I keep reading that you can swim in downtown Stockholm. Is this true? We'll be there in August and just wondered if it is true where are some good places to swim?

There are several places to go swimming outdoors in downtown Stockholm. One of the better places is at Långholmen Klippbad at the northeast shore of Långholmen (next to the part of the city called Södermalm). The nearest subway station is "Hornstull". If you don't mind going a little further away from the city, there are several other places everywhere in the archipelago. Enjoy!

Thank you for the reply. I would love to hear any other good swimming spots, or favorite trips around the archipelago. We are staying outside Stockholm for 2.5 weeks this summer and I know my two boys will love to swim in different places.

One good thing about Sweden is that you are free to go almost everywhere(allemansrätten in swedish, it says "right of common" in my dictionary). Combined with the fact that there is swimmable water almost everywhere, especially around Stockholm, there are endless opportunities to go swimming! (well, it might be too cold, but if you're coming in August it should be ok).

I might be able to give you a few tips of nice places, but it depends on if you prefer cliffs or more of a beach kind of scenery, if you prefer secluded areas or being around a lot of other people? It also depends whereabouts outside Stockholm you will be staying and means of transportation.

I am not very familiar with the archipelago myself - I usually spend my summers in a small cottage outside the town of Enköping, by lake Mälaren - so I have no favourite spots in the Stockholm archipelago, but I can find out from friends! I guess that most of the places are accessible by car, or boat. Will you have access to either, or should I find out about places you could go to by public transportation (bus or boat)?

Thank you so much, it's great to get some advice about Sweden!

We're staying in Vallentuna and we do have a car. We are planning to take public transportation into Stockholm, and use the car to visit other sites outside the city for day trips. My husband is comfortable driving a smallish boat and we had wonderful time renting one in the Cinque Terre last summer. How feasible is it to rent a boat for the day? In August is the weather such that we could go out for the day and not worry about changing conditions? I had assumed we'd just use the ferries to get to places.

I've been reading about Fjaderholmarna and thought that would be a good daytrip, but I realize it is very close to Stockholm so if you can suggest anything farther or less well known (to Americans reading standard guidebooks)I'd appreciate your effort. We are going to daytrip to Birka, Sigtuna, and Uppsala. Any other suggestions? We love history, art, and pottery.

We are going to Visby for a couple of days in the middle of our stay and have a couple of days at the end to go on anther longer trip but haven't decided where that one will be.

We are probably looking for beachy swimming spots since our kids are 5 and 8. Either secluded or around people -- we're not too picky about that. Thank you!