One Old town, Two Flags: A Malmö Walking Tour

Malmö is a city that has lived two national identities – Danish for centuries, then Swedish after 1658 – and its Old Town still carries both in its streets, stones, and skyline. On this walking tour, you'll trace how medieval traders, Danish kings, and Swedish industrialists shaped a Baltic fishing settlement into one of Scandinavia's most distinctive cities. You'll also hear how each era left its mark on the streets you're walking right now.

The tour starts at Stortorget, Malmö's grand main square, where a monastery once stood before being cleared to create the city's new civic heart. From there, you'll walk past Sankt Petri Kyrka, a Brick Gothic church built in the 1300s whose tower guided sailors across the Baltic, and along canals that were once part of the city's military fortifications. You'll discover how the Protestant Reformation transformed religious life here, how the Hanseatic League brought German merchants and international commerce, and how entrepreneur Frans Suell finally gave Malmö its first proper harbour in 1775.

From the canal promenade, with its locally beloved Malmhattan skyline, the route continues through Bastionsparken – a park built on the earthworks of the city's old defensive ramparts – and past Moderna Museet Malmö, a former electricity plant turned contemporary art museum. You'll also pass St. Pauli Church, an 1882 hexagonal marvel whose 12 towers symbolise Christ and the apostles. The tour ends at Malmöhus Castle, one of Scandinavia's oldest Renaissance fortresses, where the Earl of Bothwell was once imprisoned and where the transfer of Skåne from Denmark to Sweden played out in 1658.

On this 60-minute tour, you'll have a chance to:

• Explore Stortorget, a square created by demolishing a medieval monastery and church
• Hear how Hanseatic merchants from Lübeck and Hamburg turned Malmö into a Baltic powerhouse
• Visit Slottsmöllan, an 1851 windmill built on a former fortress bastion
• Learn about the Malmö Latin School, founded in 1406 and the only school in the region that stayed open during the wars of the 1670s
• Discover how the old cemetery, inaugurated in 1822, was originally divided by social class – including separate sections for the poor and for those who died by suicide

Whether you know Malmö as a design city or a boat stop for Copenhagen, this tour will show you the layers underneath. Grab a kanelbulle, lace up your shoes, and let the old town surprise you.