Slottsträdgården (the castle garden) bills itself as an oasis in the middle of the city and is the perfect place to stroll or take a picnic. The 12,000 square meters of gardens are tucked directly behind Malmöhus Castle on land that had once been a municipal tree nursery.

In the late 1990s, a group of enthusiastic amateur gardeners proposed that the then-unused grounds be converted into a series of small plots that they would maintain. These privately-tended, ecological gardens attracted so many visitors that the city of Malmö took over management of them in 2003.

Today, this special part of Slottsparken presents visitors with the opportunity to experience different types of gardens such as kitchen gardens, rose gardens, perennial gardens and orchards, all of which are operated on ecological principles that rely on resources that can be generated on the site. There’s also a greenhouse for nurturing young plants in the off-season and, unusually, what may be the world’s largest insect hotel adjacent to the park’s windmill.

Slottsträdgården is open year-round and hosts a number of festivals, garden shows and floristry workshops during the spring and summer months. There’s also a lovely outdoor café (open from early April to late October) serving locally sourced food, with many of the ingredients harvested directly from the gardens themselves. It’s one of my favorite places to enjoy a cup of coffee or glass of wine on a sunny afternoon, or any kind of afternoon really.