Sweden - Becky Ohlsen [120]
If you enter Skåne from Denmark via the Öresund bridge, there’s a tourist office just off the motorway a few kilometres into the country. Called Skånegården (040-34 12 00; Skånegårdsvägen 5), it’s open Monday to Saturday from October to the end of May (Click here) and supplies information on Malmö, Skåne and the rest of Sweden. Many of the tourist offices in Skåne also stock information for Copenhagen and Denmark.
Getting Around
Skånetrafiken (0771-77 77 77; www.skanetrafiken.skane.se) operates Skåne’s efficient local bus and train networks (the latter known as Pågatågen). Regular connections to Denmark are via the Öresund bridge (see boxed text, opposite) or the Helsingborg–Helsingør ferry Click here.
An integrated Öresundregionen transport system links trains from Helsingborg via Malmö and Copenhagen to Helsingør. For a round-trip tour of the Öresund or a visit to Copenhagen, the ‘Around the Sound’ card (Skr249) gives 48 hours’ unlimited travel on ferries and local trains in Skåne and along the coast north of Copenhagen.
If you’re staying in Skåne for some time, enquire about monthly passes or a sommarkort, offering discount travel from late June to mid-August – see the Skånetrafiken website for details.
Blekingetrafiken (0455-569 00; www.blekingetrafiken.se) runs public transport in the Blekinge region.
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SKÅNE
Skåne (Scania) is Sweden at its most continental. Connected to Denmark by bridge, its trademark mix of manors, gingerbread-style abodes and delicate, deciduous forests are a constant reminder that central Europe is just beyond the horizon. Dominating the scene is metropolitan Malmö, defined by its melting-pot tendencies and striking, twisting tower. Further out, velvety fields, sandy coastlines and stoic castles create one of Sweden’s finest cycling backdrops. Add to this the fact that Skåne is often dubbed Sweden’s ‘larder’ and you have yourself one scrumptious Scandi treat.
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MALMÖ
040 / pop 280,800
Once dismissed as crime-prone and tatty, Sweden’s third-largest city has rebranded itself as progressive and downright cool. It’s no coincidence that two of Stockholm’s hippest icons – rock club Debaser and fashion-forward boutique Tjallamalla – have come to town.
Malmö’s second wind blew in with the opening of the mammoth Öresund bridge and tunnel in 2000 (see boxed text, opposite), connecting the city to bigger, cooler Copenhagen and creating a dynamic new urban conglomeration. Such a cosmopolitan outcome seems only natural for what is Sweden’s most multicultural metropolis – 150 nationalities make up Malmö’s headcount. Here, Nordic reserve is countered by hotted-up cars with doof-doof stereos and exotic Middle Eastern street stalls.
Even the city’s lively historic core echoes its multicultural past. The showpiece square of Stortorget evokes Hamburg more than it does Stockholm, while nearby Lilla Torg is a chattering mass of alfresco supping and half-timbered houses that give away the Danish connection.
History
Malmö really took off in the 14th century with the arrival of the Hanseatic traders, when grand merchants’ houses went up, followed by churches and a castle. The greatest medieval expansion occurred under Jörgen Kock, who became the city’s mayor in 1524. The town square, Stortorget, was laid out at that time, and many of the finest 16th-century buildings still stand. After the city capitulated to the Swedes in 1658, Malmö found its groove as an important commercial centre and its castle was bolstered to protect trade.
New-millennium Malmö has traded in its 20th-century heavy industries (car and aircraft manufacture, and shipbuilding) for cleaner, greener companies, particularly in the service, financial and IT sectors. The launch of a new university campus in the