Stockholm

We really enjoyed Stockholm – Easy to get around, lots to see, and very pretty. The city is spread out over several islands including Old town (Gamla Stan) - Cobbled streets, museums, old architecture, and restaurants along with the royal palace - Djurgården - A large island featuring many attractions including open air museum Skansen, the Abba Museum, the Vasa Museum and an amusement park…

Winters feature short, cold days while the summer have long, quite warm days.

There are a lot of things to do in Stockholm. I have highlighted a few here.

Very much our favourite site to visit…quite amazing.

The world's oldest open-air museum, Skansen is located in the middle of Djurgården island in Stockholm harbour. Skansen consists of a number of historical buildings transported here when threatened from destruction. Various buildings are open (a sign outside each building indicates if is currently open) to visit with volunteers dressed in period costume helpfully answering questions from visitors (all speak English).

There is also a zoo featuring many animals from Sweden including reindeer, moose, wolves…as well as others from further abroad.

A small aquarium features creatures from the waters in and around Sweden, uniquely concentrating on more common animals such as herring and carp. There is also a large auditorium in the middle of the park with regular events.

The park is very much geared for children with lots of hands on activities, rides and activities. Note that the grounds are quite hilly though there is an escalator at the main entrance (Huvudingang; at the south) and a train at Hazelius Porten (on the west). When we visited, a regular free ferry service operated between Djurgården and Berzelii Park (though with limited hours and, understandably, very busy).

There is an entrance fee with extra costs for some attractions on the grounds. The museum is only open in the summer. See the official web site at https://www.skansen.se/en/.

This small amusement park is on Djurgården island and offers a good number of intensive rides so not really recommended for younger visitors.

There is an entrance fee and rides cost extra (there are passes available). See the official web site at https://www.gronalund.com/en/.

The new ABBA museum is also located on Djurgården island (very close to the Gröna Lund amusement park) and has proven to be extremely popular since it recently opened. There is a cafe and gift shop on the ground floor with the museum itself (and free un-manned cloak room) in the basement. The museum follows the rock group through their careers starting with how they got started in music, then how they met, their life-changing experience at Eurovision, their incredible popularity then their inevitable break-up and what they have been doing since. Included are loads of hands-on activities including singing along with the songs, dancing on the stage with the rest of the group and pictures (all of which can be downloaded from their web site after your visit). In addition to loads of original memorabilia there is also a movie theatre showing Abba films.

You can visit for a couple of hours but really to appreciate the entire experience 3-4 hours is probably more realistic.

There is an entrance fee for the museum and pre-purchase is highly recommended to avoid the continual queue. There is also a helpful audio guide available. See the official web site at https://www.abbathemuseum.com/en/.

The old town is worth simply walking around but has a number of notable sites including The Royal Palace (Sveriges Kungahus; open to the public, admission charge).

Located on Djurgården island this museum features the wooden ship “Vasa” that was salvaged from the harbour and restored. There is an entrance fee. See the official web site at https://www.vasamuseet.se/en.

It is easy enough to walk around the city with the harbour serving as a useful reference point though a map is definitely recommended with many sites not specifically sign-posted. All of the harbour islands can be reached by bridge.

The main airport in Stockholm is Stockholm Arlanda Airport which is quite a distance from the center of the city. There are trains that operate between the Stockholm “Central Station” and the airport including the fairly expensive Arlanda Express or the cheaper, though not as quick, commuter train. A taxi ride into the city costs a flat rate of (currently) 535 KR.

Two hop-on, hop-off tourist bus services: Red Sightseeing and City Sightseeing – Not to be confused as they both operate red buses! These companies also have various boat cruise options (extra cost) including hop-on, hop-off trips around the harbour which is a great way to see the city. The services all use recorded commentary.

There are numerous public transport options to get around the city operated by SL. There are pay as you go rental bicycles in the city but the preferred transport of choice seems to be using one the multitude of electric scooters operated by several companies each having their own mobile phone application (generally, install the app, set up payment method, scan code on the scooter and ride with sensors in the scooter automatically stopping your charge when you end your journey and walk away).

For further information please see:

• Lonely Planet - Stockholm
• Visit Stockholm
• Wikipedia - Stockholm
• WikiTravel - Stockholm
• WikiVoyage - Stockholm