Stockholm in winter, join us on the weekend trip! (with prices)

I woke up with a crazy thought that it would be a good idea to go see a winter Stockholm this weekend. I booked a last-minute accommodation and on Saturday morning, my friends and I went on the road – or on the railways, to be more precise. 😎

Day 1 – Saturday

Train tickets

The hardest choice to make was to pick the best train. Buying a train ticket during the week tends to be much cheaper than during the weekend. For comparing the ticket prices, I recommend Omio. It’s an app that shows you all the train/bus/flight ticket options for a certain day. I use it all the time!
We chose an SJ train for the way there (Skövde C to Stockholm C) and it cost 250 SEK per person. The whole journey took 3 hours and 24 minutes. That’s quite a long time right? But you know, with friends, time passes quickly.

For the way back, the best option was a Flixtrain for 400 SEK per person. Double the price but it only took 2 hours back to Skövde C. When buying train tickets in Omio, make sure you choose the right type of ticket. In the app, a person belongs to the Youth category up until 25, so you might be eligible for a discount!

Accommodation

For finding accommodation, there are two apps to go for: Airbnb and Booking. If you are not familiar with these apps yet, make sure to familiarise. This weekend, we chose a crazy option and booked a hotel on a boat (or a botel) through the Booking app. So we slept in a cabin on a boat and just for 220 SEK per person!! But this experience might not be for everyone…

The thing is that on a boat, you can’t open the window (obviously 😆). And one of my friends had a small panic attack due to claustrophobia at night. Something that she hasn’t ever experienced before. So if you are not into small and enclosed spaces, maybe it’s not something you’d like to experience. But for the rest of us, it was quite fun.

Ice Hockey!

We found a common room with a TV on the boat and got to watch the finals of the ice hockey matches at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. The match was between Sweden and Slovakia (where I come from). It was a crazy coincidence! Slovakia won, by the way, so we were pretty excited.

Evening Stockholm

After the hockey, we went for a walk through the evening Stockholm. It was pretty cold but unfortunately, we didn’t get to see much snow in the city. Instead, we saw beautiful views, buildings, and streets, so I am posting a photo dump for you.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the river the hotel was situated in was completely frozen. ❄ You could literally walk on it if you wanted to. But I would not advise it…

We were also lucky enough to experience a small winter event in Stockholm. They created a free ice rink at the city park. You could rent the ice skates for only 70 SEK which was a really good price. There was lightning and music but so many people that we just chose not to participate. I’m not a very skilled skater, so it was good enough for me to watch people dance around on their skates and fall occasionally – hence the photo.

Dinner

For dinner, we went to a restaurant. We tried burgers. It was just bread, meat, and cheese for 120 SEK per person. Crazy price compared to a burger with fries in Skövde! But well, it’s Stockholm…

Day 2 – Sunday

Breakfast

For breakfast, we decided to eat in the hotel. We paid 90 SEK per person and were served “Swedish tables” or Smörgåsbord (in Sweden, usually associated with Christmas). It means that we had a variety of breakfast dishes to choose from and we could eat as much as we wanted.

I didn’t manage to take a good photo but this pretty much covers what it looked like.

Stockholm during the day

First, we went on a stroll through the Old Town, also known as “Gamla Stan”. It is an area in Stockholm with authentic streets from the 17th-18th century.

We’ve got to see the police officers riding their horses. It’s pretty common for policemen to ride horses in Stockholm but for us, it was so unusual! And they even smiled and waved at us, since we were taking photos. So exciting!

Vasa Museum

After the morning walk, we made a stop at the Vasa museum. Stockholm is a sea full of museums and other exciting things to see. But since we tried to keep this trip cost-friendly, the only experience that we paid for was the Vasa museum. The entry was free up to 18 years of age and for adults, it costs exactly 170 SEK. Quite pricey but the exhibition was worth it. It displays an authentic 300 years old Viking boat in its full size and glory.

End of the trip

We came home around 8 pm – exhausted (and more broke)! But if you are in Sweden for school or work, Stockholm is certainly one of the “need to see” places. The whole trip cost me about 1000 SEK but there are certainly ways to do it for cheaper or more expensive! If you’d like to learn more about what living in Stockholm is like, this post is for you!