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I am traveling internationally for the first time ever. I am 63 and in good health and I have a question concerning the time I should allow between the time my plane (KLM) lands 18:20, and the train I need to catch to Malmö central station. Is this something a reasonably fit person should be able to accomplish in an hour’s time?

I am staying within a few blocks of Malmö central train station and I don’t want to be getting there too late at night. Also, is a short walk (3 blocks or so) in Malmö late evening safe?

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    Where are you arriving from? If you need to go through immigration/customs then just that might take an hour
    – littleadv
    Commented Jul 3 at 0:31
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    @littleadv Since they're flying on KLM, I presume OP is coming from AMS and will already have cleared immigration.
    – lambshaanxy
    Commented Jul 3 at 3:01
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    If you get the train from the airport around 7 PM, you’ll arrive at Malmö C around 7:30 PM. If you’re travelling during summer, this is not ‘late evening’: it’ll still be broad daylight at 7:30 PM. Walking anywhere in Sweden during daylight is perfectly safe – even in Malmö, which is generally considered one of the less safe cities in Scandinavia, but is overall still pretty safe.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Jul 3 at 11:53
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    Might be worth pointing out that SJ aren’t running trains for the next month on that route. The normal Öresundstågen are still running so no problem there, but it might be a little more cramped than usual, and it’s usually quite cramped. thelocal.se/20240704/…
    – Robin Whittleton
    Commented Jul 4 at 8:19
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    when you exit the arrivals area (past customs) its about 50m straight and to the right and an escalator down to the train tracks below. an hour is very sufficient. Pictures here: travel.stackexchange.com/questions/88764/…
    – JoSSte
    Commented Jul 4 at 11:23

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I do this journey regularly. My mum's 85, arrived on the 18.20 from AMS, with luggage, and we easily caught the 18.59 train to Malmö. It might take you a bit longer if you don't know where you're going, but an hour should be plenty.

When you exit customs into the arrivals area, the exit to trains is to the left. If I remember rightly, you need platform 1, but check the signposts.

The Skånetrafiken app is best. You can buy your ticket in advance and not activate it straight away - you can activate it once you're through the airport and have found the platform. The trains run several times an hour. The platform announcement boards are not always very helpful, so the app is also the best source for when the next train is leaving. If in doubt, ask someone else on the platform.

I haven't been outside Malmö Central at night (I usually just travel through or else I'm there during daytime), but based on my general sense of the area I would be comfortable walking a few blocks from the station. If you're travelling soon, it may well still be light when you arrive.

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    Whether it’s platform 1 or 2, the easiest way to remember it is that the platform for the train to Malmö is the first one you encounter as you walk from the customs exit.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Jul 3 at 11:20
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You can't book a place on the train, it's similar to a subway/metro.

It's cheaper to buy a ticket in the Skånetrafiken app or ticket machine than online in advance.

If you purchase online the ticket is valid up to three hours before and three hours after the selected departure so the choice of departure is less important. https://www.oresundstag.se/en/travel-information/buy-ticket/ under "Ticket validity"

A ticket with departure station within zones F + L – e.g. Copenhagen Central Station or CPH Airport – is valid for any Öresundståg on the same line within three hours prior to and three hours after the specified departure.

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  • Do you know how frequently this train is running around this time of the day?
    – quarague
    Commented Jul 3 at 8:21
  • @quarague Around 7 PM on a weekday, there will be about three or four trains per hour going from CPH to Malmö Central Station.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Jul 3 at 11:23
  • @quarague Until 19:59, there is a train every 15 minutes, 1 minute before the quarter (:14, :29, :44, :59). After that, the one at :14 no longer runs, and there are minor variations of a few minutes, until about 1am, and after that it's about 1 train per hour.
    – jcaron
    Commented Jul 3 at 12:29
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Is this something a reasonably fit person should be able to accomplish in an hour’s time?

Hard to say and it depends a lot on your details. Do you have checked luggage, what class are you flying, do you have status, what passport do you have, will your flight be delayed, etc.

This being said, the trains from Copenhagen airport to Malmo go fairly frequently (20 minutes if I remember correctly, unless there is construction, urggh) so if you miss one, just take the next. You can buy tickets at the airport at the ticket machines, but they can have long lines. So pre-buying a ticket is a good idea.

Also, is a short walk (3 blocks or so) in Malmö late evening safe?

Yes. Sweden is very safe and this is not all that late. Also, most Scandinavians speak excellent English and are quite friendly, so you will not have any problems communicating.

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  • Malmo is actually not the safest place to be in Sweden. Definitely not when compared to Copenhagen
    – littleadv
    Commented Jul 3 at 3:38
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    Numbeo does not use official statistics (like number of reported crimes in relation to inhabitants) to generate their Crime Index, they derive their numbers from surveys conducted by Numbeo visitors. As such, their Crime Index is not very reliable, and was manipulated in the past.
    – Inconspicuous seagull
    Commented Jul 3 at 8:17
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    @Inconspicuousseagull But even so, Malmö does have significantly higher crime rates than Copenhagen and most of the rest of Sweden, particular gun crime. Not high enough to make it a ‘dangerous city’ per se, but higher than the rest of the country, and enough that visitors should be aware of it.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Jul 3 at 12:04
  • @Inconspicuousseagull real or not, the perception is there. Frankly, I didn't feel safe when I was visiting Malmo, and that was years ago. I bailed back to Copenhagen the same day.
    – littleadv
    Commented Jul 3 at 16:15
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    I've been to 45+ countries and mugged only once (Sao Paulo), and my safety radar works typically quite well I've wandered around Malmo at night (including around the train station) and it felt perfectly safe. Sure, it may not be the safest place in Sweden, but Sweden in general is quite safe.
    – Hilmar
    Commented Jul 4 at 7:29

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