Skåne weather is not the brutal cold people imagine. It is a long, gray drizzle that sets in around October and lifts sometime in April. You learn to date inside it rather than around it. The locals who do this best stop checking the forecast and just plan indoor anchors with short walks between them.
Start at Form/Design Center
Form/Design Center on Lilla Torg is the right opening move for a rainy afternoon date. It is free, the exhibitions rotate every few months, and the building itself is a converted 16th century courtyard with enough corners to wander slowly. The cafe upstairs does decent coffee and the shop has the kind of objects that give you something to argue about. Forty minutes here is enough to know whether you want to spend the rest of the day with this person.
From there it is a two-minute walk to Lilla Torg proper, where the heat lamps and awnings on the square make outdoor seating possible even in light rain. Bullen and Mello Yellow both have covered terraces.
A long lunch at Malmö Saluhall
Malmö Saluhall in the old freight depot near Centralen is the indoor lunch answer. It is one big room with a dozen counters, so you and your date can disagree about whether to eat oysters from B.A.R., ramen from Tora, or something from the Italian place and just get both. Sit at the central bar, order from two counters, share. The room is warm, the ceiling is high, and the rain on the skylights is part of the experience rather than a problem.
A second-date version of this is to take the train one stop to Triangeln and walk through the underground passage to Saluhall without ever going outside.
Moderna Museet Malmö
The Malmö branch of Moderna Museet on Ola Billgrens plats is small, which is the point. You can see the whole show in 45 minutes and still have things to talk about for the next two hours. The orange extension building is a landmark in itself, and the cafe in the entry hall is a good wind-down spot. Entry is free for under-26s and modest for everyone else.
Pair this with a walk through the surrounding Gamla Väster neighborhood, where the cobbled streets and pastel houses look better in rain than in sun.
Ribersborgs Kallbadhus in winter
The cold bath house at the end of the long jetty off Ribersborg is the great Malmö winter date. You sauna, you jump into the Öresund, you sauna again. It is gender-segregated in the bathing areas, which sounds like it would kill the date but actually makes the whole thing easier. You meet back at the cafe afterwards, both flushed and warm and pleased with yourselves. Entry is around 95 SEK. Bring a towel and do not forget flip-flops.
This works in any weather but it is at its best when it is genuinely miserable outside. The contrast is the whole point.
The library as a real date
Malmö Stadsbibliotek, the city library on Kung Oscars väg, is one of the best buildings in the city. The glass extension called the Calendar of Light is full of natural light even on gray days, the reading rooms are quiet without being precious, and the cafe on the ground floor is open to anyone. A library date sounds like a joke until you try it. You browse, you sit, you read each other things, you walk across Slottsparken afterwards. It costs nothing and it filters for a particular kind of person, which is the whole point.
Cafe-hopping in Davidshall and Möllan
If you want a low-commitment rainy day, plan a route between three cafes and walk slowly between them. Lilla Kafferosteriet on Baltzarsgatan, Solde Kafferosteri on Regementsgatan, and St Jakobs Stenugnsbageri on Lilla Torg make a good triangle. Order something different at each, stay 30 to 45 minutes per stop, and let the conversation reset with the change of room.
What not to do
Do not plan a rainy date around the Öresund Bridge view from Västra Hamnen. The view disappears in low cloud and the boardwalk is exposed to wind off the water. Save the harbor for clear days. Do not plan a rainy date around the Folkets Park outdoor stage either, for the same reason. The city has plenty of indoor rooms with character. Use them, and let the weather do what it does.