A Traveler’s Guide for Getting To Stockholm and Navigating the City

When traveling to Stockholm it is important to look at your different options for traveling in order to determine which fits best into your itinerary. Here are the ways we arrived at Stockholm and departed. I have also included all the different methods we used to go around the city. 

Biking in Stockholm at Sunrise - Photo Credit to Henrik Trygg

When traveling in Europe my two favorite things to do are take public transport and walk. From what I have found the public transport in Europe is generally prompt, easy to figure out and clean. Walking is also a great way to explore new places. Stockholm was no exception to what I have found in other areas in Europe. I especially loved taking the boats and light rail. Read on to figure out which methods of transportation you may want to use for your own trip.

Booking a Ride from Copenhagen to Stockholm

We had started our trip in Copenhagen. We had taken a cheap late afternoon train from Copenhagen to Stockholm. We bought our tickets online the day before and they cost $117 USD total for all four of our tickets combined. Our tickets were purchased on the SJ site from Köpenhamn H to Stockholm Central. We made sure to purchase tickets that had enough time in between to transfer to our next train in case there were any delays.

Another option for getting a train is getting tickets from DSB. There is an office in the Copenhagen train station. We did not go this route since the train cost was pricier the day we were traveling and we would have had one extra train connection. 

The Train Ride

Our first train was an Øresundståg train that took us from Copenhagen to Malmo. This was a short forty minute ride. We got to go over the famous Øresund Bridge that has connected Sweden and Denmark since the year 2000. It has gained more popularity since the show The Bridge that ran from 2011 to 2018. There is a 16 kilometer double-track railway, 7.8 kilometer 4 lane road for cars and tunnels.

The Snälltåget train we took next from Malmo to Stockholm was very nice. There were four of us traveling together. They had some seats that were two together and others that had four together that were all facing each other with a small table in between. Three of our four tickets were automatically reserved together and we were easily able to switch with another person to get all of our seats together on the train.

I also went to the dining car and was able to have a nice dinner there. People could purchase food to take back to their seats or make dining car reservations as well. There were multiple stops along the way. If I were to go on this train again I would stop in Lund to see the cathedral, university and medieval architecture.

The ride was pleasant. It was beautiful to see the water, small towns and hay bales rolled together in pairs. Our train did get delayed and it ended up taking about an hour and a half longer to get there than originally planned. By what I had read previously in forums this is a fairly frequent occurrence but this did not bother us at all. We still felt the train was a great travel option to get there for our family. 

Snälltåget Train

Dining Car

SL Pass to Get Around Stockholm

In order to get around Stockholm we first got a 72 hour SL pass for each of us which would allow us to take any kind of public transport. This pass is valid on public transport included buses, the Metro, train, trams and commuter ferries such as the one to Djurgården. I would recommend planning out your trip to find out if the pass makes sense for you. If you are planning to go to places that are further in Stockholm or are planning on walking less it is definitely worthwhile.

We ended up not making our money back on our SL pass since we mostly just used it on the first day and for two additional trips. For our trip it was mostly helpful in getting to Djurgården from our hostel near the central train station. The rest of our time we walked or took boats.

Car Rental

We had looked into car rental since we were also traveling between Copenhagen and Stockholm. Ultimately we did not think it was worthwhile. Costs would have been higher since we would be dropping off the car at a different location than our pick-up. We would have to pay the bridge toll, car seat fees and parking fees at different locations. I personally do not think having a car in Stockholm would make sense since it would probably be more of a hassle to pay for parking and find it rather than to just walk or take public transport around the city.

I think it would have only been worthwhile to get a car for the ride between Copenhagen and Stockholm if we ended up having more time on our trip to stop at other places along the route. I had looked up multiple cities that would be interesting to stop in such as Lund, Linkoping, Vimmerby and Visby. 

Strömma Hop On-Hop Off Bus

For one of our days we got the Strömma Hop On-Hop Off Bus Pass. The cost was already covered for my husband and I through the Stockholm Business Region. My son was free since he was five years old and my daughter was seven so her rate was lower.

We took the bus for one ride between two locations. It arrived promptly at the stop but the exact stop location was a little confusing to determine until we saw the bus arriving. There was a QR code that you could look at on their map to determine if a bus was nearby. The kids enjoyed that it was a double-decker bus and that they could sit on top in the open air.

We ended up spending more time in Junibacken than we planned so we only ended up using this once during our 24 hour period. I would recommend planning your itinerary to incorporate the bus stops into your itinerary for the day. I would also say that if you get this do not also have a public transport pass on the same day since it would be superfluous.  It may make more sense if more of your destinations are further away or if you plan out your itinerary so that you would use the bus more times on the same day. This would also be a great option to purchase if you have limited time to visit Stockholm and you want to see a lot of the attractions.

Strömma Hop On-Hop Off Boat

I thought the Hop On Hop Off boat ride from Strömma was definitely worth it. My boat ride was covered by the Stockholm Business Region. The boat was new and sleek with a lot of wood everywhere. There were headphones provided so that you could learn about the various places you were passing. It was easier to see the city layout from the water and there were some great views. If I returned I would spend a day just doing the Hop On Hop Off boat to multiple locations with the kids.

Exterior of the Strömma Hop On-Hop Off Boat in Stockholm

Interior of the Strömma Hop On-Hop Off Boat in Stockholm

Strömma Boat to Fjäderholmarna

We did get tickets to go to this archipelago island one evening. Once again these were covered by the Stockholm Business Region for us aside from my daughters ticket. This Strömma boat was nice with a lot of space. It was quick to get on and off the boat and the entire trip was great. I would definitely recommend doing this trip since it was a fun ride, the tickets were inexpensive and the island is the closest archipelago island to Stockholm so there is still plenty of time left for sightseeing. Strömma also had other options for boats you could take to places such as Birka, Drottningholm Palace and Vaxholm.

Strömma Boat to Fjäderholmarna

Interior of the Strömma Boat to Fjäderholmarna

Strömma Stop for Boats going to Birka near the Klara Strand Cafe

Public Transport in Stockholm

The public transport in Stockholm is very fast, clean and timely. We ended up taking one metro ride, one bus ride and two light rail rides during our three day trip. The kids loved taking each of them. The metro seemed to go especially fast. My favorite was the light rail. When we were in Djurgården we saw there was even a cool older looking light rail car in that area. Each time you arrived at a stop there were lots of signs nearby easily helping you find your way. 

Train and Metro Station in Stockholm

These stations were very large compared to the Copenhagen ones we had been in earlier on the trip. They did look beautiful and the train station had many places to purchase food inside. The signs were a bit confusing so make sure to keep double checking you are going to the right station. It also took us a bit to realize we had to go to a higher level of the street outside in order to go on the light rail. T-Centralen is the only station where all three of the lines meet so that makes it a little more convoluted. Stockholm is also known for its subway art so if we had more time I would have tried going to different subway stations.

Thorildsplan, on the Green line in the Stockholm subway system

Photo credit to Victor Gårdsäter and Artwork from Lars Arrhenius

Taxis in Stockholm

We were told that the taxis in Stockholm were very efficient. This was true. It was also great that many of them were electric as well. For one ride we took Taxi Stockholm. This had its own app and it was easy to book ahead of time. The car itself was really nice. 

Initially we were going to take public transport to get to our airport hotel for the last night. Instead we ended up sightseeing much longer than we had planned and it ended up being nine pm. We decided to take a Green Cab as recommended at our hostel since they had a fixed rate of 595 SEK. There was a wait of about 50 minutes after we called them. The car that arrived was more like a van with plenty of luggage space. 

Taxi Stockholm

E-scooters and bikes in Stockholm

There were multiple places where you could rent bikes in Stockholm. There are plenty of places that offer bike rentals. I personally feel that biking in Djurgården would be the most idyllic. As you walked there were plenty of wide bike lanes so it was easy for bikers to get around swiftly.

It seemed like most people seemed to be renting e-scooters. We did not have time to use any of these but these seemed like a great way to navigate the city. We saw multiple places for e-scooter rentals in Gamla Stan as well as Norrmalm.

E-scooters in Gamla Stan

Bikes in Djurgården

Green Kayak

Our kids were a little too young for us to do this but this looked like a great free way for us to explore the city by kayak. Green Kayak offers free kayak rentals of two person kayaks in different cities. The kayaks come with a trash can in the middle into which kayakers are meant to put any trash they find on their excursions. I thought this was an innovative idea to help clean up waterways as well as see a new city. I am hoping they expand to even more cities soon! This past summer they had a partnership with the Maritime Museum in Stockhom for rentals. While we were there I saw there were free rentals available from the Klara Strand Cafe near City Hall. Download the app before your trip and see if there are any time slots available for you to book.

Walking in Stockholm

Walking was very easy to do in Stockholm. Wi-Fi was readily available so it was easy to figure out where you were going. Most of the landscape was flat and not too steep. After learning some of the landmark buildings it was much easier to figure out where you were going. I did accidentally walk onto the wrong island a couple of times over a bridge but it was easy to find my way back. When walking in the more touristy areas there were lots of signs pointing you in the direction of attractions.; The architecture was beautiful and some of it reminded me of our trip to Quebec City. Our favorite place to walk was through the rolling hills of Djurgården. 

Flying out of Stockholm

 In order to get to the airport from Stockholm we took a taxi since it was getting late. The Arlanda Express is another popular quick for people to reach the airport. There is an airport fee if you are using the SL card to get to the airport. There are also different buses that go to the airport as well.

We stayed at an airport hotel so flying out of the Stockholm airport was a breeze. I liked how the airport had a green roof. Getting through security was a breeze. The airport was large but not as large as some other airports where it can be difficult to make a flight. I would still allow extra time since we had to show our passports at multiple locations. We flew out of Stockholm and back to Newark on an SAS flight. They provided us with blue earbuds, water bottles and blankets. There was also a screen for each seat with tv shows, movies and games. There were lots of other airline choices as well that were available at the airport.

Overall I felt that Stockholm was fairly straightforward to navigate without a car. There were many ways to get around such as by foot, car, e-scooter, bike, taxis, light rail, train or metro. Getting to Stockholm by train and leaving by plane were both easy for us to figure out.