In September 2023 I was able to squeeze an impossibly short day trip to Sweden’s beautiful capital, Stockholm. I could not pass up the opportunity.
I planned a longer trip to Finland for the first part of the month, where I did a great tour and met my extended biological family. I also worked in a short two-day stop in Copenhagen, where I would visit an old Danish friend I first met in Greenland back in 1998. Fortunately the Nordic nations make intercountry travel ridiculously easy and enjoyable by boat and trains.
My trip to Sweden started with an overnight ferry on Viking Lines from Turku, Finland, to Stockholm. I arrived at 6:30 a.m. Luckily a very nice German couple I met on the ferry got me squared away. In minutes I had downloaded Stockholm’s convenient public transit app, SL, just as the Viking cruise ship pulled into the harbor. I quickly bought a multi-use day pass ticket and my kindly benefactors led me to the bus and subway stops that dropped me off at Stockholm’s Central Station. I quickly deposited my luggage in a locker and headed out to explore. It was a foggy workday, and folks were streaming into the downtown area, through historic Gamla Stan, by bike, foot, and even roller skis (that was cool!). I very much loved the sites and feeling.
I took a public ferry out to the island of Vaxholm, which gave me an outstanding boat trip through the channels of the islands and coastal areas that were stunningly scenic. I saw new developments, cozy cottages for the affluent, sailing ships, and the big commercial ferries that connect Stockholm with other Baltic countries.
After a short walk around the area near the ferry, I hopped back on another one heading back to the beautiful harbor and pulled into a boat dock at Gamla Stan. From there I did a lovely walk and tour of parts of Djurgården, island, where I only had time to visit the Viking Museum. By then it was midday. I fetched my baggage bag at the Central Station and headed to my AirBnB stay in the Liljehomen neighborhood. My host got me squared away in his modest apartment. I then headed out in my running clothes to do a superb running tour of the island Södermalm, which is a historic part of the city, located midway between the city’s northern and southern environs. It was one of the best ways to experience Stockholm. I got to see a cozy cottage community, great fitness mini parks, swanky condos, a working harbor area, a cruise ship terminal, the historic cobblestone streets along Bastugatan, views of the city’s historic area from the bluff at Mariaberget, and lots of cool wooden and other boats that are moored all around the island. I was in heaven.
The next morning, I dashed early to the central station, downloaded my express train ticket, and was on my way on an express train the Swedish State Railways (SJ), aboard a high-speed train that had wifi and good coffee. From Malmö, I only had to wait 30 minutes before I could take my local train to Kastrup Airport, in Copenhagen, crossing the famous Øresund Bridge. I jumped off my local train and within minutes caught a local bus to my friend’s home. What a perfect trip!
Keywords/Meta Tags: Stockholm, Sweden, Stockholm Archipelago, Sverige, Vaxholm, Södermalm, SJ Swedish State Railways