Student blogs

Summer is going so quickly and I know many of us will be making our way back to Stockholm in the next few weeks and with the weather still being nice and not having to worry about studying, it’s the perfect time to explore the area. Although COVID has limited the range of travel options, fortunately, there are numerous places you can visit in and around Stockholm. 

Day

Here are my top suggestions for places you can easily manage to visit within a day. Most of them are very cost-effective as well. 

• Tyresta National Park – this is less than 50 min from Stockholm central and has numerous good hiking trails! 
• Sigtuna – this is famous to be Sweden’s first town, founded in 980! It is only 45 minutes north of the city. 
• Archipelago – you can take a boat and visit numerous of the islands in the Archipelago, including visiting the largest museum in the Archipelago, Vaxholm. 
  • Sandhamn – this is on the outermost edge of the Archipelago and is famous for its “maritime terrain”.
  • Finnhamn – one of the most popular island for its swimming and hiking and is about 2.5 hours away.
• Uppsala – this is the closest “big” city to Stockholm. It is only 49 minutes on the train from Stockholm central. It is a big university town (with the oldest university in Sweden), so there are lots of things for students! 
• Drottningholm Palace – this is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is the residence of the Swedish Royal Family. You can explore the grounds and garden for free and it is only 70.00 SEK for a student to enter the palace. It takes 50 min with public transit to get there. 

Weekend

These places are slightly farther away, so to make it worthwhile, you may want to make it a weekend trip! 

Many of these places are accessible by train: 

• Copenhagen – approximately a 6-hour train ride (make sure you look into the updated COVID guidelines and restrictions)
• Northern Sweden including Are, Lapland, Kiruna 
• Gothenburg – approximately 5-hour train ride 
• Lund/Malmö – approximately 4.5-hour train ride 

Ferry 

• Gotland – approximately 4-hour ferry ride 
• Cruises to Baltic Countries, Helsinki, St Petersburg – these are a very cost and time-effective way to see new countries. However, there may be changes or cancellations due to COVID. The most common two companies are Viking Line and TallinK Silja Line. 

Camping

For those of you interested in exploring the Swedish camping scene a bit more and have your own gear (otherwise, you can rent!).

In Sweden, they have a law that everyone has a right to use the land, that means, you can camp (almost) anywhere, as long as you are ensuring people and the environment are safe. I would recommend checking out the campsite in Tyresta National Park and on some of the islands in the Archipelago. 

If you have any questions, feel free to email me lauren.elizabeth.wiebe@stud.ki.se and happy exploring!

Lauren