Europe : Stockholm – Woke and Awake Travel

To & From:

SAS fly direct to Stockholm’s main International airport Arlanda ( ARN), the budget airlines use Skavsta Airport which is over 100km south, so if as we did visit for a long weekend, no point spending it travelling, Sweden is the fourth largest country in Europe, southerly on a similar latitude to Edinburgh and the Northern most extremity stretching 280Km above the Arctic circle.

Stockholm has a continental climate with four distinct seasons, winters are cold, but summers mild and damp, the high northerly latitude ensures short daylight hours in winter as low as 6, but on the upside up to 18 hours daylight in the height of summer.

The Arlanda express train has you in the centre of Stockholm is about 20 minutes, the coach double that but half the price, so a matter of urgency versus cost. We deemed it more urgent so climbed aboard the express conveniently situated under the arrivals terminal.

Stockholm is spread across 14 islands interconnected by a warren of transit lines, but the main sights are within the City area and Gamla Stan the historic old town, connected by bridge.

We were staying at The Nobis Hotel a wonderful centrally located contemporary, luxury hotel within easy walking distance to all main attractions. Hop off at Ostermalmstorg metro station and you are within a five minute walk of the hotel. The hotel has a lounge, gold bar and a couple of restaurants, so where better to settle in.

Day 1.

We started out with a touch of Royalty at Kungliga Slottet ( The Royal Palace ), in Gamla Stan, easily accessible on foot from our hotel.

There are plenty of tours to choose from but the Royal apartments are most impressive.

Around Noon there is the Changing of the Guard, complete with a full horse parade over Normalm Bridge. We strolled around the cobbled streets of Gamla Stan aiming for Stortorget to have a late lunch, plenty of cafe’s and bars line the square.

Highly recommended but something we didn’t get to do because of poor weather was a canal cruise to Drottningholm Palace, the residence of the Swedish Royal family, there are a number of other guided canal tours which highlight the major landmarks from a waterfront prospective, instead we headed in doors to the Ice bar, where better to get a ice cold Vodka(pre booking a must!!).

After a full day in and around Gamla Stan we opted to stay local to the hotel and have dinner in an award winning French Brasserie Bobonne, reindeer has never tasted so good.

Day 2.

The Vasa museum is within walking distance of the hotel once again located on another island, not one of Sweden’s greatest launches, the ship sank some 1300 metres into its maiden voyage, and sat on the muddy seabed for 333 years until it was re-floated and restored.

The museum is well worth a visit and a great insight into the design flaws which led to the disaster, and subsequent restoration.

See Link 4.

Just a few hundred yards away is the Museum of Spirits housed in an old Wine warehouse, it is a great lunch spot, before heading to the Viking Museum and finally to the newer attraction that is Abba The Museum, the main reason Michelle was so happy to visit Stockholm! ABBA The Museum is no ordinary museum. It’s not just about the original costumes, gold records and so many other wonderful items of memorabilia – it’s about the audience we had so much fun! We were onstage with ABBA, singing at the famous Polar Studio and of course dressing up in those legendary costumes (virtual).

See useful links 5/6/11

Day 3.

Djurgarden island is a two day land of discovery with the museums taking a full day to explore we went back to the island to see the Nordiska museet, chronicling Swedish life from the 1520’s to the present day, and then onto Skansen open air museum and Zoo, if you have time there is also a seasonal entertainment park at Grona Lund.Tonight dinner was our habitual Indian, the cosy “Holy Cow Vasastan” didn’t disappoint

Day 4.

Our final day, so we decided we would take a trip to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in the morning, before hitting the high street in the afternoon. Stockholms Fashion Quarter was just behind our hotel so not too far to carry back the purchases ! The world famous Swedish department store NK is well worth a visit as is the excellent Gallerian just across from NK, which has 28 thousand square meters of both Swedish and international shops and you will of course find the European standards H & M and Zara! See Link 9.