Oresund Bridge Copenhagen

The Oresund Bridge’s Track Dips Into a Tunnel Under the Sea Before Surfacing at Copenhagen Airport

The 16-kilometre crossing between Copenhagen and Malmo opened in 2000. The cable-stayed section rises 57 metres above the strait; then the track goes underground through the Drogden Tunnel at the Danish end before surfacing near the airport. The whole crossing takes about 35 minutes by train. This transition from bridge to tunnel is more interesting than most infrastructure, and watching it from a train window is one of the better ways to arrive in Copenhagen.

The train is the better crossing method: cheaper than driving (approximately SEK 125 one-way from Malmo, or DKK 110 in the other direction), faster, and you see the water throughout. Driving costs around SEK 560 to 625 each way for a car.

Border checks between Denmark and Sweden were reintroduced in 2024 due to migration policy changes; build extra time at the frontier if travelling by car.

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is expensive. Budget DKK 100 per beer, DKK 150 to 200 for a modest lunch, DKK 600 to 1,000 for dinner at a place worth writing home about. The Torvehallerne market at Norreport has excellent lunch stalls – the smoked salmon at Hall 2 runs around DKK 120 and is one of the better quick meals in the city.

Nyhavn is correctly photogenic and correctly full of tourists in summer. Spend 20 minutes, take the photograph, then move to Frederiksberg or Norrebro where the city actually operates. The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art is 35km north along the coast and is one of the finest modern art museums in northern Europe – the Giacometti hall alone justifies the detour.

Malmo

Malmo gets treated as a day-trip appendage to Copenhagen, which undersells it. The Moderna Museet Malmo opened in 2009 and has a strong permanent collection with free admission. The Turning Torso residential tower (54 floors, twisted nine degrees from bottom to top) is not accessible to visitors but looks spectacular from the Strandpromenaden waterfront path. The old town (Gamla Malmo) has several good restaurants; Bastard on Mäster Johansgatan is the most talked-about (small plates, mains around SEK 150 to 200).

Malmo hotels run substantially cheaper than Copenhagen equivalents. For longer stays, basing in Malmo and commuting by train to Copenhagen is a practical option.