Helsingborg is a beautiful summer city and the pearl of the sea. Just a sea across from Denmark, which take you 20 minutes to cross with a boat. The city is over 900 years old. There has been a war between Denmark and Sweden here which Sweden won. What did they win? They won back the South state of Sweden called Skåne.

What is there to see and do in Helsingborg?

Tulips in Sofiero park

Top three attractions are Sofiero Castle and park, Fredriksdals park and Kärnan which is a very old fortress with a great view of whole Helsingborg. There are so many nice places in Helsingborg that it is hard to just mention three of them. Although I will give you tip on what to see more further down in this blog.

Sofiero Castle used to be the Royal family’s summer castle and the present king used to play in his own playhouse there when he was a young child and guess what? The playhouse is still there for you to enter and have a look. The park was awarded the most beautiful parks in Europe 2010. Sofiero also have different exhibitions like dog shows, garden shows and light festival. In the summertime there will be big concerts with famous artist like Tom Jones and Roxette etc.

Midsummer dance in old folk dance costumes in Fredriksdals park

Fredriksdals park is a well kept old village and you get a chance to experience how it used to be a long time ago. The old houses and the old barns to the more modern old style city buildings makes this park a great place to visit. It can be compared with Skansen in Stockholm, it is in the same genre. Here you can celebrate the midsummer eve festivities in June. In the wintertime they have winter markets and its a nice feeling to walk among the crowds and get warm from the candles and fires place out here and there in the park and drink hot chocolate or glögg (warm drink).

Eva Rydberg acting as Edith in ‘Allo ‘Allo

In the summer there is a outdoor theatre with famous Swedish actors playing almost everyday except on Mondays from June to August. It is always a comedy play of different kind of themes, some years it has been old style tales and sometimes it have been plays with hippie style from the 70s and so on. The main actress is Eva Rydberg who have been a entertainer for many years and are known to make the audience laugh whenever she is on stage. This year its a play of the Brittish comedy serial ‘Allo ‘Allo.

Kärnan – gives you a breathtaking view all the way to Denmark

Kärnan a old fortress and is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Helsingborg. It has 128 stairs and no elevator, because it was built in year 1310. It is 35 meters high and it cost 40 SEK to visit.

2-days Cultural card

If you buy the 2-day culture card you can visit all places in Helsingborg for only 120 SEK. You can for example visit Sofiero, Fredriksdals park and Dunkers Cultural House (Kulturhus) and Kärnan. Which will be worth it! The 2-days culture card can be bought in the tourist information in Dunkers Cultural house or at the parks and in most hotels in Helsingborg.

Compass on the ground

Helsingborg City has a lot to offer, it is a good idea to walk around the city to experience what it has to offer. You have to see the north harbour with the nice houses near sea. Especially when its a sunset its the best time to visit and to sit on the year around warm bench (only locals knows where that bench is). You can also test to stand in the middle of the compass on the ground near the bridge called Kvickbron. It will give a echo sound of your voice when you speak, only locals knows about this too. So you see it is a good idea to get to know a local from Helsingborg and let them guide you around to find those special places of Helsingborg.

Getting to Helsingborg:

If you are abroad and want to visit Helsingborg the best way to get here is to take a flight to Copenhagen airport Kastrup in Denmark. Then take the train called “Öresundståg” one floor down from entrance level in the airport and make sure it goes towards Malmö. There are direct trains going 1 time per hour from the airport all the way to Helsingborg, usually 14 minutes to any hour, example 10.46 am or 8.46 pm. It cost 185 Swedish kronor with train, tickets can be bought in the red/silver ticket machines marked with the name Skånetrafiken. Here is the homepage for the trains travel planner.

Make sure to buy a Jojo-card (bus card) with “resekassa” which means you load it with 200 SEK minimum and can go anywhere for those 200 SEK. One bus trip within Helsingborg usually cost around 16 SEK with the card and you can travel for 1 hour without it taking more if you use the card again within that hour. The card can be bought in the customer centres in the central stations like Malmö, Lund and Helsingborg.

There are also round trip cards which means you can take the boat to Helsingör in Denmark then the train to Copenhagen and then train over the bridge and back to Helsingborg for 249 SEK. There are also 24-hours cards and 72-hours card for Helsingborg which let you travel as much as you like for 1 (65 SEK) or 3 days (165 SEK). For whole Skåne state including Helsingborg, Lund and Malmö it cost 195 SEK for 1-day bus ticket or 395 SEK for 3-days bus ticket. The reason I tell you to buy a bus card is because you can not pay for a ticket with cash on the bus or in the train. You have to buy the ticket for the train before stepping on to it and in the bus you put the bus card on the green circle when you have entered the bus.

Townhall which looks like a fairytale castle

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