Once I’d decided I was going to Copenhagen (and had my trip to Stevn’s Klint in my itinerary), the first thing I wanted to do was go over the Øresund Bridge to Malmö. I like a train adventure, especially one that can go across national borders and you bet I wanted to see the really impressive bridge.
So on the Sunday morning, armed with some snacks and my passport, I went to Copenhagen Central, found the machines that specifically sell train tickets to Sweden and bought a single ticket to Malmö. I wasn’t sure whether a 24-hour ticket meant I could go backwards and forwards as many times as I wanted in 24 hours or whether it meant it could be used at any time in the next 24 hours, as opposed to the ticket for a train departing in the next 15 minutes so rather than spend extra on a ticket I was dubious about, I went for the ordinary one and headed straight for the platform.
I suppose I was expecting something exciting. Something like a Scandi Eurostar, only without all the faff of check-in and security and only finding your platform ten minutes before departure. An event. An occasion. In fact, it’s exactly the same train I’d taken from the airport into the city centre the evening before last. Denmark and Sweden have formed a transnational metropolitan region comprising the Danish Capital Region (and most of the Zealand island) and Skåne in southern Sweden. It doesn’t escape my notice that Skåne is the part of modern Sweden that used to belong to Denmark. The Øresund Region has its own regional passenger rail network which connects Copenhagen with most of Skåne and what I particularly like about it is that its name, Øresundståg, is a mashup of the Danish and Swedish versions – the Ø at the beginning comes with Danish, whereas Swedish spells it with an Ö and it ends with the Swedish -tåg where Danish would spell it -tog. Because Copenhagen Airport is basically at the western end of the bridge, the Øresundståg network includes the train into the city!
I went to the platform, trying to balance phone, orange juice and croissant. I wanted to film the train coming in but I also wanted breakfast and I had ten or fifteen minutes to eat before the train was due. Should have just waited for the train, but I wanted to film inside the train! The train arrived, the same grey and red one as the first night, I got on and I found a seat by the window. There was no ceremony to it whatsoever. No different to getting on any other train except I had my passport tucked away in the secret pocket in my bag. Yes, you should be carrying it anyway but it’s the official Rules of Going to Malmö On the Train. Sweden likes to know who’s coming in. For what it’s worth, Denmark doesn’t care in the opposite direction. Denmark is of the opinion that once you’re in the Schengen Zone, it makes very little difference whether you’re in Sweden or in Denmark but Sweden has some capital-F-feelings about immigrants and so it checks passports even coming in from Schengen.
Off we went. Back through Copenhagen, right past my hotel – I’d taken the S-Bahn up from Dybbølsbro and although I know it’s just an S-Bahn station and not a mainline railway station, it’s still frustrating to sail back through where I started from nearly an hour ago every single day – and round the long way to the airport, where we picked up all the passengers heading into Sweden, and then out into the strait. Well, into the tunnel, actually. The first part is just tunnel. You surface at Peberholm, a long thin island built from the spoil from digging the tunnel, which has a footpath through the sand and scrub. Like Iceland’s Surtsey, this was left alone – other than the road and railway running its length – to see how new land is colonised by plant and animal life. The presence of a footpath really made me wonder if you can walk on the island. I don’t think it would be very peaceful, with the railway line and the busy road right next to you but it looked quite pleasant. On the other side is Saltholm, which is a natural island where you can stroll and just enjoy nature if you can find a boat to get over there. There’s no scheduled ferry or public transport over to it.
And then you’re up on the bridge!
Except that you’re not. It’s so underwhelming. It’s so disappointing! The railway runs underneath the bridge, so there’s no sky, no road stretching out ahead of you, no towers, no nothing except darkness overhead and zigzagging girders flashing alongside you for the entire above-water length of the bridge. I came here to enjoy the experience of crossing the bridge and this is all I get?
It gets worse on the other side. You remain above ground long enough to see the toll booths next to you, where vehicle traffic stops to pay the crossing fee and presumably get their passports checked and then the railway line vanishes underground and stays there at least until it gets to Malmö. My train was continuing to Helsingborg, I think, but some of them continue on as far as Gothenborg, another three hours on from Malmö, right up opposite the northern tip of Denmark.
About half an hour after leaving Copenhagen, you stop at the first stop in Sweden, an underground platform at Hyllie. This is where the passports get checked. The train makes a timetabled stop of about six minutes here. Passengers disembarking here get their passports checked on the way out somewhere and officials come on board to check the passports of everyone remaining on board. At least, sometimes they do. If it’s going to happen, this is where it happens. It happened to not happen for me. I sat there, passport in hand, waiting, and no one came to look at it. The train moved off again and I put my passport back in my bag. About seven minutes after departing Hyllie, you arrive at another underground platform and now you’re at Malmö Central.
Most of the fun in visiting Malmö is the journey from Copenhagen. I visited the castle, dithered over an electric self-drive boat trip (am I too chicken? Am I overthinking it? What if I end up in the sea?) and then realised it’s £70 an hour – fine if you can fill the boat, but I’m not paying that solo! I bought some Marabou chocolate (which actually made it home without liquifying in the heat – third time lucky!) and went on a boat tour with a guide instead.
That’s why this post got pushed back – I needed to do the Danish history (How did Denmark go from powerhouse to posing?) first so you’d have some context for the relationship between Denmark and Sweden. Malmö is a major town in Skåne, the part of modern Sweden that used to be Denmark. Until 1658, the signing of the Treaty of Roskilde, when it got handed back to Sweden. This was part of the Northern War of 1655-1660, not really much to do with the breakup of the Kalmar Union in 1523 when Sweden broke free but Denmark had a couple of goes at taking it back over the next several decades and this was pretty much the end of the incessant squabbling – Denmark got kicked and ended up finally backing off.
But the people of Skåne were used to being Danish and took a long time to warm up to being Swedish. I think they still haven’t fully enthusiastically embraced it even in 2026. If my tour guide was anything to go by, they seem inclined to be Scanian before Swedish. The flags around town seem to agree – more red and yellow than blue and yellow.
There were two royal incidents that just further ingrained this. In 1887, Oscar II came to visit Malmö and the authorities decided this was a fine opportunity to “Swedify” the residents, engender some pride in the Swedish king visiting their Swedish town. Building was done, parks were created, things were named after the king and queen. Everyone was proud. Everyone was finally Swedish. And His Majesty only made the very briefest visit, the shortest tour, and then vanished back to Stockholm, leaving the residents of Malmö feeling all Danish again. And on a less related note, even today, on a high speed train, Malmö to Stockholm is a journey of five or six hours. In 1887, it must have been beyond unhinged to travel so far for such a short time. Our guide said no such thing but I reckon he used the visit as an excuse to sneak off with a royal mistress. Anyway, Malmö renamed all the things and un-Swedish feeling rose high.
The second king – who actually came along before Oscar – was Charles XV, who actually fond of Malmö and all things Danish, which led to the rest of Sweden regarding him with deep suspicion and dislike. He spent time partying with Danish royalty and promised to take Denmark’s side if Prussia attacked, so when war broke out in 1864, the Swedish parliament refused to back him. He actually dropped dead in Malmö in 1872. This is 200 years after Skåne got handed over to Denmark and there’s still a deep wedge between the Swedish people and the people of Skåne. No wonder they weren’t feeling particular Swedish even by the time Oscar turned up 15 years later.
When it was time to go home, I tried out a different method that I hoped might be more scenic. Staying right opposite Copenhagen’s long-distance bus station, I’d seen the Flixbus to Malmö and a bus that goes one way probably goes the other. I booked online and maybe there are other travellers who already know this but I don’t use long-distance buses; I’m a train girl. When you book a seat on a Flixbus, you literally book a seat. You pick your specific seat and then for a fairly nominal fee, which I think was about £8, you can book the seat next to you so you don’t have to sit next to a stranger! I got the front seats, right behind the driver and looking straight out through the big windscreen. €22.46 in total, with the journey from the bus stop right next to the boat stop taking an hour and delivering me pretty much back to my door, compared to the train taking 40 minutes and costing about £13 but leaving me to get home from Copenhagen Central. But the real question: would it be the scenic trip I’d dreamed of?
Yes!
For a start, we were above ground all the way from Malmö, across the bridge and across Peberholm, right up until the tunnel. And the road goes over the bridge, not under it! I saw the bridge! I saw the great pylons! I saw the Baltic! I saw boats! I saw the road stretching across the water to Denmark!
If you’re going to Copenhagen and you want to cross over to Malmö for the joy of the experience of crossing the Øresund Bridge, go by road! 100% go by road! Long-distance buses leave from the bus station next to Dybbølsbro, which is one stop on the S-Bahn on every westbound train out of Copenhagen Central, next to IKEA. It is 1000% the better option for experiencing that bridge.
And Malmö’s pleasant too but it’s all about the bridge, isn’t it?
I didn’t do so well at taking pictures on that trip but I got plenty of video clips – enjoy this brief reel about the experience!