Beyond Eurovision: Why Malmo Should Be on Your Travel Radar
Hosting the thrills of The Bridge and now the Song Contest, Malmo is an up-and-comer on the destinations scoreboard.
Matt Charlton - 30 April 2024
Is it really half a century since Abba unleashed their enduring brand of Scandinavian pop loveliness on the world from the stage of the Brighton Dome? My my. Well, this year maybe it’s time for a cultural exchange, as Olly Alexander brings 2024’s UK Eurovision entry Dizzy to Swedish shores. Last year’s winners have selected the southern port town of Malmo to host the festivities this time round. Sweden’s third city, Malmo has always been a humbler offering than Gothenburg and Stockholm, but it’s undergone a reinvention in recent years. Both its heavy industry and bustling port have declined – partly due to the engineering feat that is the Oresund Bridge (the one from the Scandi noir drama The Bridge), which has all but cancelled out the ferries that once regularly ran between here and Copenhagen. The city is wearing its transformation well, however and has plenty to offer the weekend tripper, including a strong (and disgusting, but we’ll come to that later) showing in gastronomy.
I land in a different country… no, not a mistake, but because Copenhagen Airport is a mere half-hour train journey over the aforementioned bridge into Malmo Central, where there are trains to and from the Danish capital every ten minutes. In fact, a lot of Danes pop over here to do their food shopping and fine dining, as it’s far cheaper.
I’m based in the old shipyard area, which feels a lot like London’s Docklands in the 90s or Salford Quays in the noughties: shiny, a bit empty, remodelled, ex-industrial, but slowly coming into its own. The chic Story Hotel Studio (storyhotels.com) provides gorgeous views over this changing urban landscape, and further into Malmo’s medieval centre, the traditional Scandi buildings reflecting the afternoon sun in a very wholesome Swedish way.
Like many Scandinavian cities, the waterways are key, so I take a city boat tour (stromma.com). It’s during this journey along the picturesque canals and in the port that I learn Malmo was once Danish; that the city’s citizens wept when a famous old crane was dismantled and sold to South Korea; the oldest building in Malmo, St Peter’s Church, dates from the 14th century; and that it has recently become home to the tallest building in Scandinavia, the Turning Torso.
St Peters Church in Malmo
Leaving the boat, I’m soon handed a sick bag, but not because of my sea legs. I have gingerly proceeded a five-minute walk away to the Disgusting Food Museum, which has a sick bag as an entry ticket. Not quite the bush-tucker trial you dread on entering, the museum discusses the nature of disgust through its displays of questionable foods from around the world, from cheese crawling with maggots to Pop-Tarts. The opportunity to taste and smell is available, but I didn’t want to ruin my appetite.
Appetite intact, there’s plenty to help you forget about what you saw at the museum. Ruths hits the Swedish sweet spot of casual and refined. A local favourite, it serves from breakfast till dinner, melding local ingredients and modern European cuisine.
The showstopper however, is Aster. Located in an abandoned shipyard, this is one of the best meals I’ve ever tasted, with local seasonal produce elevated to such a level that I forget to take photos because I’m so busy eating it and quaffing the natural wine that’s popular in this part of the world. Everything is close: my hotel a five-minute stumble from the restaurant, the central station an eight-minute walk from there, Copenhagen just over the water, and the Malmo Arena (home to this year’s Eurovision Song Contest) a mere ten-minute train ride away. There, you will find all the usual trappings of the surroundings of a large venue – a huge indoor shopping centre, chain restaurants, tower-block hotels – but you’ll want to be based in the city centre itself.
The place has a sense of being a real up-and-comer: the prominent university lends it a youthful atmosphere, the start-ups you find in the streets a vitality and thrust, and the cultural scene is also thriving, with the modern art museum and Konsthall, one of Europe’s largest exhibition halls for contemporary art. Add the food scene, and you have a fantastic mini-metropolis populated by Scandinavians who probably speak better English than you do. Come next Saturday’s final, the eyes of the music (and I use that term loosely) world will be on Sweden’s third city. But mamma mia, there is plenty to hold the attention long after the Eurovision carnival has left town.
Is it really half a century since Abba unleashed their enduring brand of Scandinavian pop loveliness on the world from the stage of the Brighton Dome? My my. Well, this year maybe it’s time for a cultural exchange, as Olly Alexander brings 2024’s UK Eurovision entry Dizzy to Swedish shores. Last year’s winners have selected the southern port town of Malmo to host the festivities this time round. Sweden’s third city, Malmo has always been a humbler offering than Gothenburg and Stockholm, but it’s undergone a reinvention in recent years. Both its heavy industry and bustling port have declined – partly due to the engineering feat that is the Oresund Bridge (the one from the Scandi noir drama The Bridge), which has all but cancelled out the ferries that once regularly ran between here and Copenhagen. The city is wearing its transformation well, however and has plenty to offer the weekend tripper, including a strong (and disgusting, but we’ll come to that later) showing in gastronomy.
I land in a different country… no, not a mistake, but because Copenhagen Airport is a mere half-hour train journey over the aforementioned bridge into Malmo Central, where there are trains to and from the Danish capital every ten minutes. In fact, a lot of Danes pop over here to do their food shopping and fine dining, as it’s far cheaper.
I’m based in the old shipyard area, which feels a lot like London’s Docklands in the 90s or Salford Quays in the noughties: shiny, a bit empty, remodelled, ex-industrial, but slowly coming into its own. The chic Story Hotel Studio (storyhotels.com) provides gorgeous views over this changing urban landscape, and further into Malmo’s medieval centre, the traditional Scandi buildings reflecting the afternoon sun in a very wholesome Swedish way.
Like many Scandinavian cities, the waterways are key, so I take a city boat tour (stromma.com). It’s during this journey along the picturesque canals and in the port that I learn Malmo was once Danish; that the city’s citizens wept when a famous old crane was dismantled and sold to South Korea; the oldest building in Malmo, St Peter’s Church, dates from the 14th century; and that it has recently become home to the tallest building in Scandinavia, the Turning Torso.
St Peters Church in Malmo
Leaving the boat, I’m soon handed a sick bag, but not because of my sea legs. I have gingerly proceeded a five-minute walk away to the Disgusting Food Museum, which has a sick bag as an entry ticket. Not quite the bush-tucker trial you dread on entering, the museum discusses the nature of disgust through its displays of questionable foods from around the world, from cheese crawling with maggots to Pop-Tarts. The opportunity to taste and smell is available, but I didn’t want to ruin my appetite.
Appetite intact, there’s plenty to help you forget about what you saw at the museum. Ruths hits the Swedish sweet spot of casual and refined. A local favourite, it serves from breakfast till dinner, melding local ingredients and modern European cuisine.
The showstopper however, is Aster. Located in an abandoned shipyard, this is one of the best meals I’ve ever tasted, with local seasonal produce elevated to such a level that I forget to take photos because I’m so busy eating it and quaffing the natural wine that’s popular in this part of the world. Everything is close: my hotel a five-minute stumble from the restaurant, the central station an eight-minute walk from there, Copenhagen just over the water, and the Malmo Arena (home to this year’s Eurovision Song Contest) a mere ten-minute train ride away. There, you will find all the usual trappings of the surroundings of a large venue – a huge indoor shopping centre, chain restaurants, tower-block hotels – but you’ll want to be based in the city centre itself.
The place has a sense of being a real up-and-comer: the prominent university lends it a youthful atmosphere, the start-ups you find in the streets a vitality and thrust, and the cultural scene is also thriving, with the modern art museum and Konsthall, one of Europe’s largest exhibition halls for contemporary art. Add the food scene, and you have a fantastic mini-metropolis populated by Scandinavians who probably speak better English than you do. Come next Saturday’s final, the eyes of the music (and I use that term loosely) world will be on Sweden’s third city. But mamma mia, there is plenty to hold the attention long after the Eurovision carnival has left town.