To travel by train is possible within Sweden or to Norway or Denmark, but it’s generally not considered to be especially cheap and takes longer time than flying. You can travel from Malmö to Germany with www.bahn.de and there is of course possible to connect to other European cities. Try out the InterRailnet.com pass (or eurail.com for non-Europeans).

X2K Train Malmö-Copenhagen. Photo by Hugh Llewelyn

The main train booking site in Sweden is sj.se. To get the cheapest ticket you can, a great advice is to book in low traffic days like Mondays and too book early, because last minute deals are only for retires and youngster under 26. Last minute can be bought the last 24 hours before departure.

Another alternative is to buy the tickets at Tradera.se where SJ is placing their unsold train tickets on auction with the outgoing price as 1 SEK. Book your train ticket on the internet or in the ticket automat at the station to get the lowest booking fee. Also check the different train types, very often the speed train X200 is more expensive.

Personally (and many others with me) I find SJ’s new system to buy tickets more complicated, I like the way it were before when there were normal ticket prices and last minute prices.

There are also the alternative to book with veolia-transport.se, for example between Malmö – Stockholm or Malmö – Berlin. Their ticket system is with fixed ticket rates.

Both the Resrobot at reseplanerare.resrobot.se (mobile app too) and resplus.se are very useful travel tools if you decide to take a train trip.

You can find a list with all the tracks in Sweden at www.jarnvag.net, (info in Swedish) and lots of other information. Especially interesting if you’re a train enthusiast, since they also keep a list of Museum railways (even some steam trains).

If going from Stockholm Arlanda Airport in to Stockholm City I recommend taking the express train arlandaexpress.se to/from Arlanda since the traffic is sometimes not so reliable, with the train you’re always in time. They also use to have a journey time guarantee, so if you’re not in time, check if they pay you back the ticket price.

To travel locally within Stockholm County you can go by the subway. Timetables for the Stockholm subway can be found at sl.se and it goes rather far out in the suburbs. Make sure you get the right ticket card to lower your subway ticket fee’s, because buying only one ticket at the moment, is going to be expensive for you.

There are available SL cards I recommend that’s valid from 24h up to 7 days (and beyond if you plan to stay for long), but if you’re going to do sightseeing which includes a lot of museums and other attractions, I do recommend to get the Stockholm Card from the tourist office. It’s worth it and makes things a lot easier.

©Lifecruiser Love Train Rides

Other train travel related posts at Lifecruiser:

Travel News: Arctic Circle Pass by SJ
Where to go by train from Madrid
How to find cheap holiday deals from Sweden
 

A perfect day in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden and capital of Scandinavia, would be during summertime. It’s then you really can take advantage of what gave it the nicname The Northern Venice – the waterways both in the lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea which is surrounding the city from all directions.

Stockholm Old Town waterfront

Stockholm don’t feel like a big capital city, more like a romantic city just like Venice with it’s old architecture and canals, except that Stockholm don’t have the gondola rides. Instead there are plenty of boats in the city, since it consists of 14 islands combined with many different bridges. It’s also both very green and clean, one of the cleanest capitals in the world.

There are several guided boat tours to take, as well as opportunites to hire a boat or kayak and paddle your own "gondola" and sing romantic songs for your beloved one to make this day perfect. If you don’t bring your love with you, there is always the chance of meeting someone (there is a high density of singles in this city!). Why not take an old steamboat cruise, if you want a more unusual boat cruise?

Stockholm is a city with surprisingly many restaurants because the Swedes are very fond of international cuisine, but I suggest that you find yourself one in the waterfront where you can sit and enjoy the sea breeze while different boats is passing by. Perhaps a romantic boat cruise in the evening where dinner is served aboard.

The city has numerous green parks, so if you want a more budget alternative, you could buy something to eat in a local grocery stores or covered markets, there are plenty of ready-made dishes, salads and delicacies to bring with you outdoors and have a picnic somewhere nice.

A very popular picnic place is out on Djurgården, where also many other attractions are located, such as museums, Kaknästornet (tower with great views), Skansen (outdoor museum), the amazing Wasa War Ship museum – and the amusement park Gröna Lund if you are up to a rollercoaster ride and other terrifying rides.

If you want some exercise that is not too exhausting, there is different walking tours in the city, like the ABBA city walk, Millennium tour, rooftop walks or ghost walks in the evening darkness. Or why not rent a bike from one of the many bike stands?

Stockholm is a wonderful city to explore by your own, very safe and not too big to get totally lost within either. Your chances to get a perfect day are big, but as usual: it’s your own choice to have fun or not and remember, if you’re coming here: don’t forget to tell me about it so I may help you to experience that perfect day!

Some special dates to visit:

• Around the 20th of April: the pink cherry tree’s in bloom in the Kungsträdgården making a fantastic flower walk path which gets many Stockholmers out of their winter hibernation to enjoy the spring sun and an icecream in the park.
• 6th of June: Sweden’s National Day, mostly in the Kings Garden with some performances and tents with food and drinks. You could also get a glimpse of the Swedish royals passing by if keeping an eye on their schedule.
• Second Wednesday in June (June 12, 2013): The Archipelago Steamboat Day (actually in the evening only), departures from Strömkajen. Check with Stockholm tourist office to verify date and available tickets out to Waxholm.
• Midsummer Eve Celebration, June 21, 2013: If not invited to a Swedish Midsummer Festive event by friends with family, the best choice would be to go to Skansen, the outdoor museum where public traditional celebration always is held as well.

Of course there are many other dates where special events may be hold too, but these ones above might be the most special or traditional ones.

©Lifecruiser Love Stockholm

 
This post is part of the initiative "100 cities to home swap before you die" from Knok.com.
 

Being in Scandinavia or more exact, in Sweden, there is one sport event coming up very soon, that is more unusual and interesting than others: the Vikings Ice Race or Vikingarännet in Swedish. 80 kilometer long ice skating between the town Uppsala and Stockholm, Sweden’s capital city.

The idea of a Viking Ice Race popped up when visitors from the skating organisation from Holland visited Sweden after their Eleven Cities Tour (Elfstedentocht) of 1997 together with the winner of that years competition. An investigation started which later did show that the only route possible of a Swedish skate competition is just the route Uppsala-Stockholm, because it’s there the safest ices are with not so much open water.

To skate between Uppsala and Stockholm had been a classic route for all kinds of ice skaters for many years already before the Viking Run started for the first time in 1999, organized by the Friluftsfrämjandet organization and the Swedish skate association including other sponsors.

In 2013 it’s scheduled to go off at the 10th of February around 8am at Skarholmen, Uppsala and finish in Hässelby, a suburban of Stockholm. The Viking Run race is probably the worlds longest recurring ice skate race that take place on only natural ice and not on a special built up or artificial ice track.

There are actually several different races:

• The Vikingarännet 80 km start in Uppsala
• Tjejrännet (Women Race) 35 km start in Sigtuna
• A short race of 15 km start in Kungsängen

The race got it’s name from following the ancient Viking transport routes on lake Mälaren, but you don’t have to be a Viking to participate. All types of skates are allowed and I actually hope for some participants to choose similar skates as the Vikings!

Yes, even the Vikings did skate, but their skates were made of animal thigh/shin bones, had no shoe and were attached by leather strings only. At just one spot on the Swedish island Björkö, in the Viking town Birka, they found 70 skates together.

In this year’s vikingarännet there are more participants from other countries in Europe, like Great Britain, Belgium and Holland (last years winner) of course – so obviously this Swedish competition starts to be more known around Europe’s ice skaters.

If you have the opportunity to get there, there are plenty of places where you can see the ice skaters swooshing by. Or why not sign up for the race? Go to vikingarannet.com to signup or get more information.

Sign up for a distance that suits you, read the rules properly (ex. Ice prods are compulsory), prepare yourself to skate strong as a Viking, hope for great weather reports and have fun racing!

Lets hope the cold weather will continue, so there will be great ice’s for skating, you never know with the Swedish weather…

To get there:

From Europe there are low budget airlines like Norwegian.com or Ryanair.com to fly you to Stockholm, but I would try to get a Norwegian flight in the first hand, because you will arrive at Arlanda airport, which is much closer to the event than Skavsta airport where Ryanair arrives.

I also recommend that you take the arlandaexpress.com into Stockholm City Center or if you are going to Uppsala, take the special flightbus 801 between Arlanda airport and Uppsala. Also have a look at the arrivalguides.com and look up either Stockholm or Uppsala to get more start info about the two cities.

Special thanks to:

Anders Tysk, secretary-general and one of the originators of Vikingarännet for replying to my request, providing me with more information and pictures from the competition to use when writing this blog post.

©Lifecruiser Love Viking Ice Run

The Viking Run (Vikingarännet) 2013 Map, (click to see details)