We ended our trip to the Swedish capital in January this year, when we discovered that the Jordan Peterson, a Canadian psychologist we love, was going to give a talk there on June 5th. He was actually going to give a tour throughout Europe, so I tried to find a city we didn't know and Stockholm was the one we chose. We killed two birds with one stone and since the children are very young and can't stay with their grandparents yet, we took them along for the ride too! 🙂
Hosting
To my surprise, hotel prices were unrealistically expensive even 5 months in advance. I don't know if it was because there was a Marathon and a UN event that same weekend (we found out later), but the fact is that I couldn't stay in the center of Stockholm like I wanted. I ended up choosing a well-reviewed studio in the suburbs on Booking. ApartDirect Solna (score 8.3) and although we always had to take public transport to the attractions, I really enjoyed it.
He was very small, clean and optimized, but best of all, it was next to a huge park that had a playground Excellent for children, it even had a pool!!! It was a perfect fit for us, our 4 and 1 year old children, but it was a shame that we only discovered it on the penultimate day. This is a tip if you go with children and are staying there too.
Attractions
After buying my tickets and booking my apartment, I started looking for things to do in the city and was amazed at the number of interesting attractions for families. There are museums, amusement parks, zoos, swimming pools, palaces, playgrounds… there is no end to the list. This official city website It is very complete and served as a basis for putting together our itinerary. We made a list of what we wanted to see and then put the attractions, our apartment, the location of the lecture, beautiful train/subway stations and the airport on a map just to help us find our way around. As you can see from the map, the geography of the city is confusing with many islands, I thought that seeing everything on the map beforehand helped us a lot when it came to getting around there.
This is how the map looks, look:
Below is a list of everything we wanted to visit and what we actually saw:
- Drottningholm Palace - Yes!
- The Royal Palace – only on the outside
- Storkyrkan (cathedral) – Yes, wonderful inside!
- Stortorget (colorful buildings)- Yes!
- Vasa Museum – Yes, I found it amazing!
- Stockholm City Hall - Yes!
- Junibacken – Yes, just the largest children’s bookstore in the country.
- Gröna Lund (amusement park) - No
- Skansen (open air museum, zoo) - No
- Monteliusvägen (promenade with beautiful view) - No
Recommended for children
Attractions 7, 8 and 9 are the most recommended for those going with children, but since Juju was still very small (almost 13 months), I didn't push it too much to visit them. Grona Lund It was the one I wanted to visit the most, but at the same time I was apprehensive about having to stay with Ju waiting for Celo to go with Paddy – or vice versa – on the few rides allowed for his size, and we wouldn’t end up enjoying it as a family. Besides, for the day we wanted to go, we would have paid around 140 euros, which I thought was quite steep. Even so, we left Portugal super excited talking about the Swedish roller coasters… What really made us give up on going was our little one saying he didn’t want to go at all.
I don't know if he was scared or if he was tired, but we ended up canceling and going to the playground next to our house and I've never seen the boy so happy! HAHAHA ...and the best part, for free. THE Skansen we wanted to go but we left it for the end of the day and Celo and I ended up getting tired because we had been walking all day, so we left it. Junibacken, Celo thought it didn't make much sense because it was an interesting tour for those who knew the character Pippi Longstocking, which is not our case, so we quickly went through just so I could visit the largest children's bookstore in the country. In the end, we ended up making a script more for us than for them, but I can say that everyone was happy, which is what matters : )
Now let's get to the details of our itinerary!
Detailed Itinerary
Day 1 – Thursday (02/06/2022)
We left Cascais around 10am because our flight from Lisbon to Stockholm was at 12:50pm. Thanks to the queues fast track because of the children, we did check-in and we went through security quickly, and we managed to have lunch at McDonalds in time for our boarding. Juba ate food from a Nestlé jar, of course. Holy jars!
The flight to Stockholm lasted about 4 hours and the first half of it was a struggle, because the little one wanted to walk the whole time or pull the hair of the lady sitting in front of us... lol When she finally decided to fall asleep while breastfeeding, the flight was calm and we were able to rest too, since Paddy slept practically the whole time.
Going to the apartment
We arrived around 6pm in Sweden with our 3 carry-on bags and a stroller, and went looking for the tickets of Arlanda Express, the train that goes directly from the airport to the city center. We saw on Google Maps that the easiest way to get to our apartment was to take this train to the center and from there take the subway, so there we went. We bought the tickets at the airport machines and we paid around 40 euros for just one way for the 2 of us (children go free), because there was a notice saying that the train would not run on the 5th and 6th of June, exactly when we needed to return.
The train leaves the airport every 15 minutes and we were super excited in no time. I found it very comfortable, quiet and empty, exactly what I expected from it…lol. The kids loved the ride!
Tense moment
We arrived at the central station and this was the most chaotic moment of the trip. We didn't really know where to go because the signs were in Swedish, there were a lot of people everywhere, we had to get around by elevator because we had a stroller (and they were always full) and the kids were restless too, perhaps sensing our tension. We ended up finding a market inside the station and took a break from looking for the subway to buy the basics for the beginning of our stay. Once we had stocked up and calmed down, we headed to the subway and shortly after, we were getting off at our cute little station, Solna Center. Look how cute:
We walked for about 10 minutes to our apartment and when we got there, we felt that wonderful sense of relief: “We’re here!” You know? It was great. We found the apartment, or rather, the studio, super cute and functional. We discovered that the sofa bed was the kind where the double mattress is hidden, and we decided to take it out and leave it on the floor so that Paddy wouldn’t fall off while he was sleeping. It was the best decision we made that day (hahaha) because that mattress on the floor became a playground for the kids, who played like crazy with the toys that Paddy had packed in his Trunki suitcase. We were able to organize our things and make dinner in peace, while the kids burned off some energy. Perfect! We had dinner, took our showers and slept like rocks, super excited for the next day.
Important tip!
We practically didn’t use cash in the city. To pay for metro and bus tickets, we just had to tap our credit cards on the machines, and all the restaurants, attractions and shops accepted them too. You don’t even need to worry about carrying Swedish kronor…
Day 2 – Friday (06/03/2022)
We woke up with light entering the apartment and we were pissed off with the curtains blackout which were insufficient for all windows. I have already left this feedback for the guys, by the way. We took the opportunity to have a leisurely breakfast and then got ready to go out and spend the whole day outside. So excited to explore with the little ones!
We decided to start our tour of Sweden at Drottningholm Palace, which is the official residence of the Swedish royal family. It was the first place in the country to be classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, in 1991, and is located on the outskirts of the capital, on an island called Lovon. According to our beloved Google Maps, the palace was almost 50 minutes from our apartment by bus 176 or 177, so we went to the indicated stop. In less than 10 minutes, the 177 stopped and we got on board. The driver told us that since we had a baby stroller, 1 adult would ride for free., but the other would have to pay for the ticket. This doesn't happen on the train or subway, so if you want to save money and have a stroller, you know what to do: take the bus!
The trip was very smooth, with no traffic and the bus was empty most of the time. We could see that it was full when we arrived at Brommaplan station, which is also where we transfer to the train. When we were getting to our stop, we could already see the Palace and we were super excited.
Drottningholm Palace
We got off and walked towards the palace along the waterside path and Paddy had fun throwing pebbles there. Does anyone else have kids who are crazy about throwing pebbles in any puddle? 🙂
We went straight to the garden, which is huge and unfortunately was undergoing maintenance, but I could imagine how beautiful it must be when it was finished. Then we parked our stroller at the foot of the stairs and walked to the palace tour. We went up the beautiful stairs and came across the ticket office. We paid almost 30 euros for me and Celo (children go free) and I thought it was really cool that they gave us an activity for children to do during the tour, where we had to hunt for pictures of animals. We were practically alone in the palace, so we were able to enjoy the rooms with some peace of mind, considering that we were with very young children. I thought the rooms were beautiful, especially the library, and if we hadn't been so tired holding Juju so she wouldn't fall while she walked, we would have also visited the Chinese Pavilion and the Theater.
Having lunch at the Palace
When we finished the tour, we just wanted to sit down somewhere to eat and rest, so off we went to the Karamellan Café & Restaurang vid Drottningholm. We took advantage of the sunny weather and sat outside with the kids, who were going crazy with the amount of birds looking for leftovers. We ordered the famous Swedish meatballs, which came with potatoes and a sweet lingonberry sauce, drank a few beers, and let the time pass while Paddy had fun in the garden. The idea was to catch the company boat Stromma which takes 1 hour to get to central Stockholm, but we found out at the time that it would only work on Saturday and Sunday, and it was Friday. Pay attention to this detail if you want to take the boat!
After this cold shower, we decided to take the bus to Brommaplan and from there take a train to the central station. It was definitely a boring journey, but it was perfect because the kids fell over in the stroller and sling and we took the opportunity to walk a lot and enjoy the city “alone”. We left the central station and headed towards the adult attractions on our list above. We crossed the pedestrian bridge and passed through the Swedish Parliament building, the Riksdagshuset, super grand.
Knowing the Old Town
We crossed another bridge and arrived at the island. Gamla Stan, old town in Swedish, which is considered one of the best preserved medieval centers in Europe. We walked calmly through the streets, with some slopes to our surprise, we saw from the outside the Royal Palace (Sloth sloth) and the Museum at the Nobel Prize and we took those classic photos with the famous colorful buildings back.
The only attraction we made a point of visiting was the city's Cathedral, storybook, but to do so we had to take turns keeping Paddy asleep in the stroller outside. Celo went in first (it cost around 8 euros) and came out delighted, so I went in right after, super excited. The church was under construction on the outside, but inside it is gorgeous, with impressive brick walls and columns and vaulted ceilings. There are several points of interest highlighted on the tour guide, including the famous medieval wooden sculpture of Saint George and the dragon, which symbolizes Sweden's victory over Denmark, and the oldest painting in Stockholm, Vädersolstavlan, which represents a peculiar astronomical phenomenon from the Middle Ages. Some photos:
The kids woke up and we started our journey back to the apartment. We decided to go back over another bridge, this time with cars passing through it, and we saw an American amphibious assault ship docked very close by and Celo went crazy (he really likes military stuff). After some research, we found out that there was a UN event in the city and everything got more interesting…lol
Kungstradgarden
We crossed the bridge and came across a beautiful square, Kungstradgarden, where we bought hot dogs to calm our hunger. We took the metro from the station of the same name to our station and when we arrived in Solna, we went to the shopping mall Solna Center buy food at Lidl. Celo went and I stayed with the kids in a very cute indoor playground, which closed promptly at 6 pm.
We returned home exhausted, had dinner, took a shower and went to bed! (Now that I'm writing this I can better understand why we were so exhausted lol)
Day 3 – Saturday (06/04/2022)
Day to visit the children's attractions!
We had a hearty breakfast and headed towards the island. Djurgarden, where are the Skansen, the Vasa Museum, the Junibacken, the Grona Lund, among other attractions. We took our usual subway and got off at the station Kungstradgarden, because we wanted to explore the area more and we needed to buy more food for Ju, since we couldn't find anything from Lidl. We struggled a bit to find a supermarket, but we finally found one inside Östermalmstorg station, and we had a party for Ju. What a relief it was!
We continued walking through the neighborhood and at that moment, I found myself captivated by Stockholm. What a beautiful city and a pleasant place to walk around! In the previous days, we had only walked through the suburbs and the old town, right, but that day we walked around there and I was enchanted by the charming buildings and streets. Just look at this:
To our surprise, the two of them passed out together in the stroller (Ju in the baby seat and Paddy in the basket underneath, he asked us to…lol) and we were able to enjoy the city again without worrying about the little ones. We decided to walk while looking at the sea and crossed the marathon track with many people waiting for the runners. What a great vibe! The day was sunny, the people were excited and so were we. We passed by some yachts and soon after we saw some restaurants on boats and decided to go into one that looked super cool, the Angbatsbryggan.
Having lunch at a restaurant – boat
We saw not-so-absurd prices on the menu outside and went in happily hoping that the children would continue sleeping. And they did sleep? 🙂
We ordered croquettes, oysters and beers (mine was non-alcoholic, since I'm still breastfeeding) and took our time enjoying the atmosphere. We learned our lesson the day before about resting while the little ones rest too. After more than an hour there, Ju woke up and we gave her lunch. When she started to want to walk around and explore, we thought it best to leave the boat and go to dry land.
We went back to their boardwalk and the runners were already passing by and there were a lot of people cheering for them. Ju loved it and so did I, of course. I always get emotional at these events, I don't know why...
We continued walking with the athletes running alongside us until we reached the bridge that leads to the children's attractions island. It was a good walk and to our surprise, Paddy continued sleeping.
Exploring Djurgården Island
When we arrived on the island, we turned right towards Junibacken and the Vasa Museum, and came across an open-air military exhibition, much to Celo’s delight. Needless to say, the guy wanted to explore, right?
I stayed with Ju walking around while Paddy slept in the basket, and when he finished seeing everything, we went to the Junibacken because I wanted to meet the largest Swedish children's bookstore. I went in with Ju and was enchanted by what I saw. So many books with beautiful covers, smart toys, interesting souvenirs… I wanted to buy everything! That place was a nightmare. I ended up buying a music box for Pippi Longstocking’s daughter and that was it… lol.
The long-awaited Vasa Museum
Paddy woke up and we went to the Vasa Museum, where a Swedish warship from the early 17th century is on display, which sank on its first voyage and was recovered after 333 years underwater. We paid about 35 euros for the 2 of us (kids are free) and as soon as we entered the museum, we were shocked by the size and perfection of the ship. I read somewhere that 98% of what we see of it is original, so it really was jaw-dropping. We walked around the entire main floor and then took the elevators to explore the other floors with exhibits, panels, etc. The museum is very dark and I think that made Paddy feel uneasy, because he quickly wanted to get out of there and we had to run more than we would have liked. You can't have everything in life, right?
We went out and saw a food kiosk, because we knew he was hungry, but the line was taking so long to move, that we ended up giving up and kept walking to another restaurant that Google Maps recommended to us.
Lunch at Villa Godthem
We passed through a cemetery to take a shortcut and then kept walking until we found a very nice place called Villa Godthem, which charged almost 20 euros for a burger. I wanted to look for a cheaper place, but we were exhausted and hungry and the atmosphere of the restaurant was really cool, so we decided to stay. We ordered burgers and meatballs and enjoyed the sun and the tranquility of the place without rushing.
The idea was to leave and go to Skansen, but it took us so long that it was too late to go. We returned calmly along a path in the park that ran along the water, and Paddy had a great time throwing rocks and rocks into the sea. What matters is that he has fun, right?
We walked to the nearest subway station and went home to have dinner, take a shower and go to bed. A delicious and less exhausting day, for sure!
Day 4 – Sunday (06/05/2022)
Day of the long-awaited lecture of Jordan Peterson! 🙂
Since the lecture was at 7:30 pm and we were staying on the other side of the city, we knew that Celo would have to leave the apartment early and that, therefore, we would have to have a short day so as not to interfere with the main plan.
Paid or free parking?
We started the day early with the idea of going to the Grona Lund, a very popular amusement park in Stockholm, but Paddy woke up saying that he didn't want to go on the roller coasters, rides, etc. at all. He was in a bad mood and we decided right away that we wouldn't go anymore so he could relax. We left the apartment feeling a little discouraged after this cold shower and started walking around the park next to the apartment with the goal of finding a playground to cheer him up. We found a really cool playground with lots of different rides and even a pool! He spent almost the whole time playing on a boat, but I saw some kids having fun in the pool because the sun was shining so beautifully. If I had brought a bathing suit for him, I would have shown him, but I kept quiet... lol.
We spent a good while in the playground and then took the subway to see the building. City Hall, one of the most famous silhouettes of the city. The way there was quite interesting, take a look:
Visiting City Hall
Every year on December 10th, the Nobel Prize dinner and ball take place in the Blue Hall and Golden Hall, respectively, and both rooms can be visited at tour guided tour, which I insisted on doing when I saw that Ju fell asleep in the stroller. We paid about 13 euros per adult and entered at the indicated time, starting first at the Blue Hall, an impressive space that has nothing blue about it…lol. Luckily for us, Paddy found the whole explanation very boring and decided to join his sister and sleep in the stroller's basket, leaving us to enjoy the almost 1-hour visit in peace. (Thank you, sir!!!)
We passed through several rooms, including the one where politicians meet once a month to decide on security issues, and the guide made a point of talking about several interesting political aspects of the country. Finally, we entered the Golden Hall, which is a room made up of about 18 million small pieces of mosaic and has some horrible designs, in my humble opinion, but it's really cool to hear the story behind the details.
We left there happy to have been able to calmly see the building from the inside and we continued walking with the 2 sleeping in the stroller until the island of Riddarholmen, from where we have a very beautiful view of the city hall building.
Riddarholmen Island
Then we enter the Riddarholmskyrkan, where the remains of all the Swedish kings are, but we didn't want to pay to visit it in full. I just took a photo to show Celo, who was outside with the children.
We were hungry and started looking for a restaurant with good reviews and good prices and we found a super burger joint. cool, the Barrel's Burgers & Beers, who had just freed up a table outside. It seemed like “meant to be”! We sat outside with the kids still asleep in the stroller, ordered our food, and enjoyed the vibrant atmosphere of the pedestrian-only street. The little ones slowly woke up and we ate our wonderful burgers while silently giving thanks for the whole experience with the puppies. What a blessing!
We finished our snacks and headed to the ice cream shop next door, Stikki Nikki, to finish off the fun. Paddy got a chocolate ball and was over the moon! We walked through the streets of the old town and walked to the central station to go home. I went into two wonderful shops, Lagerhaus and the Normal, very close to the central station, and if I wasn't becoming a minimalist (very slowly...) and had space in my bags, I would have gotten lost in them. I recommend a visit!
We took a walk through the park and when we got home, we started bathing the kids early so Celo could go out and see our beloved guru. Then the kids and I played, packed (and unpacked) our bags, had dinner and around 10pm the little ones decided it was time to go to bed… lol. A well-deserved rest for mom!
Celo came back with a big smile and lots of stories from the talk, which was an absolute success. Oh, one day I'll see it live too! 🙂
Monday (06/06/2022)
We woke up, ate everything we had for breakfast, packed our things and got ready to leave to catch 2 buses to the airport, since we had read that the trains would not run on the 5th and 6th. We got a little carried away and rushed to catch the bus recommended by Google Maps, but we didn't make it in time. I was so nervous... I'm terrified of being late at the airport.
Bus to the airport
About 15 minutes later we caught another bus and got off at a place near the bus stop. Flygbussarna, a bus that runs directly from the city center to the airport. We saw a line and got even more nervous. We couldn't get on the first bus, but we did get on the second one. Fortunately, we were at the airport in less than 40 minutes.
We had an unpleasant surprise at the airport when we had to wait in a huge line to go through security and didn't see any options. fast track because of the children. Ju was in the sling and Paddy in the stroller and they stayed like that for 1 hour until we went through the x-ray. Everything was chaotic, but even so the children managed to sleep and we were calmer.
We went through security, bought sandwiches at a convenience store, stopped to exchange the Swedish krona we had and ran to the gate when we heard that boarding was closing. We almost missed our flight trying to exchange our money and unfortunately, the only store we went to only accepted cards.
Lesson learned: Don't take Swedish crowns as you can do everything with a card!
On the bright side, at least I have some Swedish kronor for my next trip there! 🙂
If you want to know more about tours in Stockholm, see below some options from Civitatis:
