Stockholm help

[TeanneTX]

We will be arriving in Stockholm at 10 am at the Frihamnen port. We only have 1 day there and will need to return to the ship by 6 pm. Vasa is a must. I am confused about all the transportation options there and the fact that there are so many islands. I've heard that taxis are expensive and to use public transportation. I figured that we should go to Vasa first and then a few other places until returning to the ship. This is our last port on a VERY port intensive cruise and I think we'll probably want something easy going on this last day.

Any help is greatly appreciated. I have read through the Stockholm section of Rick Steves book and thinking that Djurgarden and Gamla Stan may be too much for 8 hrs. Help!!

 

Teanne

[GradUT]

Below are the notes I made before our Baltic cruise about how to get from our ship docked at Frihamnen into town (but the prices may have increased in the past 2 years.) As you can see, the bus takes you very close to the Vasa Museum and since that it a "must" for you (and rightfully so as it was great), you'll want to start your day there.

 

Note: On the day of our arrival, the ticket machines at the bus stop near the port were not working. Hopefully, that won't be the case for you because we waited in line almost an hour to get tickets. You might want to get the 24 hour ticket so that you don't have to bother with buying more tickets to get back to the ship. Also, you can use the 24-hour ticket for the ferry from Djurgarden (where the Vasa Museum is located) to Slussen which is near Gamla Stan, the old town. This is what we did and enjoyed the ferry ride very much.

 

It's a shame that your time in Stockholm is so limited. Considering the transporation time and the time you'll want to spend at the Vasa Museum, you probably won't have much time to explore Gamla Stan. But, maybe you can choose a few places from Rick's walking tour to see before you have to get back to the ship.

 

One final note--Food is really expensive in Stockholm, so consider having a big breakfast and taking a snack to tide you over until you get back to the ship. This is what we did, but our tablemates told us at dinner that they had spent something like $60 for two plates of herring and two beers at lunch.

 

Getting to Town

Shipberths at 634 Frihamnen. To get thepublic bus stop, the general rule of thumb is to follow the blue line paintedon the ground.

FromBerth 634, just head straight down the pier and you’ll run right into the busstop and Tourist Information, across the street.

Takebus #76. The stops include Djurgardsbron(at the bridge a short walk from the Vasa museum and other Djurgarden sights), Nybroplan,Kungstradgarden (near the Opera House and the beginning of the RS self-guidedtour of the modern city), Slottsbacken (by the palace in Gamla Stan), Rantmastartrappan(at the southern end of Gamla Stan), Slussen,, then through Sodermalmand back the way it came.

YouCANNOT buy tickets on the bus. You canget them at the Tourist Information office or from machines near the busstop. If you buy from a machine, gettingthe correct ticket can be tricky:

First, select “English”

Second, choose “Purchase and Load Tickets”

Third, choose “All Tickets”

Now, you have to arrow down past severalchoices you don’t want to either “Zone ATicket Full (for a single ride—36 SEK) or “24 Hours Ticket Full” (for an allday ticket – 115 SEK + 20 SEK for card) Note: The 24-hour travelpass isvalid for use on the ferries between Slussen and Djurgarden.

To Get Back to theShip– Take a #76 bus to the “Magasin 3” stopdirectly in front of the red-brick Frihamnsterminalen building. Then walk up the pier to the right of thatbuilding to get to berth 634.

[trosebery]

We also hit up Stockholm as the last port on a port-intensive cruise, and honestly, we could have skipped Gamla Stan at that point. If I were to do it over again, I would have stayed in the area near the Vasa Museum (can't miss) and visited the ABBA Museum, Skansen, et al and taken it easy.

[TeanneTX]

Below are the notes I made before our Baltic cruise about how to get from our ship docked at Frihamnen into town (but the prices may have increased in the past 2 years.) As you can see, the bus takes you very close to the Vasa Museum and since that it a "must" for you (and rightfully so as it was great), you'll want to start your day there.

 

Note: On the day of our arrival, the ticket machines at the bus stop near the port were not working. Hopefully, that won't be the case for you because we waited in line almost an hour to get tickets. You might want to get the 24 hour ticket so that you don't have to bother with buying more tickets to get back to the ship. Also, you can use the 24-hour ticket for the ferry from Djurgarden (where the Vasa Museum is located) to Slussen which is near Gamla Stan, the old town. This is what we did and enjoyed the ferry ride very much.

 

It's a shame that your time in Stockholm is so limited. Considering the transporation time and the time you'll want to spend at the Vasa Museum, you probably won't have much time to explore Gamla Stan. But, maybe you can choose a few places from Rick's walking tour to see before you have to get back to the ship.

 

One final note--Food is really expensive in Stockholm, so consider having a big breakfast and taking a snack to tide you over until you get back to the ship. This is what we did, but our tablemates told us at dinner that they had spent something like $60 for two plates of herring and two beers at lunch.

 

Getting to Town

 

Shipberths at 634 Frihamnen. To get thepublic bus stop, the general rule of thumb is to follow the blue line paintedon the ground.

 

FromBerth 634, just head straight down the pier and you’ll run right into the busstop and Tourist Information, across the street.

 

Takebus #76. The stops include Djurgardsbron(at the bridge a short walk from the Vasa museum and other Djurgarden sights), Nybroplan,Kungstradgarden (near the Opera House and the beginning of the RS self-guidedtour of the modern city), Slottsbacken (by the palace in Gamla Stan), Rantmastartrappan(at the southern end of Gamla Stan), Slussen,, then through Sodermalmand back the way it came.

 

YouCANNOT buy tickets on the bus. You canget them at the Tourist Information office or from machines near the busstop. If you buy from a machine, gettingthe correct ticket can be tricky:

First, select “English”

Second, choose “Purchase and Load Tickets”

Third, choose “All Tickets”

Now, you have to arrow down past severalchoices you don’t want to either “Zone ATicket Full (for a single ride—36 SEK) or “24 Hours Ticket Full” (for an allday ticket – 115 SEK + 20 SEK for card) Note: The 24-hour travelpass isvalid for use on the ferries between Slussen and Djurgarden.

 

To Get Back to theShip– Take a #76 bus to the “Magasin 3” stopdirectly in front of the red-brick Frihamnsterminalen building. Then walk up the pier to the right of thatbuilding to get to berth 634.

 

 

Thanks for all your valuable information. I had heard that the food prices were high so will take your advice about eating a good breakfast and then take some snacks from the ship. After looking everything over I think we'll take the bus over to near the Vasa and just spend the day over there. I think we will skip Gamla Stan unless we're feeling very energic after Djurgarden and all it has to offer. Plus we're actually leaving the ship that night at about 9 pm and head to the airport hotel and have an early morning flight home the next day. Wish we had longer. Thanks again.

[TeanneTX]

We also hit up Stockholm as the last port on a port-intensive cruise, and honestly, we could have skipped Gamla Stan at that point. If I were to do it over again, I would have stayed in the area near the Vasa Museum (can't miss) and visited the ABBA Museum, Skansen, et al and taken it easy.

 

Thanks for the advice and I think we are going to do what you suggest. We're both going to be exhausted after this cruise and probably going to see the ABBA museum will be fun and being outside in the Skansen will be nice too (weather permitting). Even though our ship is in port overnight, we are actually heading to the airport that night to stay at a hotel for an early morning flight the next morning. So a easy day in Stockholm will probably be a really good idea. Thanks.

Teanne

[Desdichado62]

IMO shouldn't have any problem doing Vasa+Old Town (Gamla Stan).

 

As suggested above, bus #76 from Frihamnen to Djurgårdsbron (Norra Hammarbyhamnen direction) for Vasa,

Then from Vasa to Skeppsbron (north of Slussen) at Gamla Stan and when you are finished just go with bus #76 back to Frihamnen.

 

I also think that Gamla Stan have a much higher priority over Abba Museum and Skansen.

 

Skansen is pretty exhausting as well since it's quite elevated.

 

Regarding bus tickets and etc, zoning have been scrapped so no need to worry about that.

[PNW Traveler]

We enjoyed a light lunch at the café located with the Vasa Museum. It was cafeteria style and prices weren't excessively high. Food quality was excellent and menu items well prepared.

[north-bound]

I fully agree with Desdichado that staying in the museum area near the Vasa Museum would be a mistake.

Stockholm is a beautiful city and during the short bus tour from the ship to Djurgårdsbron you have really seen nothing of Stockholm. Only the port area. an open field and a very small bit of the city.

 

Go back to the bus stop and take bus 76 again to go on to Gamla Stan. You can stroll around and find things to look at there, for instans the Royal Palace and the Cathedral. In the area just north of Gamla Stan you will find The Parliament and Governement buildings, the Town Hall and other public buildings as well as the main shopping district. Bus 76 will take you back to the ship.

[trosebery]

IMO shouldn't have any problem doing Vasa+Old Town (Gamla Stan).

 

As suggested above, bus #76 from Frihamnen to Djurgårdsbron (Norra Hammarbyhamnen direction) for Vasa,

Then from Vasa to Skeppsbron (north of Slussen) at Gamla Stan and when you are finished just go with bus #76 back to Frihamnen.

 

I also think that Gamla Stan have a much higher priority over Abba Museum and Skansen.

 

Skansen is pretty exhausting as well since it's quite elevated.

 

Regarding bus tickets and etc, zoning have been scrapped so no need to worry about that.

 

I fully agree with Desdichado that staying in the museum area near the Vasa Museum would be a mistake.

Stockholm is a beautiful city and during the short bus tour from the ship to Djurgårdsbron you have really seen nothing of Stockholm. Only the port area. an open field and a very small bit of the city.

 

Go back to the bus stop and take bus 76 again to go on to Gamla Stan. You can stroll around and find things to look at there, for instans the Royal Palace and the Cathedral. In the area just north of Gamla Stan you will find The Parliament and Governement buildings, the Town Hall and other public buildings as well as the main shopping district. Bus 76 will take you back to the ship.

 

I didn't mean to imply that Gamla Stan (and other areas of the city) wasn't beautiful and worth seeing. Just that *we* didn't get much out of it after two weeks touring Baltic capitals. I had a very deja vu sense of, "Weren't we just here?" after touring Copenhagen, Tallinn, etc. It just felt like more. And by that time I could have happily seen less and had a different kind of touring day.

[Giantfan13]

Stockholm was also our last atop and to be honest, it was the port we loved the most out of our entire cruise. I guess it is what you are looking for when you get off the ship in any port. We also went to Vasa first, thought we would take a few pix and move on, but we got hook by the enormity of Vasa. We watched the movie, did the tour and we ended up being there for about 2 hours. That really thru off our plans but it gave us a lasting memory we will never forget. From Vasa we went to the Palace to watch the changing of the guard and then into Gamla Stan. We simply LOVED this section of Stockholm. It was what we pictured an old European city to be about--narrow winding streets, shops, and outdoor cafe's,. and once you get off the touristy streets, you have wonderful streets to just explore on your own. We really hated to leave, but, if not, we might still be there. Try not to miss this wonderful part of this remarkable city.

 

Lovely outdoor cafe's to just sit and watch and relax

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/baltics/europe1265.jpg

 

Wonderful narrow winding streets to explore

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/baltics/europe1268.jpg

 

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/baltics/europe1270.jpg

 

Then there are the busy streets with all sorts of shops, restaurants and truly great sweet shops

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/baltics/europe1271.jpg

 

And the Nobel Museum if you are interested in that

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/baltics/europe1272.jpg

 

And the Changing of the Guard ceremony every day at the palace

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/baltics/europe1306.jpg

 

Cheers

 

Len

[TeanneTX]

Stockholm was also our last atop and to be honest, it was the port we loved the most out of our entire cruise. I guess it is what you are looking for when you get off the ship in any port. We also went to Vasa first, thought we would take a few pix and move on, but we got hook by the enormity of Vasa. We watched the movie, did the tour and we ended up being there for about 2 hours. That really thru off our plans but it gave us a lasting memory we will never forget. From Vasa we went to the Palace to watch the changing of the guard and then into Gamla Stan. We simply LOVED this section of Stockholm. It was what we pictured an old European city to be about--narrow winding streets, shops, and outdoor cafe's,. and once you get off the touristy streets, you have wonderful streets to just explore on your own. We really hated to leave, but, if not, we might still be there. Try not to miss this wonderful part of this remarkable city.

 

Lovely outdoor cafe's to just sit and watch and relax

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/baltics/europe1265.jpg

 

Wonderful narrow winding streets to explore

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/baltics/europe1268.jpg

 

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/baltics/europe1270.jpg

 

Then there are the busy streets with all sorts of shops, restaurants and truly great sweet shops

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/baltics/europe1271.jpg

 

And the Nobel Museum if you are interested in that

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/baltics/europe1272.jpg

 

And the Changing of the Guard ceremony every day at the palace

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/baltics/europe1306.jpg

 

Cheers

 

Len

 

Thanks for your input and the lovely photos. Looks like a beautiful city. I'm so excited about going but this whole cruise is very overwhelming. So many ports and so much to see and do.

 

Teanne