station to Malmö Central Station, picking up some tasty Danish pastries and coffee from Lagkagehuset for our journey.

We’re a little disappointed by the view though, with the train track running underneath the road so we can’t see the bridge! So on our return journey we decide to take the bus instead to get the best views possible (although the bus windows were a little dirty making photos difficult!)

How to travel from Copenhagen to Malmö

Take a train direct from Copenhagen main station to Malmö Central station. Return tickets cost 154DKK (£18) and include all public transport in both cities for your travel days. Tickets can be bought at the station, or online… DOT Tickets.

However we would recommend taking a FlixBus instead, it takes a little longer but is much more scenic, as the bus drives across the top of the bridge so you get the full view, whereas the train track is below the road. Expect to pay around €20 return, with buses running throughout the day from early morning to late at night. Tickets can be booked online… FlixBus Website

Explore Malmö Castle

If you like history then it doesn’t get much more historic than this! Malmö Castle is the oldest preserved Renaissance Castle in Scandinavia, dating back to 1537, and is a must see when in Malmö!

The large red canon towers give the exterior a very distinctive and unique look, standing either side of the preserved castle buildings. And it’s quite unusual to see a moat still filled with water!

Here's a short video of our visit to Malmö Castle, and read on below for more!

Inside you’ll find so much more than just an historic castle though. With the castle having been used as a prison in the 19th century and a refugee centre following WWII, it is now part of Malmö Museum. 

Exhibits tell the history of the castle from the early days of a medieval fortress, key in the battles between Denmark and Sweden for control of the Skåne County, through its time as a prison and refugee centre. And you’ll also travel through time further, with a natural history museum, a modern art gallery and fashion displays, and even a live aquarium!

We find the historic part of the castle really interesting, learning about the battles fought and treasure hidden and lost in 1677 and not recovered until the 1880s. 

Sneha loves a design-it-yourself dress in the fashion section… “be eco-friendly, just paint a new dress every time you go out!”. And don't miss the concert hall... there is an amazing mural at one end resembling more of a church than a concert hall!

But the aquarium is our favourite bit and has some really cool live animals to see… Nemo is swimming through some coral, piranhas eye us up for lunch, and a horseshoe crab gets stuck and can’t turn over in their tank!

Where is Malmö Castle?

Malmö Castle is a 15-minute walk from Malmö Central Station, or take the number 7, 8 or 10 bus.

How much are tickets for Malmö Castle?

Tickets for just the castle and art museum are 60SEK (£5), or a combi ticket which includes the Technology & Maritime Museum is 100SEK (£8). We’d recommend the combi ticket.

How much time do you need at Malmö Castle?

This question depends on how long you have! We spent around 2 hours there which gave us enough time to see everything, but you could easily spend half a day there. There’s also a great looking cafe, although we didn’t try it. So let us know in the comments below if you do and we missed out!

For more information about Malmö Castle… Malmöhus Castle Website

Walk through Kungsparken & See the Slottsmöllan Windmill

Outside of Malmö Castle is Kungsparken and the Slottsmöllan Windmill. 

The park makes for a nice and peaceful walk whatever time of year you visit. And the windmill is cool to see, having watched the TV series The Bridge before coming (which is highly recommended watching if you haven’t seen it), it was instantly recognisable from the opening credits.

Afternoon in Malmö… The Best Places to Visit in Malmö Sweden

Learn the development of Malmö at the Technology & Maritime Museum

As part of the combi ticket from Malmöhus Castle this morning, we get entry into the Technology & Maritime Museum too.

There are lots of different vehicles from cars, planes and trains on show. But the highlight is a real submarine which you can climb inside and explore!

And climb is the right word… we definitely wouldn’t want to be in that confined space under the sea for very long!

One end has a small (very small!) living quarters. We clamber through the tiny hatches into the engine room, and then at the far end is the navigation room. Even the escape hatch is tiny!

It’s cool to explore and definitely worth the additional 40SEK on top of the Malmöhus Castle ticket, even if we only spend a short amount of time here.

Having spent longer than expected exploring Malmö Castle this morning, we miss our planned lunch stop at Saluhall Market. So we make do with the remaining Danish pastries left over from breakfast as we get the bus across the city.

And maybe only having a light lunch is for the best, as our stop for the afternoon puts our stomachs to the ultimate test!

Try the World’s Worst Foods at the Disgusting Food Museum

Maybe not the first place you’d think to visit straight after lunch, but the Disgusting Food Museum is one of the most unique things to do and places to visit in Malmö, Sweden!

Showcasing the most disgusting, smelly, and often poisonous food from all over the World, you certainly need to have a strong nose and stomach to experience the exhibit… and that’s even before you get to the taste challenge at the end!

But as well as being a lot of fun, the museum also educates about different cultures and norms of food. What you think is weird and disgusting, I might love and find delicious!

And it also tackles the subject of future sustainable foods… is eating insects and lab-grown meat the future for us? High in proteins, low in fats, and much better for the environment than large-scale farming practices. After tasting some of the bugs maybe it wouldn’t be so bad after all, but we’ll stay away from the chilli extracts though…

Read our full blog of our highly recommended visit… Trying the World’s Most Disgusting Foods at the Disgusting Food Museum in Malmö Sweden

Evening in Malmö… The Best Places to Visit in Malmö Sweden

See Historic Malmö in Gamla Staden

Ok, so we weren’t quite expecting this next one to be quite so beautiful! Truly making Malmö a hidden gem amongst much larger and more famous European cities, Malmö Gamla Staden (the Old Town) is stunning! And definitely one of the must-see places to visit in Malmö!

Despite a long day of sight-seeing (and still trying to recover from the food challenge at the Disgusting Food Museum), we decide to walk back to our hotel rather than take the bus. And we’re so glad we do!

We start with some shopping on Gustav Adolfs torg, picking up some souvenirs of our trip. The square is pretty, but it’s the walk up to Stortorget and Malmö Rådhus which shows the amazing architecture of the historic centre. 

There is a really cool art sculpture, the Optimistorkestern (Optimistic orchestra), in front of a pharmacy housed in a beautiful old building.

But it’s Malmö Radhus itself which has to be seen. We reach at the perfect time in the evening, just after sunset, so it’s still light enough to see but its dark enough for the lights to brighten up the more intricate details and statues. Utterly stunning!

Just off the main square is another smaller but more historic medieval square… Lilla Torg. A market square from 1592, the cobbled ground and historic buildings are surrounded by restaurants and bars, and we imagine on a summer evening it would make the perfect place to sit outside with a drink and people watch.

We’re visiting on a Sunday in February however, so not many places seem open and it’s started to rain. So we check out the available restaurants and pick Moosehead. And with a covered outdoor area and heaters, we can still sit out and rain-watch rather than people-watch.

Where to eat in Malmö… Moosehead

Serving lots of traditional Swedish dishes, we go for Swedish Meatballs (what else?!) and Reindeer Steak. The Reindeer steak is cooked perfectly and tastes good, but the meatballs are to die for! And with a good choice of Swedish beers and a cocktail menu, we’re happy with our (slightly forced) pick and would definitely recommend it.

See Modern Malmö at the Turning Torso & Øresund Bridge

You can’t miss the next place to visit in Malmö Sweden! Towering over the city, quite literally, is the Turning Torso. It was the tallest building in the Nordics from being built in 2005 until 2022, and there’s no other building close to its size in Malmö!

We’ll be honest and admit we didn’t visit either the Turning Torso or Øresund Bridge up-close After a long day of sight-seeing, a great dinner and some drinks, and the rain not stopping, we decide to head back to our hotel as we’re staying over for the night. But, we purposefully picked a hotel with great views of the city!

So this section is a little bit of a cheat, but if you have the energy or time then both can be visited. The Turning Torso is just a residential building so you go inside, and since it can be seen from almost anywhere in the city, we didn’t see the point in going there anyway.

But we would have quite liked to go to the Øresund Bridge viewpoint. You can get there by taking the number 4 bus route, with stops near Lilla Torg and Malmö Central Station. There is still a 20 mins walk from the bus stop to the viewpoint, so perhaps an Uber (which do run in Malmö) may be more convenient for you, but if you want to see the best views of the famous bridge then this is the place to go!

Where to stay in Malmö… Clarion Hotel Malmö Live

It’s easy to take a day trip from Copenhagen to Malmö and get an evening train back after dinner, but we decided to stay over instead. We stayed at the Clarion Hotel Malmö Live… it was reasonably priced (much cheaper than an equivalent hotel in Copenhagen), and as said above it gives great views over the city and of the Turning Torso and Oresund Bridge.

The hotel was great, really modern and big spacious rooms. But while it had a fully stocked breakfast included, it wasn’t the best breakfast we’d ever had!

TrovenTrippers Tip... Copenhagen to Malmö

When travelling from Copenhagen to Malmö, we'd recommend taking a train to Malmö and take a bus back to Copenhagen.

This way your one-way rail ticket will also cover all of your public transport within Malmö and will get you there as fast as possible. And then taking the bus on the way back, you get to enjoy the views of the Øresund Bridge. And, you'll get to experience both methods of travel across Europe's second longest bridge with both a railway and motorway crossing it!

Travel Tips for Malmö

How to get to Malmö Sweden from London?

The best way is to fly Ryanair from London Stansted to Copenhagen, and then get the bus or train from Copenhagen to Malmö. Fly Saturday to Monday, for less than £100 (prices vary per date). Or if Gatwick is more convenient, easyJet fly direct for similar prices.

How to get to Malmö from Manchester?

Fly easyJet from Manchester to Copenhagen and then get the bus or train from Copenhagen to Malmö. Fly Saturday to Monday, with return tickets often available for less than £100. Or Ryanair also fly direct, but we found the flight times out weren’t as good as the easyJet flights. And then get the train or bus direct from the airport, or combine it with a trip to Copenhagen and go from Copenhagen main train station.

How to get from Copenhagen to Malmö?

You can get the train or bus across the Øresund Bridge to travel from Copenhagen to Malmo. Expect to pay 300DKK (£35) for a return train ticket, which you can either buy on the DOT app, online at Sweden Trains Website, or at Copenhagen Main Station. The journey takes 40 minutes.

Or for a more scenic view of the bridge, take a FlixBus from Copenhagen to Malmo. Expect to pay around €16 return, with the journey taking 1 hour 15 minutes.

How to get around Malmö?

If you get the train from Copenhagen to Malmö, then your ticket is also valid for all public transport in Malmö. There are regular buses to get around, but the city is quite small so large parts of it are easily walkable.

Combine your visit to Malmö with a stay in Copenhagen too, check out our blog... 1 Weekend in Copenhagen… the Top Places to Visit in Denmark’s Capital