Day Trips out of Stockholm?

[Requeststop]

Any Good recommendations for a day trip out of Stockholm? Maybe a couple of hours out of the city and then a couple of hours decent exploration and a couple of hours returmn?

 

[Cloud Strife]

An excellent choice if you can be bothered is to go over to Aland.

You can get the ferry and bus (to the ferry terminal) for 120 SEK / 12 EUR return - https://www.eckerolinjen.se/en - 07:30 departure from Cityterminalen (other departure points available) and return to Cityterminalen at 16:45. Or you can stay on Aland for a while and get a later departure back, or if you feel very adventurous, you can go from Eckero (on Aland) to Mariehamn and return on the ferry to Stockholm that way.

 

[AlbertBeale]

An excellent choice if you can be bothered is to go over to Aland.

You can get the ferry and bus (to the ferry terminal) for 120 SEK / 12 EUR return - https://www.eckerolinjen.se/en - 07:30 departure from Cityterminalen (other departure points available) and return to Cityterminalen at 16:45. Or you can stay on Aland for a while and get a later departure back, or if you feel very adventurous, you can go from Eckero (on Aland) to Mariehamn and return on the ferry to Stockholm that way.

The Aaland islands are worth more than a brief landfall and back again!

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

The trip from Stockholm to Åland is a superb 5-hour run through the Stockholm archipelago and into Mariehamn, on the Turku ferry (Silja or Viking Line).
Unfortunately the timings have changed so that instead of a couple of hours or so ashore on a day trip you only get 10 minutes at the quayside to change to the incoming ferry.
But Eckerö (from Grisslehamn) is a shorter crossing with bus connection from Stockholm so a longer stay and some interesting combinations are possible.
The fare is extraordinarily cheap, and the ferries are among the best there are.
The navigational skills evident on the trip (and on to Turku) are amazing, not least the 180 degree turn on a sixpence at Mariehamn in order to dock.
Plus viewing all the other ferries on the route network into Stockholm.
I still have the chart Silja sold on the ferries (1982) showing the detailed route and all the lighthouses for the channel.

There's a restored Glasgow-built sailing ship at Mariehamn, the Pommern, which although Åland-owned spent much of its life in passage between Britain and Australia.
(Not to mention the Wasa museum in Stockholm, and the various local ferries there.)

Actually, you might have to scrap some of the above, and the very long standing 2-ship Silja route from Stockholm to Turku looks like becoming summer only.
Tallink are moving vessels around* for the winter and you can't do a day trip after September 20 (with the Swedish port changing to Kapellskär).
Looks like Viking Line offer the day trip indefinitely (fare €13.80), as well as Eckerö noted above.

* Remarkably, it seems two Tallink ships, including Galaxy currently on the Stockholm-Mariehamn-Turku run, are being chartered to the Netherlands for the winter, to act as accommodation for Ukrainian refugees.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

A pleasant afternoon trip is a cruise to the royal summer palace (Drottningholm) by one of the historic steam vessels - depart from the City Hall.

A good round trip is to take the ferry to Vaxholm Fortress and Island (depart from the Grand Hotel), cruising through the archipelago , bus to Arninge and narrow-gauge railway (Roslagsbanan) back to Stockholm (or in reverse).

 

[Cloud Strife]

The trip from Stockholm to Åland is a superb 5-hour run through the Stockholm archipelago and into Mariehamn, on the Turku ferry (Silja or Viking Line).
Unfortunately the timings have changed so that instead of a couple of hours or so ashore on a day trip you only get 10 minutes at the quayside to change to the incoming ferry.
But Eckerö (from Grisslehamn) is a shorter crossing with bus connection from Stockholm so a longer stay and some interesting combinations are possible.
The fare is extraordinarily cheap, and the ferries are among the best there are.

Yes, the Grisslehamn-Eckerö ferry is at a very low price because of the profits they make from duty free sales. You can take a car for as little as 18 Euro one way for travel tomorrow, simply because the reality is that Sweden doesn't overly enforce the duty free limits for political reasons. Åland very, very rarely control arrivals too, and one common thing is for Finns to buy a lot of alcohol when going from mainland Finland to Åland, then they come back via the Ålandstrafiken ferries where customs controls are non-existent.

Actually, you might have to scrap some of the above, and the very long standing 2-ship Silja route from Stockholm to Turku looks like becoming summer only.
Tallink are moving vessels around* for the winter and you can't do a day trip after September 20 (with the Swedish port changing to Kapellskär).
Looks like Viking Line offer the day trip indefinitely (fare €13.80), as well as Eckerö noted above.

Tallink are really having problems this year. I'm in touch with one of the directors of Tallink, and she says that the demand simply hasn't returned to the point where they're only operating one vessel on Tallinn-Stockholm, which is extraordinary. They were expecting traffic to boom this year, but it simply hasn't happened. Riga-Stockholm has also been suspended, which is a tremendous pity.

* Remarkably, it seems two Tallink ships, including Galaxy currently on the Stockholm-Mariehamn-Turku run, are being chartered to the Netherlands for the winter, to act as accommodation for Ukrainian refugees.

Silja Europa isn't much of a surprise, as they've been struggling to do something with her for years. But it is a surprise to see Galaxy being sent there, and really reflects how demand has dropped on the Baltic Sea. At this point though, I suspect that the only reason they're keeping Silja Europa is because they can make money by chartering her out for accommodation off-season.

For what it's worth, Silja Europa has been for sale for many years now. The problem is that no-one is really willing to meet Tallink's asking price for a nearly 30 year old ferry, and it's hard to see where she could realistically go.

 

[scarby]

Check out the Lennakatten heritage railway at Uppsala. It starts at Uppsala central station, which can be reached by regular commuter or regular trains from Stockholm with frequent services taking under an hour.

It is open this Saturday and Sunday, with steam, diesel and railbus traction. See https://lennakatten.se/tidtabeller/

You could take a short return trip if you like, say to Marielund, and then check out the city of Uppsala as well.

 

[duesselmartin]

I am surpised to hear that Tallink traffic is still below expectations. Whereever I travel, transport is packed with tourists catching up on what they missed in the past two years.

 

[Cloud Strife]

I am surpised to hear that Tallink traffic is still below expectations. Whereever I travel, transport is packed with tourists catching up on what they missed in the past two years.

It surprised me as well. But looking now at the fares for Helsinki-Tallinn, almost every single departure is at 29 Euro, which wasn't the case pre-pandemic. There are a handful of exceptions, such as Saturday morning from Helsinki and Sunday evening from Tallinn, but it's a clear sign that travel has dropped off between the two cities. The other thing is that there are now daytrip tickets for 31 Euro, and Tallink are even offering a trip to Tallinn with overnight accommodation for 40 Euro in a couple of weeks.

Looking at July's numbers, they only transported around 490k passengers between Tallinn and Helsinki. In comparison, in July 2019, they were transporting over 1.2m people.

The question is: what has happened? It's not as if the fares have changed much, Estonian alcohol pricing hasn't changed, and the Tallink offer is almost identical to what it was then, even down to the Star/Megastar combination.

 

[zero]

It surprised me as well. But looking now at the fares for Helsinki-Tallinn, almost every single departure is at 29 Euro, which wasn't the case pre-pandemic. There are a handful of exceptions, such as Saturday morning from Helsinki and Sunday evening from Tallinn, but it's a clear sign that travel has dropped off between the two cities. The other thing is that there are now daytrip tickets for 31 Euro, and Tallink are even offering a trip to Tallinn with overnight accommodation for 40 Euro in a couple of weeks.

Looking at July's numbers, they only transported around 490k passengers between Tallinn and Helsinki. In comparison, in July 2019, they were transporting over 1.2m people.

The question is: what has happened? It's not as if the fares have changed much, Estonian alcohol pricing hasn't changed, and the Tallink offer is almost identical to what it was then, even down to the Star/Megastar combination.

When I've travelled around this area, I was surprised at the number of ferry passengers who did not look ethnic Nordic / Baltic / European, although a drop from 1.2m to 0.5m is unlikely to be entirely due to a lack of tourists from far away.

I had the impression that Finland and the Baltics had a lot of covid-related entry hassles for a lot longer than other European countries, but I didn't look into it in detail. Perhaps others also got the same impression, even if wrong, and decided to go elsewhere for now.

 

[Cloud Strife]

When I've travelled around this area, I was surprised at the number of ferry passengers who did not look ethnic Nordic / Baltic / European, although a drop from 1.2m to 0.5m is unlikely to be entirely due to a lack of tourists from far away.

Yes, Tallinn in particular put a lot of effort into attracting Asian tourists. I met the head of the Estonian Tourist Board a few years back, and she said that on their limited budget, they'd put a lot of effort into attending Asian trade shows, and it was paying off handsomely. But you're right, this isn't just about

I had the impression that Finland and the Baltics had a lot of covid-related entry hassles for a lot longer than other European countries, but I didn't look into it in detail. Perhaps others also got the same impression, even if wrong, and decided to go elsewhere for now.

It is strange, because the triangle Helsinki-Stockholm-Tallinn routes were very strong in terms of ferry travel being something that people did for leisure. The Friday night departures from Stockholm to Tallinn/Helsinki and Helsinki to Stockholm in particular were notorious for wild partying, and several friends have stories of how they would get obliterated on the Friday night, sleep onboard throughout Saturday and then wake up for more partying on Saturday night.

It seems that Tallinn has become unpopular among people, but I really can't figure out why. My only suspicion is that the Finns post-pandemic have decided to avoid indoor spaces, and because Estonia is no longer the cheap booze paradise that it used to be in the 2000s, there's nothing to draw people back to the route once they got used to not going anymore.

I've just taken a quick look at the prices on Stockholm-(Aland)-Tallinn for duty free alcohol, and the prices are not by any means cheap. There are bottles of wine that cost 4 quid in the UK going for 9.99 Euro on board, and the selection is really, really poor with just one type of vodka and three types of whiskies on sale. There's no prices available for Helsinki-Tallinn, although from speaking to some locals in Tallinn, they say that

There is one other possibility: inflation is raging in Estonia right now, and perhaps Tallinn is just no longer as attractive as it used to be for Finnish tourists? Estonia has been trying desperately hard to get rid of the 'alko-tourism' that it was known for among Finns, and I just wonder if it hasn't backfired?

One addition: it seems that Viking Line have also cut Helsinki-Stockholm down to one boat. Insane.

 

[Jamesrob637]

I went to Uppsala one day which is a pleasant university town.

 

[Gloster]

Thirty years ago when I lived in Sweden Uppsala had a reputation for being very ‘lively’ in the evenings.

 

[davetheguard]

Back in 2016 I did a trip on the steam boat Mariefred from a pier by city hall in central Stockholm to the place after which the boat was named. Refreshments including lunch could be purchased on the boat.

From there it was on to a narrow gauge steam railway to Laggesta, before completing the circuit by main line train back from Laggesta to Stockholm. We bought a round trip ticket from the pier that included all three legs. A whole day out and good fun.

 

[telstarbox]

Are there any particularly interesting rail spots within the city itself - I've seen the Metro stations look impressive?

 

[Gloster]

Roslagsbanan is a very efficient 891 mm. network.