Browse Sections

• Personal finance
• Health and beauty
• Dating
• Holidays 
  • Holiday reviews
• Hotels
• Food and drink

A tale of two cities

Lee Swettenham
2/ 5/2008

THE huge expanse of Scandinavia is such that it’s difficult for travellers to get more than a glimpse of what it can offer in a mere weekend. But an engineering marvel brings two of its finest cities to within touching distance of each other.

The extraordinary 8km Oresund Bridge, Europe’s longest road and rail bridge, means the metropolitan delights of Sweden and Denmark are just 20 minutes apart across the water.

So, when you have the contrasting offerings of Malmo and Copenhagen in such proximity, it’s a rare opportunity to take in two cities and two countries which have a curious relationship.

They have more in common than you might think. For its first 400 years, Malmo was the actually the second most important city in Denmark after Copenhagen before being handed to the Swedes in 1658.

In the past, Malmo was a fairly drab industrial hub which looked enviously over the sound to their more glamorous neighbours, as well as seeing many of its more ambitious residents move out to the capital, Stockholm.

In the last 10 years, that situation has turned on its head. Malmo is now ambitious itself, with a gleaming new waterfront development of businesses, apartments, bars and restaurants called the Western Harbour helping to give it a new sense of purpose in the 21st century. It’s been such a success that a good number of Danes are decamping over the border to live in Malmo, commuting back over the bridge to their workplaces.

But Malmo is not all glass-fronted razzamatazz – it has managed to keep a sense of history and serenity to counteract the drive forward.

Two parks, Kungsparken and Slottsparken, border the city centre and give a picturesque escape. Not that there’s much that’s hectic about the place – this part of the world has twice as many bicycles as people, and most pedal around the place on two wheels rather than four. The locals definitely take the environment seriously – Malmo was Sweden’s first Fair Trade city.

The centre of Malmo is a delight with its Gothic and Renaissance architecture being dominant.

For the shoppers, the areas around Stortorget and Sodergatan should fulfil your needs, with plenty of street cafes to allow you to rest your feet.

The historic heart of the city, however, is Lilla Torg. Built in 1592, this cobbled square is the hub for locals and tourists alike to eat, drink and be merry with bars, eateries and shops and plenty of room to sit and people-watch.

Sweden’s third largest city has big ideas for itself, but it still maintains a friendly, off-the-beaten-track feel that it would do well to keep a grip on amongst all the development.

Brasher

Stepping off the train at the Danish end of the bridge, the bigger, brasher feel of Copenhagen is immediately apparent. After the relatively quiet streets of Malmo, it takes a few minutes to adjust to the hustle and bustle here. It’s a true large-scale European city.

Adjacent to the station is perhaps its biggest asset, the Tivoli amusement park. Situated in the heart of the city, Tivoli has been visited by more than 270 million people since 1843. It has everything a tourist may want from a fairytale garden: 30 restaurants, 25 rides and attractions, 400,000 flowers, 110,000 lamps, 150 concerts.

Today though, the air is filled with the screams of half of Copenhagen’s teenage population being flung up, down and sideways on the rides, while their mums and dads find quiet corners to sit and take in the gardens or have a meal.

It has old-style charm by the bucketload, and can keep the family occupied for hours on end. It’s a place that the locals clearly hold dear to their hearts.

After the adrenalin rush of Tivoli, it’s time to chill out in – literally – the coolest bar I’m ever likely to visit.
The Absolut Icebar concept is already known in Stockholm, Milan, London and Tokyo, and visitors to Copenhagen can now sample for themselves a tipple in a bar made completely of Arctic ice.

After donning Eskimo-style fur-lined ponchos, we go through an air-lock and into another world where the temperature is constantly at minus 5 degrees.

The walls, seats, bar and décor have been lovingly carved from pure ice brought here from Torne Älv in Northern Sweden. Even the glass you drink your vodka cocktail from is made from the stuff, and for some reason it makes it takes better!

Based in the chic Hotel 27, there is room for 50 thirsty guests at a time who spend 45 minutes at a time in this environment – not because that’s long enough in this cold, but because so many people want to come here they have to be allocated time slots.

But do book a visit if you can, it’s an eerie, out-of-this-world experience.

OK, so it may be "touristy" in the extreme, but when you’ve only got limited time to get around a city and see what it has to offer, the best way is to clamber aboard the open-top sightseeing bus.

It’s essentially ‘Copenhagen in an hour’, and it does what it says on the tin, very well. It whisks us through the busy streets on a whistle-stop tour, painting a vivid picture of the city’s colourful history.

You stop, of course, at the Little Mermaid statue, which, as most visitors will tell you, is a disappointment. Much more impressive is the Amalienborg Palace, the spectacular 18th century residences of the Danish Royal Family, and the renaissance, fairytale Rosenborg Palace.

Towards the end of the tour, step off and take a wander down the Nyhavn, the once-notorious harbour that is now home a thriving café-bar and restaurant culture with a backdrop of cheerfully-coloured houses and vintage fishing boats.

Just across the square is a chance to let your credit card go into meltdown on Stroget, Europe’s longest pedestrianised street and the home to every conceivable type of store, from top designer names to bargain basement tourist traps. Oh, and umpteen opportunities to be a proper tourist and buy a coffee-shop Danish.

It’s been a busy but highly rewarding three days, sampling the relative delights of two cities which - despite their geographical differences – manage to form a rather nice relationship.

Lee flew to Copenhagen via Scandinavian Airlines ( www.flysas.co.uk ).

He stayed at:

Ramada Mayfair Hotel
Adelgatan 4
21122 Malmö
Tel: +46 4010 1620
Fax: +46 4010 1625
E-mail: info@themayfairhotel.se. Web: http://eng.themayfairhotel.se;

And at:

Hotel Alexandra
H.C. Andersens Bouldevard 8
1553 København K
Tel: +45 3374 4444
Fax: +45 3374 4488
Email: reservations@hotel-alexandra.dk. Web: www.hotel-alexandra.dk

For more information on visiting Malmo, Copenhagen and the Oresund region, go to:

www.malmo.com/start.asp

www.visitdenmark.com

www.visitoresund.info/