Malmo

Malmo
may be joined at the hip with Copenhagen,
but despite being a hop and a skip away from the Danish capital,
its character is decidedly Swedish – more confident reserve than
bawdy approachability. Cross the Öresund Bridge and the tourist
throngs thin out, coffee supplants beer as the beverage of choice
and the general pace slows from an urban sprint to a vaguely
suburban stroll.

In its attitude, however, Malmö is anything but suburban.
Sweden’s third city, it may be less familiar than its bigger
siblings,
Stockholm and
Gothenburg, but this formerly industrial metropolis is arguably
more progressive and dynamic, shaped by its pockets of
multiculturalism and knack for reinvention. Here, once crumbling
warehouses have found new life as artisan food markets and gallery
spaces; hip clothes stores sit tooth-to-jowl with authentic Syrian,
Turkish and Lebanese restaurants, run by the city’s buoyant
immigrant communities, while a commitment to sustainability has
seen pioneering new models for urban living flourish, from eco
hotels to carbon-neutral neighbourhoods.

Malmö is not only the place where Sweden clasps hands with
Denmark, but where old meets new, cultures collide and where
wandering the streets will have you rethinking what you thought you
knew about the Nordics.