Welcome to another episode of Ultimate Bucket List, and this is your complete
guide to the city of Malmö. Where to explore, what to do, how to eat some bugs and spiders,
and how to have an amazing time when you're visiting this lovely southern Swedish city.
Welcome to the third-largest city in Sweden. It's an incredibly quirky city
full of historical sites, modern architecture, and some very, very strange things in between.
The one thing you'll notice about Malmö is that it's very clean and very green.
It's one of the greenest cities that I've ever been to, but it's not just about parks. There
are plenty of cool, quirky things to do here, so let me show you around the place first.
First though, let me explain how to get here. Even though Malmö does have its own
international airport, most people fly into Copenhagen International and take a short
20-minute train from Denmark to Malmö. You'll probably arrive here at Malmö Central Station.
You can get to pretty much anywhere in Sweden or any other of the Scandinavian countries from here.
But let's wander down the street and visit the most famous attraction in all of Malmö.
Malmö Castle. From the outside, it just
looks like an old building with two red huts. But surprisingly, this is quite a fortified castle.
It's surrounded by this giant moat, and in the middle is the actual castle bit itself.
I have to say that Malmö Castle is possibly the most random castle that I've ever been to in
my life … and I've been to a lot. Yes, there's a specific bit of the castle where you can explore
the castle. Learn about the history of the castle and explore all the military stuff in here. These
red huts right here they’re fortress bastions. You can also explore the interior of the castle,
where the King used to sleep and work, etc. It's all very, very interesting.
But it's not just a castle; it's also a historic museum where you can learn about the history of
the city. But it’s also an art gallery where you can spend some time looking at famous pieces of
art. But it’s also a fashion museum where they've got an exhibit dedicated to Muslim fashion,
rather randomly?! But it’s also a church, where you can have services right here.
But it’s also a natural history museum; kind of like the one in London, albeit a lot smaller.
But it’s also an aquarium where you can see jellyfish, frogs, snakes. (God I hate snakes!).
But it's also an architecture exhibit, so there is a lot to see in this castle.
And given that the entry fee is roughly about £3, it's definitely value for money.
If I'd known how much was in here, I probably would have done Malmö castle at the beginning of
the day, rather than an hour before closing time. Because with your admission to Malmö Castle it
also allows you access to the Technology Museum across the street. Obviously, I ran out of time
before I could actually go inside, but maybe the next time I'm in Malmö, I'll definitely visit.
Right next to the Technology Museum you'll find this Fishing Harbour full
of these quaint little fishing houses and this rather cool fish market. So,
if you're in the mood for some freshly caught fish, you can get it literally right here.
Not that you would as a tourist, but maybe some of you might be interested?!
I mentioned earlier in the video that Malmö is an incredibly green city, and the area around
Malmö Castle is surrounded by parks. Most notably the Slottsträdgården,
which is a beautiful botanical garden that you can walk through, especially on a nice day like today.
It also has its own windmill, which is very Dutch, even though we're in Sweden. And it also
has a river running through it, making it a nice lookout point to sit back and contemplate life.
Slottsträdgården is definitely worth exploring just to look
at the flowers or just to relax a little bit.
Across the way, you'll find Kungsparken AKA The King's Park, but this one's a lot more foresty.
There are definitely a lot more trees around here, but it's no less spectacular. There's also
a casino nearby, not sure if this is an actual Casino or not, or whether it's just called that,
but this whole area is definitely worth exploring, especially if you've got a bit of time to kill.
Literally across the street you'll come to the area known as Centrum, aka the city centre.
As soon as you step in, things are a lot different.
You can tell from the street art on the buildings and on the walls,
and the architecture is totally different to what you've just experienced at Malmö Castle.
And when you're walking the streets, it's an interesting mixture of incredibly modern buildings
mixed with very traditional Swedish architecture. Take this place for example, Lilla Torg.
It's like a little town square, and you'll marvel at some of the architecture here.
The buildings are very lovely. Some look very, very tudor-esque. The quaint little shops here
sell various stereotypical Swedish goods; clogs, horses, scarves, that sort of thing.
And I particularly like this well, which I assumed used to be the town's
water supply? It's pretty cool that they've kept this running and intact.
Right next door to that you'll find the biggest town square in the city.
This is Stotorget. With these very colonial buildings,
the statue of the king, and it's also home to Malmö Town Hall. It's a very impressive looking
building, it looks fantastic from the outside. I'm pretty sure that it's not a tourist attraction,
so you can't really go inside, but it definitely is worth exploring when you're out here. And for
some reason they're flying the flag of Australia amongst these flags of Sweden. Interesting?!
But the square itself is actually very lovely, and it's definitely worth exploring.
One street away, you'll find the largest church in the city. This is Saint Peter's Church. From
the outside, it does look pretty impressive. And on the inside, you'll find that it's very
um … it's very white?! You'll notice that all the churches especially around
the Scandinavian countries tend to paint their walls bright white. I
quite like that, it makes them look very light and airy. I particularly like the modern-style
organ pipes mixed in with the ancient tombs, and there are a lot of ancient tombs in here.
If you're a fan of the traditional churches, this one might seem a little bit boring. The
more interesting thing is right at the back, where they have the original medieval paintings. But as
it's a free of charge attraction, you'd be silly not to spend at least five minutes just exploring.
Whilst you're around here actually, have a walk around the streets.
Because you'll find some of the most varied buildings that you'll see in any one city.
It's like planning permission doesn't exist here; they'll just build anything anywhere?!
That's especially true of this monstrosity right here; the Museum of Modern Art. I'm
not a big art fan, so I never went in. But it's definitely there if you like that sort of thing.
But walk back along the river, and you'll eventually come across Gustav Adolfs Torg - it's
another Public Square. But this time around you'll probably find shops and amenities that
are more familiar to what you're used to at home. While you're here, take the bridge across the
river, where you'll notice these rather interesting shoe sculptures. I'm pretty
sure these are the shoes of various famous people that are either from Malmö or Sweden,
and it's pretty cool to actually walk along and see if you recognise any of the names.
As soon as you cross the bridge, you'll come across one of the most interesting
museums you'll ever see. The Disgusting Food Museum.
As the name implies, is a museum dedicated to the most disgusting food on the planet. Even though
I'm British and also Chinese, quite a lot of this stuff I didn't find particularly weird at all.
Frogs? Yeah, we eat that. Puffer fish? Yep, that's normal. Bats and insects? Yeah, no problem.
It's pretty cool to see what some of the weirdest food on the planet actually looks like. There are
even sections where you can smell some of this stuff, and boy, some of this stuff really stinks!
At the end of your museum tour, you actually get to try some of these things. Like I said,
I'm used to eating most of this stuff anyway. The only two things I really didn't like are this
rancid brand of Swedish cheese and Hakarl, which is fermented shark meat that tastes like urine.
I managed to complete the challenge, but boy, the chilli session was fairly
unpleasant. It has been 11 days since the last vomit, with 338 total vomiters. Wow impressive?!
Once you've finished eating disgusting food you'll realise you're in the most modern bit
of the city of Malmö. Complete with modern shops, modern streets and even this giant
mega shopping complex called the Triangle. It's so big it has its own train station.
Right next door you'll find the other most famous church in the city
this is Saint Johannes's Church. From the outside it looks very
impressive, and from the inside, well, it looks very similar to the other one.
It's definitely a lot smaller but definitely worth exploring. And once again it's free of charge to
enter. At this point you'll probably cross over to the district of Möllevången. Again the buildings
are definitely very different, massively varied, there's a pretty cool statue here,
and it definitely seems a lot more laid back. It's definitely worth a few minutes to explore
especially on a nice day like today. If you’re after a bit of culture; The Malmö Opera House
and the Malmö Concert Hall are literally right across the street from each other, right here on
the main road. Across the map, you'll also find another giant park space, Pildammsparken - with
this beautiful lake and interesting architecture. And it's at this point you'll also come across all
the sporting facilities. So if you're into sports, the Swedebank Stadion is the main stadium here in
Malmö that's home to the professional football team. There's also an athletics track nearby;
and it's also next to Malmö Arena, which is the home venue of the city's beloved ice hockey team,
the Malmö Redhawks. If you get a chance to catch a game, it does come highly recommended because
the atmosphere here is always very, very good. The attractions I've mentioned so far are the
must-see and do things if you have a short time here in Malmö. If you've got a little bit more
time, travel to the north part of the city, where you'll find this industrial area and the harbour.
It's very interesting to walk around, and there are some very interesting names for buildings.
This one is rather unfortunately named the “World Trade Centre”, but it's also home to possibly
Sweden's most famous building. The Turning Torso.
It's the only building in the world that's rotated 90 degrees,
and from a distance, it looks pretty amazing, and from underneath, it looks absolutely towering.
But the one thing they don't tell you is that this is a residential complex;
you can't actually go inside! Apparently, they do tours of the place at various times of the year,
but they are incredibly rare. I definitely would have loved to have gone up this particular tower
just to say that I've been up it, but standing underneath it that's good enough for me.
If I get bored, hey I can at least have plastic surgery across the street?!
If you're a fan of the big outdoors, you’re spoilt for choice pretty much everywhere here
in Malmö. If it's nice like it is today you can explore Malmö Beach.
The last thing I would recommend if you have the time and aren't shy is visited the Ribersborgs
Kallbadhus. This is the public open air bath where you can blast open your pores in a hot
wooden sauna, and then dive straight into the freezing cold sea to cool off.
It's meant to be very good for you, but the one thing they don't tell you is that everyone
in here male and female is completely nude. The Swedes; they have a liberal attitude to
nudity and pretty much everything is co-ed. So if you want to spend some time naked in a
wooden box full of sweaty Swedes, this is definitely the place for you. Fun times!
Overall, guys, a trip to Malmö is definitely worth it. Especially if you're doing a tour of
Sweden or if you're visiting nearby Copenhagen. Check out my other video to see what that's like.
Okay Ninh, I'm sold what do I need to do? Well you need to come here to Malmö.
As earlier mentioned in the video, Malmö has its own international airport, but most people fly
into Copenhagen International and literally take a 20-minute train to Malmö Central Train Station.
When you're in the city of Malmö, you don't actually need public transport. Everything is
pretty much walkable. But if you do need public transport; the bus network is vast and varied,
and you'll have no problem navigating the buses to get you around the city.
The cost? Well, the attractions are incredibly reasonable. It's no different
to any other European city and in the case of Malmö Castle definitely value for money.
But quite a lot of the things in Malmö are free to visit anyway, especially when it comes to things
outdoors, so most of the time you'll be visiting things like parks, exploring the sculptures,
taking a look at the architecture; all of that is pretty much free of charge!
If you're looking for a place to stay, I recommend staying somewhere near Malmö Central Station,
Centrum or just north of Malmö Castle, and the hotel prices are quite reasonable here.
Is there anything else I need to know Yes, contactless payments have become the de-facto way
of paying for goods and services here in Sweden. You could come here without a cent of Swedish
Króna, and so long as you have a contactless credit or debit card, you'll be absolutely fine.
Sweden tales recycling very seriously, and if you buy drinks that come in glass or plastic
containers you'll be charged a small deposit fee. You'll get this deposit fee back once you dispose
of your containers in one of the many machines across the city, which I never bothered to do!
And finally, whilst the official language here is Swedish, most Swedish people speak
Swedish and English bilingually. So if you're an English speaker you'll be absolutely fine.
But you'll also find a locals speaking French, German, Danish, Finnish,
Norwegian - so long as you speak any Western language you'll probably be fine here in Malmö.
If you have enjoyed this episode, please be sure to like, share and subscribe. Comment on
the comment section below, and if you've got any other bucket list ideas you want
me to make a video about; tweet them at me. And if I get enough of these suggestions I'll
probably go and make a video about it. But guys thanks very much for watching,
and we'll see you in the next episode. Ninh Ly – www.ninh.co.uk - @NinhLyUK