Getting around Malmö
For a city with just over 300,000 residents, Malmö feels surprisingly spread out. The historic centre is easy enough to explore on foot, but if you want to head to the beach, the Turning Torso or the up-and-coming area around Möllevångstorget, you’ll need to use public transport at least a couple of times. Alternatively you could rent a bike – the whole area is extremely flat.
By bus
There are two kinds of public bus within Malmö. Green buses are for journeys within the city, while yellow buses take care of regional journeys to places like Helsingborg and Ystad.
There are eight main city-centre bus lines – they’re colour-coded and provide a fast and reliable alternative to walking. Additional bus routes cover areas such as Norra Hamnen (for boats to Germany) and the beach just outside the city centre.
Most of the main bus lines converge at the Central Station – handy if you’re arriving into town and need to reach a hotel somewhere in the suburbs.
By train
Trains bound for Denmark run along a tunnel beneath the city centre. You can use these to quickly get from the Central Station to Triangeln, towards the southern part of town – the whole journey takes just two or three minutes, and will save you a walk of around 20 minutes.
Planning a route
You can plan inner-city and regional journeys on the Skånetrafiken website. It’s available in English (click ‘translate’ in the top right-hand corner), though some details always seem to show up in Swedish.
Throughout our guide to Malmö’s attractions we’ve provided details of the nearest bus stations. This map showing inner-city bus routes should also be useful.
Paying for your journey
Journeys within the city centre are pretty cheap – expect to pay 22 SEK per trip. You cannot buy tickets aboard Malmö’s buses, so a bit of forward planning is required.
One and three-day passes
The easiest option for most short-term visitors is to buy a 24-hour pass from the Skånetrafiken desk within the Central Station, or any branch of the convenience store called Pressbyrån. These cost 65 SEK and allow unlimited travel in the city for one full day. A three-day pass costing 165 SEK is also available. Up to two children under the age of seven go free with every paying adult.
Jojo cards
If you’re only planning to make one or two trips, a cheaper option is to buy a Jojo Mini card. These cost 70 SEK and come pre-loaded with 50 SEK of travel credit. Buy them from any branch of 7-Eleven or Pressbyrån – you can reload them with more cash any time you like. If you’re using one of these cards, you’ll need to ‘stamp in’ against the card reader when you climb aboard the bus.
Skånetrafiken app
The final option is to download the Skånetrafiken app (available here), which you can link with your credit or debit card and use to buy single tickets when you need them. At risk of stating the obvious: you’ll need a working 3G or wifi connection to buy tickets this way.
By bike
Malmö is a great city to cycle in. It’s almost completely flat and there are lots of clearly marked cycle lanes, making it easy to get out to the beach or suburbs. Unfortunately there’s no citywide cycle hire scheme yet, so you’ll have to make do with a private company.
Fridhemscykel at Östra Rönneholmsvägen 26 rents out basic bikes (150 SEK for the first day, 100 SEK for each day thereafter) and also has tandems. Otherwise, try Strömma just opposite the Central Station’s main entrance (mid-April–mid-Oct only).
