Getting from Copenhagen to Malmo

Copenhagen and Malmö are two cities in two countries with a strait between them, and the practical truth is that they function as one place. People live in Malmö and work in Copenhagen because the rent is cheaper on the Swedish side. The Öresund Bridge did that, and it opened in 2000.

For a traveller this is useful in a specific way: flights into Malmö are sometimes much cheaper than flights into Copenhagen, and Copenhagen's airport is on the right side of the city to make the crossing painless either way.

The train, which is the answer

Öresundståg runs the crossing. It takes 38 to 41 minutes between the two central stations, and trains go roughly every twenty minutes through the day, with a thinner service overnight. You do not need to plan around a timetable.

The train calls at Copenhagen Airport on the way, which is the detail that matters most. Land at CPH, walk down to the platform underneath the terminal, and you are in central Malmö in about twenty minutes without ever going into Copenhagen.

Buy at the machine or on Öresundståg. Note that the timetable changes several times a year rather than once, so check the booking page rather than trusting a printed schedule.

Bring your passport

This is the part that catches people out.

Sweden reinstated identity checks on this crossing in 2016 and they have not gone away. EU citizens can travel on a national ID card. Everyone else needs a passport, and you should have it out and ready rather than buried in a bag. Nobody is going to make trouble for you, but turning up without it can end the trip at the platform.

Bus and car

There are coaches, and there is very little reason to take one when the train runs every twenty minutes and takes forty.

Driving means paying the Öresund Bridge toll, which is not trivial for a single crossing and is charged each way. If you have a car anyway, fine. If you are deciding whether to hire one for this, do not. Note also that returning a Danish hire car in Sweden, or the reverse, usually attracts a cross-border fee that costs more than the bridge.

The view

Worth knowing so you sit on the right side: the crossing is half tunnel and half bridge. Coming from Copenhagen you go under the water first, surface on an artificial island called Peberholm, then run up onto the bridge itself. Peberholm was built out of the spoil from the tunnel and has been left alone ever since to see what would colonise it, which turns out to be several hundred plant species and a colony of natterjack toads.

Tickets, if you are staying a while

For a single crossing just buy a single. If you are going back and forth, or staying in one city and visiting the other more than once, look at the regional travelcards. Skånetrafiken covers the Swedish side and DOT covers greater Copenhagen, and both sell day and multi-day passes that include the crossing. A 24 or 72 hour card usually pays for itself on the third journey.

Interrail and Eurail passes are valid on Öresundståg, and no seat reservation is needed, so pass holders can simply walk on.

What you are going to Malmö for

Malmö is often treated as a half day from Copenhagen, which undersells it. The old town around Lilla Torg is pretty and full of outdoor tables. The Turning Torso, Santiago Calatrava's twisting 190 metre tower, is the tallest building in Scandinavia and marks the Western Harbour, a former shipyard rebuilt as a waterfront district with a swimming deck where people jump straight into the sound.

It is also a noticeably cheaper city than Copenhagen for eating and drinking, which is not nothing in this part of Europe.

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