Malmö, Sweden
One of the best ways to experience a city is from its waterfront. Throughout Europe, canal or harbor tours are available in many cities, and for us, the canal tour of Malmö was a great introduction to the city. Our canal tour was also our introduction to Sweden and gave us a low-key way to acclimate to a new nation.
Finding the canal boat was easy, as the dock was a short walk from Malmö Central Train Station. Do use the restroom before you leave the station, as you will not have another opportunity before you disembark. Booking a canal tour was rather easy; I walked up to the ticket office and booked Adrienne and me on a basic canal tour of Malmö. The canal tours are operated through Stromma and can be purchased either in person or online. Tours as of 2026 are advertised at 229 Swedish Krona, which is approximately $25 U.S. You can bring drinks and snacks on board, but you need to use the restroom beforehand, as there is nowhere to stop during the hour-long cruise of the Malmö canal. The tours operate in all weather, and our tickets mentioned that if it was raining, we would be provided with rain ponchos. The tour guides will switch from Swedish to English throughout the hour-long tour of the city, so you may pick up on some new words in either language if you are not bilingual. According to the website, there are also written descriptions of the sites in German and Spanish. From our tour, we were able to see the ‘Turning Torso,’ the ‘Malmöhus Slot,’ and the modern harbor. Malmö is a city that seems much quainter than its population of 360,000+ would suggest.
From the stories told about the canal, it was a rather dirty, putrid waterway that had been fully reclaimed by the city. Just watching locals fish in the canal showed me that the clean-up efforts had been immense and well worth the effort. Cruising the canal and seeing a windmill, it would be easy to think that you were traveling in the Netherlands as opposed to Sweden. Malmö showed off its embrace of the past along with its modernity. This approach of incorporating the old into the new makes Europe such a fascinating place to visit. The Malmö water tour was well worth the price of admission and provided an excellent introduction to the city.
