My folks have a chance to take a three day excursion on their spring trip to Sweden to the town of Malmo. Is it worth visiting? What kind of town is it?

It's not as nice as Copenhagen, which is easily reached from Malmo. Malmo is all right, but not the best use of three days in that area, IMO. I enjoyed taking a lake/canal tour by boat in Malmo.

Even if it's not worth visiting, it's so quick and easy to get to Copenhagen by train across the bridge built a few years ago, most people who live in Malmo work in Copenhagen. Trains leave every 20 minutes.

Malmo is a cute small town - good for a couple of hours IMHO. Have them go to copenhagen - a beautiful city you will need at least a week to see a lot of.

yes, i agree, Malmoe is a cute small town. not worth 3 days (unless you have a whole lot of time overall).

many visitors to copenhagen nip over to Malmoe just to get a little taste of sweden (and to say they were there!). frankly it doesn't have a whole lot more to offer.

Great town if you're a hockey fan. They're the worst team in the SEL, but with the work stoppage going on you can catch many NHL'ers playing for the opposition.

The town itself was worth a quick visit, but nearby Lund is much more interesting. Beautiful cathedral and cute downtown area.

Shane: malmo is mostly industrial, It has a small core center which is nice. Lund and Ystad (boyh nearby) are much more scenic. However, with three days, I also would recommend Copenhagen. Very enjoyable city.

Hi Shane,

For a three-day trip, Copenhagen is much to be preferred over Malmö.

You can do a boat trip around Malmö (www.rundan.se). The skipper will earnestly point out the attractions of Malmö, including the park, the town hall, the library, etc. Having yawned through this, you've then seen all there is to see. Fortunately, it's easy to go to København, the livliest city in Scandinavia, which is what most people who live in Malmö do if they want to enjoy themselves.

No Malmo is not worth a visit because there are so many better places nearby. Lund, about 25 mins by train from Malmo, is one of the nicest cities in Scandinavia. This university town, one of the most prestigeous universities in Sweden along with Uppsalla, would be a good destination and you can pass thru Malmo en route, but there's very little there of interest though it is one of Sweden's largest cities.

Well I liked Malmo because an old friend is the President/ rector of the World Maritime University there. He put us up in a staff apartment in 2000 -- we went for the opening of the Oresund bridge, which clmaxed in 3 days of festivities including the bridge half-marathon, in which we ran.

His landlords -- a super-fit couple in their early 70s -- also competed and showed up at the party he gave after the race. They were quite un-sore, indeed the life of the party (smoked fish, salad and aquavit were served -- we all got rather bombed).

In pre-bridge days, there was a luxurious ferry, complete with gamblng (ugh!) and duty-free shopping, that took you to Copenhagen; the new train service via the bridge killed it temporarily -- but now it has, paradoxically, been restored.

Bottom line: Malmo is of modest interest but it is a wonderful staging ground for Copenhagen and also for Lund -- whose recreation of a Skane (southern Swedish) village is most worthy of a visit. It is 8-10 minutes (not 25 minutes as cited above) from Malmo, by train

Just read an article about Malmo last night and it said that Malmo was heavily Muslim and there has been a rise in the crime rate, which surprised me. Will that be a problem?

>...it said that Malmo was heavily Muslim and there has been a rise in the crime rate, which surprised me. Will that be a problem?<

Will what be a problem; Muslims, crime, surprises?

For a couple in their late 60s, crime and surprises can be worrisome.

Save political assassinations i've never heard of any safety issues in Sweden. And i can't believe that Malmo is heavily Muslim, unless all the Muslims in Sweden were here. maybe i'm wrong. All in all no matter where you live in the US i bet you're safer anywhere in Sweden.

I have heard of higher crime rates in Malmo. There is a large immigrant population. But this would be mostly in the suburbs. And I can't give statistics or correlation as to the relationship between sentence 1 and 2.

The best way to eat at a reasonable price in Scandinavia is to go to a shop/cafe run by immigrants.

Shane,
I heard a similar report on the way to work this morning. The reporter singled out Malmo as paying a price for Sweden's loose immigration laws. Apparently, many Muslims have moved into the area, and a large number of them don't have work. So, they've either turned to crime, or are venting frustration against government. According to the reporter, ambulances will not travel through certain areas of the city without police escort.

Wow! And I'd thunk that Sweden was the perfect state! This not only comes as a shock to me but Swedes themselves must be appalled. Of course as always it's the poverty not the arm-cutting-off-for-theft religion that's to blame. Like Holland Swedes must be reflecting on their 'tolerance'.

My impression, garnered in a week in Malmo, was that the poulation was uniformly six feet tall or taller and blond, blond, blond. The greatest risk I encountered was dodging the Nordic gods and goddesses as they strode masterfully about the place. They may have been Muslims -- I dunno. But they sure have big feet (and long, long legs on the women). As you will judge from the personal observations, none was in a burka.

There really are many muslims in Malmö. But I wouldnīt concider the city the least frightening or dangerous. The report/story some are reffering to is probabaly this: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,139614,00.html It is an exaggeration in my view. I live in neighbouring Finland and I concider Sweden about the safest place on earth.

When comes to Malmö itself I would have to say that itīs ok, but Copenhagen is a lot nicer and bigger.