Trip to Copenhagen and Malmo
I was initially planning to go only to Copenhagen, since I was joining a friend of mine on a Euro-tour. But after comparing the hotel price and the proximity of Malmo to Copenhagen, I found out that it’s much cheaper to stay in Malmo. And I’ll also get to see yet another country, which will mean that I’ve been to 11 countries in last 6 months and 25 in total. #goalz
There are a few things to note regarding staying in Malmo while visiting Copenhagen. First, both Denmark and Sweden have their own respective currencies (Swedish and Danish krones), which means that if you’re a person who prefers paying with cash, you’ll have to deal with many currencies. But the good thing is that in both of these countries you can usually pay with credit cards, so as long as you have a credit card with no foreign transactions fees, you’ll be fine. Second, due to refugee situation, there are now ID checks when you go to Malmo. There are no checks when you go from Malmo to Copenhagen, and you can take a direct train, but you can only go to Malmo from Copenhagen Airport, where they check IDs and you need to change the train if you’re coming from Copenhagen. This means that make sure you don’t forget an ID once you leave Sweden! I actually saw an older woman not being able to board the train cause she had something wrong with her ID, even though she spoke perfect Scandinavian (either Danish or Swedish, forgive my ignorance), and was clearly not a potential refugee.
Tours
Copenhagen is a very touristy city, so there are a lot of different types of tours. I’ve personally took Copenhagen Pub Crawl and I was hoping to take free walking tour, but never got up early enough for it. I’ve heard the walking tour is very through and interesting, so I’d definitely recommend it. The pub crawl is definitely a good way to meet different people, especially if you travel alone, or with your friends. I’d also recommend to take Christiania tour, since it’s a very interesting place!
Places to see
The above tours will probably take you to all the places you’d want to see, but my personal recommendation would be to definitely see the port, or as Danish call it, Nyhavn. The attached colorful houses is an interesting thing to see!
Go inside the Rathaus, a.k.a. the city hall — they usually have various exhibitions, but the building itself is beautiful. I stumbled upon an exhibition called “100 Danes” and “100 Foreign”, where different random Danes and immigrants told their life stories. A lot of them were interesting stories about overcoming different obstacles, but a few of them, such as a woman complaining that the government isn’t giving her a place to live close enough to Copenhagen, made me think how impudent certain people can get in a strongly socialist society.
A lot of cities I’ve seen have central streets. That’s not the care with Copenhagen — it has a whole old downtown area filled with shops and bars. Take your time to walk through them. They’re especially beautiful in Christmas season with all the Christmas decorations. There are also multiple Christmas markets around the city, where you can get food and gluehwein, or as Danish call it, Gloeg.
Tivoli Gardens are world-famous amusement park, with many attractions and food. I’m sure it’s pretty good throughout the year, but in winter time it’s just amazing! An entrance ticket without any rides costs around $20, but it’s totally worth it.
Another interesting spot is Guinness World Record museum! Unfortunately I saw it too late, and had to catch my plane back, so couldn’t visit it :(
Malmo
Malmo is a much smaller city compared to Copenhagen, but it’s worth seeing! It’s a small city, but the downtown are has a lot of places where you can go out for food, drinks, and dance. Expect to see Swedish women wear short skirts in freezing temperatures while waiting in line for clubs!
Miscellaneous
One thing I noticed about both Malno and Copenhagen was that they had bigger streets compared to typical Mediterranean cities (including Zurich, whose old town was built in that style). They’re not as big as usual Midwest American street, but nevertheless, expect 5 blocks of walking to take significant amount of time.
Another thing I need to note is that it’s actually not as cold there as one would think. While it’s Scandinavia, it’s still the south of it, so you’re very unlikely experience a temperature around -30C. I booked a flight to Oslo in January — I bet that will be cold!
