Experience the best of Malmö

Malmö faces Copenhagen across the Öresund strait, joined by the long Öresund bridge-tunnel, and is Skåne's main city, in southern Sweden. The Turning Torso, a 190-metre tower that twists as it rises, is the city's modern landmark. Stortorget is the old market square, framed by the Dutch Renaissance town hall, and Malmöhus, a castle begun in the sixteenth century, stands in a park with moats and canals.

Ribersborg beach runs along the western shore, with a 1898 bathhouse reached by a wooden walkway, and Västra Hamnen is a harbour district of new housing facing the sea. Lund, a university town with a Romanesque cathedral, lies a short distance north-east, and the farmland and beaches of Skåne stretch around, with Ystad and the Falsterbo peninsula to the south.

Falafel is a Malmö favourite, a sign of its many cultures. Skåne's own traditions include autumn eel suppers, spettekaka, a tall sugar cake, pickled herring and cinnamon buns at every fika. Summer days stay long and light, and winters are grey, damp and windy but mild.