Malmö & Lund: Sweden's Underrated South & the Bridge to Denmark

Most people fly to Stockholm. We went to Malmö. This decision was partly strategic (cheaper flights, good positioning for a Denmark day trip via the iconic Øresund Bridge) and partly because Malmö had been appearing on every "underrated European city" list we'd encountered, and we were curious whether it deserved the attention.

It does. Malmö is Sweden's third city, positioned at the country's southernmost tip in Skåne province, directly across the narrow Øresund strait from Copenhagen. It's a city that reinvented itself dramatically after its shipbuilding industry collapsed in the 1980s—from an industrial working city to a mixed, design-focused, internationally flavored place that doesn't feel like anywhere else in Scandinavia.

Day 1
Västra Hamnen: The Turned-Around City

The transformation of Malmö is most visible in Västra Hamnen—the Western Harbour—formerly a massive shipyard, now a residential neighborhood of contemporary Scandinavian architecture, public art, and a waterfront promenade. The famous Turning Torso tower (a residential skyscraper that literally twists 90 degrees from base to top) dominates the skyline here, designed by Santiago Calatrava. It's extraordinary to look at from every angle because every angle shows you something different.

We walked the entire waterfront path on a warm July evening—the sun still fully up at 9 p.m. (Scandinavian summer light is its own category of beautiful)—past residents barbecuing on small jetties, children swimming in the sea at the Ribersborg beach, kayakers navigating the harbour. The city felt genuinely alive in the way that cities feel on their best days.

Day 1
Gamla Väster & Lilla Torg

Malmö's old town—Gamla Väster—is compact and charming, with cobbled streets, half-timbered (Swedish variant) buildings, and the lovely Lilla Torg (Little Square): a small, perfectly formed square of timber-framed buildings converted into restaurants and bars. On summer evenings, every table outdoors was occupied, candles appearing as the sun finally dipped, conversation in Swedish and Arabic and English overlapping.

Malmö is notably diverse—around a third of residents were born outside Sweden—and this shows in its food scene in the best way. We ate at a Middle Eastern restaurant that seemed to be run by three generations of the same family, where the food was extraordinary and the bill was implausibly reasonable by Scandinavian standards.

Day 2
Lund: A University Town That Punches Above Its Weight

Lund is twenty minutes by train from Malmö, and we spent a morning there. A university city of 100,000 people, founded in 1020, with a Romanesque cathedral that dates from the 12th century and a compact centre that manages to be both historic and animated by student energy.

The Lund Cathedral is remarkable—less theatrical than many Scandinavian churches, but with a crypt that dates to the 12th century, housing the giant Finn, a stone figure grasping a column whose legend is the Swedish version of Rumplestiltskin. We found it more moving than expected. History embedded in architecture at that depth is something different from a museum exhibit.

Day 2
The Øresund Bridge: Two Countries, One Train

We crossed to Copenhagen by train—35 minutes, over the combined Øresund Bridge and tunnel, one of Europe's great engineering achievements. The bridge crosses open water for 7.8 km before diving into an artificial island and then a 4 km tunnel under the shipping channel. Looking out at the strait from the train, with Denmark on the horizon, felt like a genuine privilege of living in this era of infrastructure.

We spent most of the day in Copenhagen before returning to Malmö for dinner—proof that with the bridge, the two cities function almost as one metropolitan area. This commute, for many residents, is simply Tuesday.