Day 1: Vasa Museum and Gamla Stan
I had to cut time somewhere on the trip and this is where I did it. We’d planned to take an overnight train from Copenhagen but it didn’t run due to trackwork so we lost some daylight time to travel. The train trip isn’t bad just not that scenic. (I think Sweden is the most boring country I’ve been to. Which doesn’t mean it’s bad. I mean, we’ve been to some great places!)
We arrived in time for dinner our first night and that was about it.
On our one full day in Stockholm we headed out walking along the waterfront. There were lots of old buildings along the way.
We saw interesting details from spires to brickwork to a really unusual corner detail.
Our first destination was the Vasa Museum. We’d never heard of it until I was researching Stockholm and it sounded interesting. It’s one of the best designed museums I’ve seen.
After that we walked over to Gamla Stan by way of the royal palace.
We didn’t get too far but we made it to the square by the Nobel Prize museum. Stockholm had some of the most interesting older buildings we saw on this trip.
It was such a nice day that we decided sitting outside drinking beer was a great idea. So we went back to the Taco Bar across the street from our hotel and sat outside and people watched.
Day 2: Overnight ferry to Helsinki
Our ferry to Helsinki left at 4:45 PM and the shuttle bus to the port left at 1:45 so we didn’t have time for much sightseeing today. I thought about doing some shopping but decided there was nothing I needed so we packed up and headed for the bus station.
I hadn’t realized Stockholm was in the midst of an archipelago.
There are lots of little islands with summer homes on them, connected by ferries. Some of the books I read on the trip were set on Sandhamn island. That’s one of the reasons I like to read books set in a place I’m visiting, to get a feel for it.
We had an early dinner and went on deck afterwards to watch the sunset. After shopping the tax free store.
Essentials
Lodging
We stayed at the Queen’s Hotel in Stockholm. We had a decent room and an excellent breakfast. The neighborhood was a delightful surprise. It was a pedestrian zone with lots of shopping and restaurants. Service was good too. We had to add a night to our reservation since we couldn’t take a night train and they were able to combine the reservations on their end.
Our cabin on the Silja overnight ferry was comfortable. The ferries have changed a bit since I last took one around 1990, no surprise. Lots of small eateries and shops, almost like a mini mall. Our cabin was available when we boarded and we could take our bags directly there, which was great.
Dining
We got into Stockholm fairly late so we ate at the Taco Bar across the street our first night. Great beer and surprisingly good Tex-Mex food. It’s a Swedish chain. Our second night we walked down the street a bit and ended up with burgers at Phil’s, which also seems to be a small local chain. Those were really good too. I was really looking forward to the buffet on the ferry because I remember it being excellent. It wasn’t quite as good as I recall but still very good. The included unlimited beer and wine was an unexpected plus. I remember there only being the buffet and a kind of cafeteria but now it looks like the ferry has several dining options.
Transportation
We took a train into Stockholm and a ferry out. Once there we were able to walk everywhere we wanted to go.