2017 Europe Trip 02: Sweden in Photos - Stockholm Visit

After exploring the first stop in my 2017 Europe Trip in Finland, the second location I traveled to was Stockholm, Sweden. This would be my first time in Sweden as well as the Scandinavian region. I was looking forward to seeing any similarities or differences between Stockholm and Helsinki. As I'll get into later, there are many differences.

The Stockholm-Arlanda airport is actually quite far away from the city center, but luckily, there was a fast train that takes 20 minutes to get from the airport to city center. The cost though was around 500 kronas round-trip, so that's around $60 USD ... not very cheap, but then again, time is money :)

I booked a stay in the Sodermalm area of Stockholm, which is literally a small island just south of the T-Centralen metro stop (the main hub that connects all of the metro and train lines. I stayed in the Sodermalm area as it's quite known as the hipster and creative area for young Swedish locals. The area also has many small kinds of cafes as well as musuems such as Fotografiska. 

Out of the many cities I've been to around the world, Stockholm is still quite relatively small, but much bigger than Helsinki. The architecture of Stockholm's buildings is definitely eye-catching and beautiful. I think the most beautiful part of Stockholm is the old city center known as Gamla Stan ... when you take the metro through that station, you will see a scenic cityscape of the buildings.

I stayed during the week that Sweden celebrated "Sweden Day" ... which is on every June 6. Basically, it's suppose to be a nationalistic day celebrating Swedish identity, although after having spoken with several Swedish locals, it seems like it's not really much of a holiday, but more as day to take off and enjoy the parks. On that day, it just happened to be the warmest and sunniest day of the week. I took advantage of it by going to the Skansen and Djurgården parks. Skansen is a enclosed paid park where you can see how the Swedes lived back in the day, while Djurgården is simply a nice open park.

On the last day,  I decided to relax more so than to any tourist sightseeing, but I did run across the Skogskyrkogården - which is a cemetery park. It's on many blog lists of things to do, but honestly, I'd pass it as it's really not that captivating or interesting. 

Overall, Stockholm was a pleasant stay, and I enjoyed going to the local pubs to grab Swedish beer and drinks, but honestly .. just like Helsinki ... I personally couldn't get a feel of what the true identity of Stockholm is. Perhaps next time when I return during the winter months so that I can visit the northern parts of Sweden to see the northern lights, I'll be able to see more parts of this city.

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- Have you been to Stockholm? What local spots do you recommend?

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Feel free to see my full 2017 European travel plans.

Next Location >> Rome & Florence, Italy

Previous Location >> Helsinki, Finland

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