Photoshoot in Malmö

Best time

Seasons

May to September is beach season, with long evenings and sunsets over the sea; Ribersborg is busy on warm weekends. Spring comes earlier in Skåne than in the rest of Sweden, so the parks are green and flowering from late April. Autumn gives colour in Slottsparken and Pildammsparken. Winter is mild and often grey, rarely snowy, but the beach and bathhouse look stark and atmospheric on a clear cold day, and the city's lights make for good blue-hour shoots.

Time of day

The coast faces west, so sunset is the strongest moment at Ribersborg and in Västra hamnen. The old squares are best early before café tables go out, or at blue hour. In summer, sunset is around 21:30–22:00; in December it is mid-afternoon.

Weather

Malmö is one of the mildest places in Sweden, but it is also flat and exposed, and wind from the Öresund is the most common challenge: it moves hair and veils and makes the beach feel cold. Your photographer will position you with the wind behind you, use the shelter of the bathhouse and buildings, and move inland to the parks if it is too strong. Rain often comes in short spells, and the arcades and covered markets in the centre give shelter.

Getting there

Malmö Central Station has trains from Copenhagen Airport across the Öresund Bridge (around 20 minutes), from Lund and Helsingborg, and from Stockholm (around four and a half hours). Malmö Airport is east of the city with airport buses to the centre. Everything on this page is within cycling distance, and city buses connect the beach, Västra hamnen and the parks. A typical one-hour session combines Ribersborg and Västra hamnen, or the castle parks and Lilla torg.

Good to know

No permit is needed for a private photoshoot on the beach, in the parks or the squares. The kallbadhus is a working bathhouse with its own rules: photography inside the bathing areas is not allowed, and the pier is shared with bathers, so photographers work around them. Drones are limited by the busy airspace around the Öresund, with Copenhagen Airport across the water and Malmö Airport to the east, and by rules on flying over people on a crowded beach; a drone pilot checks current maps and conditions before confirming. See pricing for what changes the starting figure.

• Bring a jacket for the beach and pier, even on sunny days: the wind off the sea is cool.
• Plan your sunset session on Ribersborg; the sun sets over the water.
• Avoid the café hours on Lilla torg if you want the square itself in the frame.
• Combine Malmö with Lund in one day; the train takes only a few minutes.
• Choose hair and outfits that cope with wind, or embrace the movement.
• Ask your photographer about bathhouse etiquette before planning shots on the pier.