Stockholm-which order is best?

[jerseygrl828]

Hi! I will be arriving in Stockholm a few days before my Baltic cruise on the Viking Star this May. I have an entire day devoted to visiting the Vasa Museum, Skansen and if there's time the Nordic museum. Since I have the whole day, is it still best to visit the Vasa museum first or can I wait until the afternoon? It will be a Saturday.

 

Thank you for any input. The information on this board has been very helpful in planning this trip!

[Desdichado62]

I would do Vasa->Nordiska Museet->Skansen. Unless you are visiting on Wednesday since both Vasamuseet and Nordiska museet are open

until 8pm on Wednesdays (except, June-August (Vasa) and June-Sept. (NM)). In that case I would do skansen first.

 

Allow 1,5-2 hours for Vasa and at least the same amount of time for Nordiska museet.

Edited March 25, 2016 by Desdichado62

[kitkat343]

Vasa is extremely popular, and limits the number of visitors at any one time to protect the ship. If the museum is full, you need to wait outside until people exit in order to be let in. I'd either go first thing, as soon as Vasa opens, or others on this forum have reported that later in the afternoon it tends to be less crowded (I've found this with museums in NYC, so I can believe it, but my only experience at Vasa was getting there right as it opened, and it was very pleasant and quiet. As we were leaving it started to get packed.)

 

Skansen is huge, and you should plan ahead of time what attractions you want to see, and figure out which entrance is closer to those. We took public transportation to Skansen from Vasa since we wanted to see the open air lemur exhibit (which was amazing if you like animals, and a lemur came up and sat next to my 3 year old son) and the aquarium. The animal exhibits were really well laid out and you can get very close to the animals.

Edited March 25, 2016 by kitkat343

[dogs4fun]

I would also recommend visiting the Vasa Museum as soon as it opens. As Kitkat has already explained, it gets very busy within the first hour after opening - it is also less busy later in the day (late afternoon).

[brazilgirl]

I did exactly as the previous posters recommended....we headed straight to the Vasa Museum. Then we visited the Pippi Longstocking Museum ( I was with our kids) then we went to Skansen. We really enjoyed our day and did not fight a lot of crowds.

[Giantfan13]

I also say get there as early as possible.

 

Unless you know exactly how many ships are in port that day or how many other tourists are around, better to be safe than sorry.

 

Vasa opens earlier once June roils around so plan accordingly.

 

Cheers

 

Len

[maryogreen]

My husband and I spent two days in Stockholm at the end of our Baltic cruise –one night on the ship and one in a hotel. We visited the Vasa first thing in the morning, and as other posters have mentioned, we were able to avoid the crowds at this popular attraction.

 

Here's a link to my recent blog post on Stockholm, which might give you some ideas for your time there. It's a beautiful city!

 

http://www.themodernpostcard.com/?p=563

 

Mary

Travel Blog: http://www.themodernpostcard.com

[Al54]

I just wonder how the Vasa museum will manage about 7000 passengers (5 huge cruise ships the day we'll be there), wanting to enter the museum as early as possible! Specially at the beginning of may, when the museum opens at 10.

 

 

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[Desdichado62]

I just wonder how the Vasa museum will manage about 7000 passengers (5 huge cruise ships the day we'll be there), wanting to enter the museum as early as possible! Specially at the beginning of may, when the museum opens at 10.

 

 

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That will be interesting. Regal Princess in Nynäshamn, Celebrity Silhouette, AIDAVita, MSC Musica and Saga Pearl in central Stockholm. Saga Pearl doesn't arrive until 2pm though.

 

Seems like a busy day with theoretically over 10'000 passengers at the same time.

Edited March 28, 2016 by Desdichado62

[Al54]

That will be interesting. Regal Princess in Nynäshamn, Celebrity Silhouette, AIDAVita, MSC Musica and Saga Pearl in central Stockholm. Saga Pearl doesn't arrive until 2pm though.

 

Seems like a busy day with theoretically over 10'000 passengers at the same time.

 

 

10000!!!!! I think public transports would be better than any Hoho company. Do you know if SL tickets are sold in Stadtsgärden port? SL website just check the main selling points, not the small ones. I downloaded the SL tickets app, but, of course didn't use it : is it available with any provider or just with a swedish sim card?

Thanks

 

 

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[Desdichado62]

Al54, ticket app should work regardless of sim-card since you either pay by invoice or by credit/debit/bank card and yes you can buy tickets at

both Stadsgården as well as Frihamnen since Stockholm Visitors center have a small presence at these locations.

 

To find sales points, use the map on sl.se click the blu/white squre in the upper right corner and click "försäljning".

Edited March 28, 2016 by Desdichado62

[Al54]

Thanks a lot! May be I seem to be a little maniac, but we stay a very short time in Stockholm and I don't want to loose a part of this precious time looking for bus tickets.

That's why your posts are so useful!

Thanks again.

 

 

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[kitkat343]

You might want to price out a Stockholm Pass to see if it is worth it for you: https://www.stockholmpass.com/stockholm-attractions/ . I read that this was expensive, but worth it if you are visiting a lot of museums in Stockholm.

 

Also, there is a travelpass to consider if you will be taking a lot of public transportation since it is unlimited for 24 hours (or longer if you buy a longer card): https://www.stockholmpass.com/stockholm-transport/

 

Please also note that the HOHO boats have a stop next to the dock 167 “Stadsgårdskajen . The HOHO boats run directly to Vasa until 10 am.

[dogs4fun]

I just wonder how the Vasa museum will manage about 7000 passengers (5 huge cruise ships the day we'll be there), wanting to enter the museum as early as possible! Specially at the beginning of may, when the museum opens at 10.

 

 

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It will probably be a zoo & queues will be very long. :rolleyes: Hopefully, not all 7000 passengers from these ships will be visiting the Vasa - especially when the museum first opens ... but who knows?

The museum doesn't begin it's earlier opening until June 1st (8:30 am).

[Al54]

You might want to price out a Stockholm Pass to see if it is worth it for you: https://www.stockholmpass.com/stockholm-attractions/ . I read that this was expensive, but worth it if you are visiting a lot of museums in Stockholm.

 

 

 

Also, there is a travelpass to consider if you will be taking a lot of public transportation since it is unlimited for 24 hours (or longer if you buy a longer card): https://www.stockholmpass.com/stockholm-transport/

 

 

 

Please also note that the HOHO boats have a stop next to the dock 167 “Stadsgårdskajen . The HOHO boats run directly to Vasa until 10 am.

 

 

Thanks a lot, I didn't know the hoho boat went directly to Vasa. For the Stockholm pass, it's 710 sek for 24h and my problem is that the pass doesn't include Skansen, and the other museum I want to visit (Hallwyl) is free of charge. I think it's not interesting for me. I 'll probably buy a one day ticket on public transports and probably forget the hoho, too crowdy. A lot of people are complaining on Tripadvisor, because the hoho services are very irregular when too many ships are there. But if I'm able to take the hoho boat among the first, maybe.I'm also considering the ms Emelie, if the timetable is good. I think it's important to remain flexible, when you have only a few time in a town. Some of my friends spoiled their day to Bergen, because they absolutely wanted to take the Flybanen : it took two hours queuing to go up....and two more to go down!

 

 

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[jerseygrl828]

Thank you for the input everyone! We will do the Vasa museum first thing!

 

kitkat343-thanks for the info on the size of Skansen. No matter how many maps you look at, it can be hard to judge the size of something until you're there.

 

maryogreen-I took a look at your blog, thank you for offering it. I feel the same as you about visiting Sweden (as well as Norway). I am very curious to see the land that my family left for America. I'm excited to see people that look like me as well!! Thank you too for your review of the private canal cruise in St. Petersburg--I'm doing the same thing!

 

44 days to go!

[maryogreen]

jerseygrl828, So glad it was helpful...have a wonderful trip!

Mary

[kitkat343]

Oh - sorry - forgot to mention I think the HOHO boats run directly to Vasa prior to 10 am after June 1st, when Vasa begins opening earlier at 8:30 am. Also, Stromma has in the past had a one ride ticket on their HOHO boat for 50 SEK, but you can only buy those tickets on board. That way you can hop on if a boat is coming, and not be committed to waiting around forever for a ride as your primary form of transportation all day. It's a nice ride from the cruise port to Vasa, and we caught another one back from the Royal Palace to the port since it was a lovely way to return at the end of the day. But I was glad to use public transportation in Stockholm, since it was quite efficient.

 

Skansen just has a lot of different exhibits, and there were mixed reviews on the historical buildings part (some people loved it, others said they didn't want to waste their time in Stockholm going to the equivalent of Colonial Williamsburg). We decided to visit the animals since our 3 year old loves animals and were glad to know which entrance to go to since it was a tram ride away from Vasa (one of Skansen's entrances is fairly close to Vasa). On a cruise, you just don't have time to wander aimlessly so I'd figure out what you would most enjoy in Skansen and visit those attractions.

Edited March 31, 2016 by kitkat343

[Al54]

Thanks a lot! I think my visits will depend on the weather. I planned Skansen because I enjoyed the open air museum in Alesund, last year, and, being french, I have absolutely no prejudice about colonial Williamsburg! If the weather is too bad, I'll visit Nordic museum. I already visited the Vasa, a few years ago, interesting, but don't plan to visit again. Thank you for the hoho boat, I didn't know I could take just a one way ticket, it's an useful information, and add more fexibility to my plans!

 

 

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