Going to Malmo
 

Hello,

I'm off to Copenhagen for 4 days in June. Should I spend all 4 days there or take a trip to Malmo?

Well there are lots better day trips from Copenhagen than Malmo - to me a blah modern city - a nice city don't get me wrong but would be low on my list of day trips - if you want to see some of Sweden consider the Round the Sound excursion you can do by public transit on your own - train over the bridge/tunnel over the Sound from Copenhagen to Malmo - switch there to a train to nearby Lund, one of the nicest cities I've seen in Scandinavia and one with a well-known university with a lush almost American-like campus.

Then take the train to Helsingorborg, Sweden and take the constant ferries over to Helsingor (Elsinor in English) and Hamalet's Castle - Helsingor Castle perched right on a spit of land jutting out into the Sound - you get a great view of it from the train ferries you take to get back to Denmark - Helsingor is a nice town too.

then hop the S-tog commuter train back to Copenhagen - a varied excursion that beats just going to Malmo, which you can easily visit as well en route.

For more on trains in these areas and the excursion check these nice sites: www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com. Train fares are fairly flat fares so just buy your tickets as you go along - easily done IME. And do visit Hamalet's Castle!

There are some sweet day trips in the Copenhagen area too - like to Roskilde for the Viking Ship Museum and a sweet regional town or to Frederiksborg Castle - the Danish royal castle lovingly set on an island in a lovely lake - both are short train trips from Copenhagen as is Helsingor and the lovely Louisiana Statue Park.

There is no way I would do Malmo (a cute town but not much going on) versus time in Copenhagen or the day trips mentioned above (Roskilde, castles north of the city).

With 4 days in Copenhagen I urge the OP to do at least one day trip to see a more ordinary 'real' if you want it Denmark - a regional town like Roskile, Helsingor or Hillerud (Frederksborg Castle) - 3 days is enough to pretty much exhaust all main sights in Copenhagen. and Sweden is yet another country to see vs a 4th day in Copenhagen IMO.