Last weekend I visited Copenhagen and Malmo. I spent a full day and stayed overnight in Copenhagen, and then on the way home I spent a few hours in Malmo (soon to be home of the Eurovision!). We took the train from Stockholm, which takes about 5 hours and for students cost about 400kr.
Copenhagen
We saw pretty much all of Copenhagen in one day, but we were really, really tired afterwards! I would think it would be better to stay for a relaxing long weekend instead. It's possible to walk everywhere, the majority of sights are at most 30 minutes away. We took a free walking tour which was quite good and showed us around nearly all of the sights - but they do expect tips at the end!
Here are my Copenhagen highlights:
Changing of The Guard (daily at around 12)
Nyhavn - the colorful harbour
One of the four buildings of the Royal Palace
The square with the Royal Palace's
Cute little area near the mermaid statue
Here she is!! Small, and not very centrally located, but a good sight to see!
The very little Mermaid
The small area where you can buy and smoke marijuana
No pictures allowed!
Nice church (I think you can climb it?)
Along the main shopping street
View from a round tower
Nice view
Danish-Swedish Oresund brige in background
The lego store
The statue of author hans christian andersen
A sneak peek at the amusement park - Tivoli
Halfway to Malmo on the Oresund bridge
So, Copenhagen is a lovely place! Here are some more details of the notable places:
If you haven't already heard - the famous symbol of Copenhagen - the Little Mermaid statue - is disappointing. It is small - about lifesize or smaller, and she sits on a small rock. However, once you know this it's not disappointing, you can go and get a picture because she is still a famous landmark, small or otherwise! She isn't in the city centre but she isn't that far either, and you can easily walk, passing by many popular places such as Nyhavn harbour on the way. There are some boat tours that claim they take you there but be careful as many of them just drive by, and I imagine she's too far to get a good photograph, plus also face the shore you would also only see her back!
Lego is Danish, but the flagship store is less than remarkable - it has a four large lego characters and lots of lego sets - and that's kind of it! So unless you especially like Lego it isn't very interesting.
Christiania - This is a colourful street where you can witness people buying and smoking weed in little stalls. You aren't allowed take pictures here - so be careful. I thought it was a safe enough area - once you don't get in anyone's way or draw attention to yourself. Also lots of tourists pass through here - so if you want to visit I think it's fine, but I know some people are hesitant.
Nyhavn - This nice little harbour area is that one place you see photographed all the time, but it is a bustling street full of cafés and outdoor seating, and a lovely place to walk around.
Malmo
Malmo is one of Sweden's bigger cities, located within one hour from Copenhagen via the Oresund bridge, and now the home of the 2013 Eurovision. Malmo is a small place, but very pretty. I am not entirely sure why it was chosen for the Eurovision (after living in Stockholm and visiting Gothenburg, these cities are much bigger and nicer for tourists) as it is quite small - and we had seen most of the place in about two hours!
It looks like a nice place to live - but it doesn't offer much in the way of tourist attractions. I would recommend stopping here for a few hours if you're going to Copenhagen - but don't plan to spend too much time here either.
Here are some of the Malmo highlights:
Starbucks coffee! One of the three in all of Sweden
The (temporary) Eurovision countdown timer
City Hall
Lilla Torg (the old square)
This thing. . ..
The canal with lots of places to sit
The skyscraper
A bridge
So that was basically Malmo in about two hours! There's a big shopping street with lots of shops and restaurants, a big park (we didn't visit) and there's lots of places to relax beside the picturesque canal. It was pretty, but I didn't think there was much to see or do there if you plan to spend more than a few hours.
