Recommendation

The Travelin’ Man’s Overall Recommendation: OK*
(quality of the experience was a little low, but I enjoyed it)

• What did I like the most: historical information about the buildings and statues
• What is the biggest area for improvement: tour guide was not very energetic

It felt more like a quick tour of the area around Kunsträdgården than a tour of Stockholm. It was informative and I am glad that we did it. But it felt hurried, and our guide was just not that enthusiastic. So the content was good, but the overall quality of the tour was below average.

I will be taking this tour again and will probably get a different guide. If so and if it turns out to be better, then I will come back and adjust this recommendation accordingly.

Logistics

This is a global walking tour company that works strictly on tips. So while their company title “Free Walking Tours” does imply it is free, keep in mind that it is a job for them and they only get paid from customer tips. The amount of the tip is based on your opinion of how good the tour was. I think generally anywhere from 130 kr to 450 kr (approx $15 to $50). But that’s just a rough guideline that I go by.

The tour we took was called “Free Walking Tour Stockholm.” It’s definitely a tour worth taking, even for locals since you probably walk right past a lot of this stuff but don’t know its history. Our tour was about an hour and a half. The advertisement said it was two hours, and I think two hours would have covered it better.

Our tour guide was Hanna. She did not put a lot of energy into it, but she was very knowledgeable and was able to answer all of our questions. The tour started in Gamla Stan and ended in Kungsträdgården. The advertisement said that it would end at the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace. So it looks as though our tour ended quite a bit earlier than it should have.

The Tour

We did learn about some of Sweden’s history, including the gruesome blood bath, but we did not get to see the square where it happened. We did see quite a few statues along the way. Our guide did a good job explaining the statues and their historical significance.

 

 

 

We saw the parliament building, the Royal Palace, and the old church (which is the oldest building in Stockholm). The featured image at the top of this article is the parliament building. Fantastic view. Also probably the best photograph I have ever taken in my life!

 

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* Each area is rated on a scale 1-5, with 1 = poor, 3 = good, 5 = exceptional
How did this do compared to what I had expected: 2
How well were the logistics handled: 3
Was the staff helpful and friendly: 3
Overall execution and presentation: 2
Total score interpretation: 10

4 – 8 is POOR (was not at all what I expected and/or was not worth the time/money)
9 – 10 is OK (quality of the experience was a little low, but I enjoyed it)
11 – 13 is GOOD (met expectations, would recommend, would do again)
14 – 15 is VERY GOOD (surprisingly good, exceeding on some levels)
16 – 20 is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED (outperformed my expectations, great value)

 

• Free Walking