Malmö Ribersborg parkrun takes place on Saturdays at 9.30 am at Ribersborgsstranden; a park on the waterfront overlooking the Öresund Strait and Denmark. The start is close to the Kallbadhus Pier, around 2 miles west of the centre of Malmö.

Getting There

The walk/run from town is a very pleasant one through the Castle Gardens. You can, theoretically get there by bus; the no 7 bus stops right opposite the start. However, Swedish buses don’t take cash and my bank card was denied, so I got thrown off the bus.

Parking

There are car parks at either end of the park. Up to two hours parking is free.

Toilets

There are toilets in the park near the start and a café, with more toilets, at the Kallbadhus nearby.

Course

The course is kind of a flat Figure 8, starting in the middle, running a loop in one direction, along the lake, then a loop in the other direction and back along the lake. My Garmin turned itself off as I was walking so slowly (babysitting two sullen child which got dumped with me at the start by a random stranger – but that’s another story). Here is what my Strava segment would have looked like…

Terrain

The course is flat and consists of a mixture of paved and gravel paths with the start/finish on the grass.

Shoes

Even though it’s on trail, probably trainers.

Difficulty

Nice and flat with no obstacles.

Fun Factor

Malmö Ribersborg is quite small, with an average of just 50 runners per week. We ran an extra event on Swedish National Day (a Thursday), which gave runners an opportunity to cross into Denmark and run two events in two countries in 48 hours. Hence, there were plenty of British tourists, bolstering the numbers to 144 that day. The locals were heavily outnumbered by tourists, but were very welcoming. It’s a very scenic run along the lake with the waterfront and city in the background. I think I would have probably enjoyed it, save for aforementioned sullen children.

Where We Stayed

We stayed at the Hotel Garden in the centre of Malmö, convenient for sightseeing and less than 2 miles from the start of parkrun. It was a very nice hotel, with a garden, as the name implies, and a sauna (well this is Sweden). Theoretically, breakfast is included in the price, but we failed to make it back in time. There were even weights on the bedroom wall, in case parkrun wasn’t enough exercise for our weekend break!

Nearby Attractions

Malmo is a compact city easily explored on foot, with a nice waterfront area, a pedestrian downtown area with plenty of restaurants and cafes and a castle. For more about what we got up to on our weekend in Malmo, click here.