Tag: stockholm tour

Cruise to Rosersberg Palace

Cruise to Rosersberg Palace

 

Recommendation

The Travelin’ Man’s Overall Recommendation: VERY GOOD*
(surprisingly good, exceeding on some levels)

  • What did I like the most: amount of original content in the castle
  • What is the biggest area for improvement: more time slots for English tours

Logistics

We got our tickets at the Stadshuset and Riddarholmen Boat Tours, Stadshusbron, Klara Mälarstrand 2, 111 52 Stockholm. They were 445 kr each.

The Boat trip is two hours each way, and the return time is fixed, meaning the boat leaves and then returns to pick you up at the specific time. We left the dock from Stadshuset at 10am sharp. It is a guided tour, meaning they will call out points of interest along the way over the speaker system.

The Boat

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The name of our boat was s/s Evert Taube. She is what I’ve come to expect from Stromma for cruises like this.

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There’s a fairly large internal cabin, a large upper deck (exposed) and a smaller back deck that is outside but covered.

It has a snack bar in the main cabin that serves sandwiches, chips, and soft drinks. You can also get wine and beer at the bar.

There is also free wifi. Just don’t count on it always working. 😉

 

The Cruise

The cruise was excellent. Going out, we sat up on the outside deck and enjoyed an abundance of sunshine, fresh air, and good company. We even got some coffee and pastries from the bar and brought them up.

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As I have mentioned on all Lake Mälaren cruises, the scenery here is just amazing. It’s great watching the landscape transform from city to country.

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This is especially evident on the above shot, which is Hasselby Strand, the end of the green line. After that, no more big buildings. The guides will sometimes call that out, but other times they don’t. And this brings up my biggest gripe about the cruise; there is no speaker down in the main cabin. So if you want to hear the tour guide, you have to be on the top deck.

The Palace

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This is now one of my favorite Swedish palaces. It is just bristling with Sweden’s history, and so much of the castle contents is still original, including many rugs, tapestries, paintings, and furniture.

This was the palace of King Karl XIII before he was king. He was the younger brother of the famous Gustav III, who of course was assasinated at the opera and whose son was exiled.

 

Unfortunately, the only way to see the palace interior is by guided tour. But, the tour was very well done. She pointed out some of the more intimate details, like the hidden passage into the queen’s bedroom and the cool stairway from the king’s bedroom that led to his upstairs library. Fascinating stuff.

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The tour was 100 kr, but certainly well worth it. As I mentioned earlier, this palace has a lot of original content and is very well preserved. Some of the rooms define majestic beauty and look exactly like you envisioned from novels you may have read.

If I have a complaint here, it is that the English tour only ran at 3pm, and we arrived at 12pm. On the other hand, that gave us plenty time to have lunch and tour the grounds on our own.

Food

There were snacks and sandwiches on the boat. In the morning, we had coffee and pastries. On the afternoon cruise, there is a cooked meal available. I believe our offering was salmon, but we didn’t get it. If you want the afternoon meal, you should inform the staff prior to disembarking at the palace.

There is a cafe in the palace. It is very small and offers some salads and sandwiches, plus a selection of desserts. And of course wine and beer.

* 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: 4
How well were the logistics handled: 3
Was the staff helpful and friendly: 3
Overall execution and presentation: 4
Total score: 14
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)

Bridges Boat Tour

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: Audio guide provided useful info about history and architecture
  • What is the biggest area for improvement: Boat was small, insufficient outdoor seating

The boat did not afford good views of the bridges. The content from the audio is good, but you’d be better served to use the Drottningholm Palace cruise. The boat is much better, and the scenery is fantastic. It’s about the same amount of cruising time, but costs less.

Logistics

We bought our tickets from and departed from the Strandvägen terminal. The tour also departs from Strömkajen, but on a slightly earlier schedule. We paid 260 kr each, and the tour was around 2.5 hrs. The boat leaves leaves on the hour from 10am to 6pm during prime season. Check online for departure times from Strömkajen.

It’s an audio guided tour. If you don’t bring your own earphones, they will provide you a pair at no cost.

The Boat

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This is the aspect that brought their rating down. Considering it was advertised as “Under the Bridges of Stockholm” I would have expected to be able to get some great pictures of the bridges, like in the advertisements.

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But we were seated in the interior, with limited window seats, and facing out to the sides. It’s bench seating on each side of a table. If you don’t get there early, you may not get a window seat. Furthermore, there are two pickup spots, so if you are boarding at Strandvägen, there may not even be any good seats left since it leaves from Strömkajen first. There was a very small outdoor area in the back, but it only seated about 10 passengers and was full when we boarded.

There is a snack bar with sandwiches and treats, and they also serve wine and beer.

The Tour

The boat goes all the way around the southern island (Södermalm), turns around at the City Hall, then comes back using the same route. It swings a little bit wide on either side to pick up a couple of extra bridges.

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I would have thought the audio guide would be mostly focused on the architecture and history of the bridges, but it was just general Stockholm information. This included a full spoiler for The Vasa, so if you have friends or relatives with you and you were wanting them to learn about The Vasa incident at the museum, then don’t use the audio. Thanks to my friend Melissa for hanging out the window to get the above shot!

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There was some really good architectural and historic information about the buildings we saw and how they came into being as the culture and politics of the area evolved.

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The route took us all the way around Södermalm, so you get to go through the Lock of Hammarby, which separates the fresh water lakes from the Baltic ocean.

We went by the old Absolut factory, but somehow were not able to see the famous vodka barrels. Was probably too busy talking and just missed them. 🙂

 

* 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: 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 Tour Stockholm

Free Walking Tour Stockholm

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)