Train trip Malmo to Karlstad?

You can leave from either Malmö or Copenhagen. It's only 30 minutes to Malmö from Copenhagen Central Station. The fast way is from Malmö and requires two changes and 5.5 hours. 11:13, Train 534 towards Stockholm to Norrköping, Train 2145 towards Sala to Katrineholm, and then Train 637 to Karlstad. The connections are tight, but Swedish trains run on time, unless there is snow on the ground... You can cut a transfer out by taking the 10:13, Train 532 towards Stockholm to Södertäjle Syd and then 637 to Karlstad. You can in at the same time as the one above. That's 6.5 hours. The connection is a little better here. Alternatively, for 7.5 hours you can take the train to Göteborg (Öresundståg 1032 from Malmö) and then the train-bus 6368 to Trollhatten to catch the Regional 368 to Karlstad. For these, you would only need reservations on the train to Stockholm and maybe the 637. The Öresundståg has about 50% open seats and 50% bookable seats... but I don't think you can do that over the internet without buying a new ticket at the same time. I would recommend heading to Stockholm after seeing Karlstad (especially if you go through Göteborg), stay there over night and see the sights then take the train to Copenhagen from there. Another option would be to head to Oslo for a day or two and then either take the train back or fly from there. Another option would be to explore Skåne by Skånetrafiken. Ystad, for example, is a very nice little Swedish town out in the middle of nowhere. Take the train from STO to Hässelbyholm then bus to Simirishamn (for a tour), then the train to Ystad and again the train to Malmö and then Copenhagen.. You can do all that in about 12 hours, with time for stops.

Thank you Nicholas. That is helpful. I have a Danish friend who will show me Skåne. I have ancestors from there and in the Karlstad area. On the SJ website there are lots of train stations in Malmö. Does it matter which one I go to? I would rather take a longer time and have fewer transfers. I have two days to get from Malmö to Karlstad. I am good at reading Swedish genealogy, but not train websites!
Lori

No problem. :)
The main station for every city is " C". The C stands for Centralstation, which is the central or main station for the city. Because of late industrialization, Sweden managed to skip much of the early railway development that resulted in cities like Paris having multiple directional railway stations (i.e. Gare de Lyon for the southern bound trains from Paris and Gare du Nord doe north bound, etc). One super excellent resource for you would be resrobot.se, which covers basically all of the possible ways to get from point A to point B in Sweden. It's also in English here: http://reseplanerare.resrobot.se/bin/query.exe/en?L=vs_resrobot&

Oh, thank you! That website is marvelous - it presents everything beautifully!I'm on my way!
Lori

No problem. :)

Hej Nicholas! I am trying to book a reservation on your option #2: 10:13 Train 532 towards Stockholm to Södertäjle Syd and then 637 to Karlstad. Everything I read says that these are high-speed trains and I need a reservation. However, when I try to purchase the reservation on the SJ site, it says "not available". Should I arrive for this train and hope for the best, or book something with worse connections that will let me follow through with the booking? Tack!
Lori