Malmö

Introduction

Turning Torso

© Hien

Malmö is the third largest city in Sweden with around 300,000 inhabitants. It is located in the southwestern tip of the country in the province of Skåne.

Sights and Activities

Turning Torso

The Turning Torso is the third tallest building in Europe and tallest building in Sweden. Construction was started at 2001 and the building was ready at 2005.

Events and Festivals

Malmo Festival

Known locally as the Malmofestivalen, Malmo’s most important event is held over the course of eight days in August. Plenty of interesting performances and feasts are found throughout the region, but be sure to book your accommodations early as they fill up fast.

Weather

Malmo has moderately warm summers, between 19 °C and 21 °C from June to September, but temperatures can rise over 30 °C sometimes. Nights are around 13 °C or 14 °C. Winters last from December to March with temperatures around zero during the day, -3 °C degrees at night and an absolute low of around -25 °C. Precipitation is evenly distributed throughout the year, but with some more rain in summer and quite some snow in winter.

Getting There

By Plane

Malmö Airport (MMX) has regular connections to/from Örebrö, Stockholm, Budapest, Belgrade, Gdansk, Warsaw, Katowice, Damascus and Borlänge. Ryanair flies to Alicante and Malaga.

By Train

Norway
NSB (Norwegian State Railways) operates trains between Oslo and Malmo, which connects to Copenhagen, Hamburg and Berlin.
Denmark
There are trains roughly every 20 minutes or so between Malmo and Copenhagen, which stop at the Copenhagen Airport as well, travelling via the Öresund Bridge.
Germany
Berlin Night Express has direct overnight trains to and from Malmo, via the Rodby-Puttgarden ferry, taking 9 hours each way.

By Car

You can travel to Malmo directly from Denmark via the E20 motorway and the Öresund Bridge, as well as from places in Sweden.

By Bus

Regular buses connect Malmo with Copenhagen as well as Swedish cities.

By Boat

Germany

• Nordö Link between Travemunde and Malmo.

Getting Around

By Public Transport

Skånetrafiken buses travel around Malmö, but they don't except cash anymore.

By Foot

The city centre is easily explored on foot.

By Bike

Malmö is best experienced by bicycle, the city is interlaced with lots of bicycle roads.

Sleep

Upscale

Keep Connected

Internet

Internet is widely stretched out in a very modern way and you can find 3G network (and soon 4G as well) almost everywhere, though in the higher northern parts and in the mountains it is of course harder or impossible.

The number of WiFi access points are growing and fast food chains, libraries, hotels, cafés and malls and others may offer free wireless internet access. Fixed terminals where you can pay for internet access exist as well, although many libraries can provide the same service for free. Some buses for longer distances have free wifi and most of the trains do have it as well but at cost sometimes.

Almost every household does have internet and it is fast and modern. You barely see any internet cafés because of the influence by high-tech phones with internet access and the cheaper and more comfortable internet at home, but there are some places like Pressbyrån that offers computers with internet access (not free).

Phone

See also: International Telephone Calls

The general emergency number is 112. Sweden's international calling code number is +46. Payphones are available (however extremely rare), with older models only accepting cards (special smartchip phone cards as well as credit cards), and newer models that accept coins. Collect calls are possible by dialing 2# on a pay phone.

Sweden has excellent wireless GSM and 3G/UMTS coverage, even in rural areas except in the central and northern interior parts of the country. The major networks are Telia, Tele2/Comviq, Telenor and 3 (Tre). Swedish GSM operates on the European 900/1800 MHz frequencies. You can choose to buy a local SIM card or bring your own cellphone. Be careful for roaming costs though and try to use wifi only.

Prepaid USB 3G modems can be bought in many shops. They are a good alternative to WiFi in Sweden. They cost around 100 SEK/week and 300 SEK/month to use. Data limits are high (typically 20 GB/month). The prepaid 3G data package of the provider 3 bought in Sweden can be used in Denmark without incurring any roaming charge. It is, however, not possible to buy refill vouchers for this products in Danish stores.

Post

Posten AB is the Swedish postal service, with fast and reliable services. They have a wide range of services including a track and trace system and different options regarding the sending of postcards, letters and parcels. There are both express and economy services and if you are not in a hurry the latter option is fine enough.

The postal service was abandoned at the public post offices in 2001. The public today deals with its postal business at Postal Service Points. Mail and parcels can now be picked up at a number of places, including gas stations, supermarkets and kiosks. Look for the blue and yellow sign above or by the entrance of outlets providing this service. You can also buy stamps and there are quite a few more services in these places, many of which stay open late in the evening and on weekends. Yellow post boxes are for national and international letters and blue for regional letters. Postal Service Centres are maintained for business clients and Svensk Kassaservice, a chain which deals with simple financial transactions but offers no postal services. There are also traditional post offices offering the full range of services. They are usually open between 9:30am and 6:00pm and may have extended opening hours once or twice a week.

One of their competitors is Bring Citymail AB, formerly privatised but now nationalised by Norway. Otherwise, for sending parcels internationally, try and use international companies lik TNT, DHL, UPS or FedEx.

External Links

• Official Website
• Official Visitor's Guide