Stockholm – Read and Ride

After our first roadtrip to Amsterdam, Jade and I decided to visit Stockholm. A look back at our 4-day trip to the Swedish capital, a travel full of discoveries!

Day 1 : Wednesday

It is 7:30 pm, and we finally arrive in Stockholm after our long journey. Hungry, we start our stay with a Swedish specialty restaurant Uffe & Lottas. In many restaurants in Sweden, you are served homemade bread and typical Swedish crackers with a kind of cream cheese. Perfect to keep you waiting! We chose a shrimp risotto and tuna steak with onions and raspberries. It was a treat! We were seduced by the charm of this restaurant and the warm welcome of the owner. It feels like home! A short digestive walk to the town hall to finish the evening. We were amazed by the magnificent night view of Stockholm and its lights and by the beautiful architecture of the City Hall building.

Day 2 : Thursday

After spending our first night at the hostel, we leave early, cameras fully charged, to discover Stockholm. We started with a 1h15 bus tour that allowed us to get an overview of the city and its different districts. Then, we walked around the historic center of the city: Gamla Stan. A charming district with its small streets and beautiful buildings. If you visit this district, we advise you to see Stockholm’s smallest street, Mårten Trotzigs gränd, Stortorget Square, the Royal Palace with the daily shift at 12:15, and Storkyrkan Cathedral.

We couldn’t visit Sweden without eating herring! So we took a break for a snack at Nystekt Stromming, a food truck where we could taste fried herring that was very good! It’s simple, well cooked and cheap (about 8€)

Then, direction the island of Södermalm to visit the museum of photography Fotografiska. We loved the modernity of the museum’s exhibitions. Don’t forget to go and see the panoramic view from the museum’s café, and taste their kanelbullar, a small brioche from the traditional Fika.

To end this day in style, we were able to watch a magnificent sunset on Skinnarviksberget Hill. After dinner at the hostel, we experienced the Stockholm icebar. With a temperature of -5 degrees, everything in this bar is made of ice, even the cocktail glasses! Don’t worry, we’ll equip you with a big poncho and gloves to keep you warm 😉

Day 3 : Friday

To enjoy the good weather we had that day, we went for a boat trip to the Stockholm archipelago. The tour of the archipelago lasts between 2.5 and 3 hours, just enough to enjoy the beautiful Stockholm archipelago. On board, a guide presents the particularities of the archipelago, making this visit a pleasant and informative excursion. We loved the charm of the typical Swedish red and white houses.

Then, we visited Skansen, an open-air museum on the island of Djugarden. It is a real immersion in Swedish homes from the Middle Ages to the last century. There are also craftsmen’s workshops and a zoo with northern animals. A real step back in time! After a short break Fika in a typical coffee shop on the island of Djugarden, we visited the Museum of Spirits, very original!

Day 4 : Saturday

We couldn’t come to Stockholm without visiting the city’s most famous museum, the Vasa Museet. Located on the island of Djugarden, the Vasa is the only 17th century vessel in the world to have been preserved and 95% of the parts are original. You can therefore admire the wreck of the ship, which has been underwater for more than 300 years. A museum to visit, original and very well made.

For lunch, we went to Meatballs for the People restaurant to taste their famous meatballs. You know, the ones you have in Ikea? But much better;)! They offer different dishes based on meatballs of different meats, including elk!

After a stroll in Södermalm, a district with small designer shops, head for Skyview. The skyview is a large ball that rises up to 130 metres high: a panoramic view of Stockholm and its surroundings is guaranteed! To finish the afternoon, we went to see the Stockholm library, famous for its circular architecture.

Stockholm is known for its metro stations, comparable to art galleries. We spent a total of 2 hours in the subway seeing the stations, all more surprising and colourful. That’s a different thing from the Parisian subway!

Our tips !

Our hostel

We stayed in Hostel City Centre Youth Hostel. It is rather well located (15 minutes walk from the center), well organized and very clean! It is a very good value for money since for 26€ per night you also have breakfast included. Nothing to say about the hostel, we strongly recommend it!

Transportation

Transport being expensive in Stockholm, we did everything on foot, except the last day we bought a ticket for the day. So we took the opportunity to do the activities that were far away (Meatballs for the people, sky view, bookstore) and of course the metro stations on the same day.
To come to Stockholm, we had found cheap plane tickets with Ryanair (54€ round trip) but it turned out not to be such a good deal. Indeed, Ryanair is located in airports in Brussels and Stockholm very far from the centre. We were therefore obliged to take a shuttle (add 50€). Moreover, you have to pay with Ryanair to have a cabin baggage… So be careful with the call prices that some airlines can offer, which in the end are rather expensive!

Stockholm pass

A must have! Indeed, for the equivalent of 97€ for 3 days, the Stockholm pass gives you access to more than 60 activities. All the activities we did were included in this pass, which we made a good return on.

How to pay ?

Please note that although Sweden is in Europe, payments are made in Swedish kroner and not in euros. Jade and I chose to pay everything by credit card and not withdraw cash. If you can, try to pay with a single card so that you don’t have to pay several times the taxes, which for us were about 2%.

See you soon ! Maud and Jade