Trip Report - Stockholm 4/26 - 5/1
 

About me: 32 year old gay guy from New York. I usually travel on my own, but this time I met up with a British friend for the first couple of days. I'm usually more the budget type, but that's pretty hard to do in Stockholm.

Flight: I flew there on Malaysian, where I paid an extra $300 to upgrade to first class. Flat bed seats, a four course dinner, all you can drink, personal TV's with 70 channels. Flew back on KLM through Amsterdam and had low expectations, but the flight was really good with good service and better than average airline food.

Accommodations: Comfort Hotel, right next to the Central Station. The first room was absolutely tiny and was a complete shock. My friend complained and got me upgraded to a much better room for the last two nights. It turned out to be around $150 per night, which seems to be just about the cheapest decent hotel in the area.

Highlights:
1. The Vasa Ship - Not to be missed. And the exhibits are really fascinating.
2. Drottningholm
3. The Architecture Museum - I'm not really an architecture enthusiast, but I found it very interesting.
4. View of Gamla Stan and the city from Soderhalm.
5. Jewish Museum, though if you're not Jewish, I'm not sure how interesting it'll be.

Less Impressive:
The cost. I knew it would be expensive and the dollar is weak now but: $30 each way for the 20 minute train ride from the airport. $150 for a tiny closet of a hotel room. $25 for 4 Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes. And my favorite: $6 for a two-stop subway ride. Insane!
The Stockholm card, which gets includes all transportation and museum admission fees is definitely worth it.

Interesting note:
The people are very attractive. There is a youthful exuberance and vitality about them, no doubt owing to the free health care, free college, 6 weeks of vacation and the very relaxed lifestyle.

Odd experience:
I was chatting with a few locals in a bar. When I was alone with one of them, he mentioned that he thought one of the others was "a fag". Granted that was only one person, but Sweden was the last place I'd expect to hear something like that. I thought gay / straight didn't matter in Scandanavia.

Recommendations:
It's a nice city, but there's not much there that you couldn't find somewhere else. I'm not sure it's worth the long trip and the very high cost. I had a connection in Amsterdam on the way back and got to spend an hour in the city. And that is certainly worth the trip.

Thanks for taking the time to post the trip report. I'll have only 2 days in Stockholm this August so I enjoy reading everyone's comments.

Thanks for posting this. We'll be there post-Atlantis cruise in July and your report was helpful.

yes, Stockholm is expensive ( not more than Copenhagen) , it is not much of a " party" town ( like Amsterdam) but it is a stunning city , and IMO more than worth a visit.

Thanks for the trip report. Glad you included the details. It's been 6 years since I've been there and it has increased in price (the dollar dip, I guess). I've stayed at the Comfort and I appreciate their ability to put all that is necessary in such a small space. I've also stayed in Lord Nelson -~20 rooms in Gamla Stan and lots more expensive - but equal space.

I love the city - but the 'sticker shock' is there.

bm

thanks for the report!
im going to take deep breaths and just not look at what im spending til i get back
i do write down everything i spend but dont add it up til i get home!
im sure a month in scandinavia wont kill me financially

lanejohann:


Did I ever mention the very reasonable Mornington Hotel...just a ten minute stroll to the harbor and city centre. It's a British hotel, very clean, outstanding buffet breakfast..even a large library in the sitting room. It's in the atractive Ostermalm district on Nybrogatan. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay there three years ago. I believe it's now a Best Western.
stu t.