Travel Dates: December 2022
Hotel:
At Six – excellent value hotel if you book with Fine Hotel Resort Credit through American Express, which includes breakfast buffet. They have a variety of fresh pressed juices and the buffet options were plentiful and delicious. They also packed breakfast to-go for our early morning flight.
At Six’s location made planning our itineraries hassle free: it’s a 10-12 minute walk to Stockholm’s Central Station, Gamla Stan (Old Town), and the ferry terminal for our boat tour around Stockholm. The hotel is also in the shopping district, and right next door to a mall.
Hotel Reisen (The Unbound Collection by Hyatt) – when we came back to Stockholm, we chose this hotel to celebrate NYE fireworks on the water front. It is located in Gamla Stan, and there is a public ferry here that takes you to Djurgården, where there’s an amusement park and many museums on the island. There are noticeably more restaurant selections near Hotel Reisen than At Six.
The down side of Hotel Reisen is because it’s an older hotel, the standard rooms felt a bit cramped.
Food:
Meatball for the People – meatballs are one of the staple foods in Sweden. This particular restaurant allows you to try different types of meatballs: chicken, beef, and pork, but also “exotic” varieties such as reindeer, moose, and bear. They have “trial platters” that offer different selections of meatballs; only catch is that it’s the chef’s choice. For regular main course dishes, one meatball variety is available for your own choosing.
We ordered the Chef’s Choice of 4 meatball types consisting two pieces each of chicken, pork, beef, and reindeer, and also ordered a mushroom risotto with the beef/pork meatball combo. The risotto was good, but nothing to write home about, so I’d recommend the Chef’s Choice. The “Meatball Feast” takes it up a notch and is only available for groups of 2 or more, but again it’s the Chef’s Choice of 8 meatball flavor varieties (2 balls of each flavor, 16 balls total).
We also ordered their highly recommended Italian house sparking wine, which was fine, but I prefer their cocktail version of it (Red Bubbles) that’s mixed with other ingredients, and it tasted much better.
Blanche & Hierta – thanks to American Express’ Fine Hotels Program, all of our food and drinks were covered during our stay at At Six. Our orders included: escargot baked into puff pastries with Gruyere, duck rilette (similar to pâté), beef tartar, truffle toast with ham & Gruyere, broccoli, carrots, and shishito peppers. Our favorites were the escargot, beef tartar, truffle toast, and shishito peppers.
Skeppsbro Bakery – located across the street from Hotel Reisen, we grabbed pastries and coffee here for breakfast. We got their cinnamon roll and chocolate roll, which were both delicious, though the chocolate roll was a bit sweeter.
Bröd & Salt – a few blocks away from Skeppsbro Bakery, we tried another bakery and ordered a cinnamon roll, Minisemla (like a whipped cream bun), and a cardamom roll (spice and herbal flavors); I’d recommend the cinnamon roll.
Restaurant Portofino – if you want to eat something else besides Swedish food, then this Italian restaurant offers delicious 24-hour slow-cooked lamb leg risotto. The meat was very tender and perfectly seasoned.
Lisa Elmqvist – if you’re interested in fresh seafood and want to see where the locals shop, then this is your place. It’s a seafood stall located inside a food court/market and we bought smoked salmon, skagenröra (Swedish shrimp salad), poached salmon, and smoked eel. The shrimp salad was our favorite, and a baguette complemented it well. There’s also a sit-down restaurant inside the market if you prefer cooked meals.
Activities:
Vasamuseet (Vasa Museum) houses the world’s only preserved 17th century ship, which sank in 1628 due to poor construction of the ship. It wasn’t built in a stable manner and was too top heavy. On its maiden voyage, a gust of wind caused Vasa to heel over and take on water, eventually sinking the ship. In 1961, the ship was salvaged and excavated to be used for the museum. Stockholm is full of museums, and if you only have a chance to visit one, we would recommend this because seeing the vastness of the ship in-person is spectacular, especially how intricately designed it is.
Spritmuseum (Museum of Spirits) was a quick stop where we had an aquavit and beer tasting. Sweden is known for their aquavit (i.e. schnapps) and it’s definitely an acquired taste–some can be very sweet while others are more bitter. If you want to play it safe, I would recommend ordering a gin and tonic with Swedish pink gin (rhubarb and rose petal) mixed with Rod (Swedish aperitif with lingonberry). It was delicious and very refreshing.
Skansen is Stockholm’s famous open-air museum. It’s set up like a little village, where you can see how Swedes lived in the olden days. There is also a mini zoo where you can see Nordic animals and an aquarium (separate ticket). I would skip Skansen unless you have kids, which this would be a nice place for them.
Stromma is the name of the archipelago boat tour that we booked. We arrived at the pier (the confirmation email will tell you the departing location) at 10:15am and there was already a line of people waiting to board the boat. You’ll need to show the boat ticket or the confirmation of your purchase. The boat set sail at 10:30am and we did a quick loop around Stockholm harbor before heading out east towards the archipelagos. Throughout the boat ride, there was a guide over the intercom who talked about the history of Sweden which made the tour interesting. Fun fact: at 221,831 islands, Sweden has the most islands compared to any country in the world!
The ticket we booked was a bit more expensive because it included lunch. The food itself was average, but the benefit was anyone who booked a meal had a reserved seating on the upper level of the boat, while everyone else had to sit on the lower level (you could still go to the upper level but then you would only be able to sit outside). For those who didn’t book lunch, snacks and drinks were available for purchase on the lower deck.
We finished the tour around 1:15pm, and overall I would recommend this for the spring/summertime. I feel like the tour through the archipelagos would have been nicer when the trees are full of leaves and it’s warm enough to sit outside to enjoy the ride and fresh air. Because we took the tour in the winter, it was too cold to stay outside so the reserved lunch seating was actually ideal.
Walking around the city/NYE celebration – you can spend time exploring Stockholm as the city is a bit spread-out. There is Gamla Stan (the Old Town) where you can shop at souvenir stores, Stortorget (a public square), the Royal Palace and Parliament House, Royal Swedish Opera building, and Kungsträdgården (a park where you can take a nice quick stroll or ice skate in the winter time).
For NYE, you can stand anywhere around the harbor to see fireworks from all directions. It seems like fireworks are set off by random people so there’s no “one place” to wait and stand at. Since our accommodation at Hotel Reisen was right next to the harbor, we walked there around 11:30pm and it was already getting a bit crowded, although not packed. We were able to see fireworks from all directions with unobstructed views, so I would recommend this area. But again, any harbor view would work.
Miscellaneous:
Transportation to and from Arlanda Airport and Stockholm City Center –
There are 3 methods:
- Most expensive: Taxi – 695 SEK one way, while Ubers can be slightly cheaper at ~600 SEK. Travel time is 25 – 35 minutes.
- Cheapest and slowest: Bus (Flygbussarna) – each roundtrip ticket costs 209 SEK if purchased online, or 239 SEK if purchased at the bus station kiosk. Travel time is ~40 minutes, and there’s a bus every 20 minutes.
- Fastest: Train (Arlanda Express) – 798 SEK for two people roundtrip. Travel time is 18 minutes, and there’s a train every 15 minutes.
We tried the bus and the train, and both were easy and convenient to use. For the train, you can buy the ticket on your phone and show the QR code to the conductor when they walk through the train to check for tickets. For the bus, you can buy the ticket on your phone and scan the code when you board. Both the train and the bus end at Central Station Stockholm, and depending on how far your hotel is, a taxi or Uber may be required.
Transportation around town – Walking can be difficult especially in the cold winter, since the city is spread-out. Instead, you can rent a scooter on a mobile app and they’re ubiquitous. You can also take a taxi (~154 SEK for a 10 minute ride) or Uber (~99 SEK for the same distance), or public transportation such as the bus and subway (which we didn’t have a chance to try). We did take the ferry that’s nearby Hotel Reisen to Djurgården (where we visited Vasa Museum, Museum of Spirits, and Skansen). You can use Google directions to figure out the schedule–it can range between every 15 – 30 minutes, and I believe the last boat is 6:33pm from Djurgården and 6:46pm from Gamla Stan. The ferry was very convenient and only a 12 minute ride. You don’t need to buy a ticket, you can just tap your credit card at the turnstile (which may actually be how the buses and subways work too).
Currency – Swedish kronor is their currency, but credit card is widely expected (some places are even cashless). We didn’t take out any money and were fine to use our card everywhere. They take Visa, Mastercard, and many places also take American Express.
Language – All Swedes are required to learn English in school, so you won’t have to worry about getting “lost in translation.” Although their public transportation does not have English translation, you can easily ask a worker for help.
Outlet – If you’re from America, make sure to bring an adaptor–Sweden uses Plug Type C and F which are the two round prongs.
Globe Trotter 