Sweden: Stockholm, the Archipelago and Gotland

1. Day 1: Arrive in Stockholm

   Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ARN) to your hotel, then an evening walk to Gamla Stan

   • By train
   • Dinner
   • Stay in Stockholm
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ARN), about 40 km north of the city. The Arlanda Express train takes about 20 minutes to Stockholm Central, and we meet you there and walk or drive you to the hotel; if you land late in the evening we send a car instead. Stockholm is built on fourteen islands where Lake Mälaren meets the Baltic, and the hotel is within about fifteen minutes' walk of Gamla Stan, the old town. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the week: the boat day, the ferry to Gotland, what to pack for wind on the water. Then we walk across the bridge into Gamla Stan, past the Royal Palace and up to Stortorget, the old square with its tall gabled merchant houses painted red and ochre. Dinner together is at a restaurant nearby, and in June the sky is still light when you walk back.

   Included

   • Arlanda Express from the airport to Stockholm Central, or a car for late arrivals
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Evening walk to Stortorget in Gamla Stan
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the early-evening briefing

   Activity: Plan to land by about 3 pm to make the briefing; the exact time is confirmed with your final itinerary. The Arlanda Express from the airport to Stockholm Central takes about 20 minutes.

   

2. Day 2: Stockholm: the Vasa and Gamla Stan

   Djurgården, then by ferry to Gamla Stan and the heights of Södermalm

   • By ferry
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Stockholm
   Day 2 details

   We are at the Vasa Museum on Djurgården when it opens, before the coach groups. The Vasa was a royal warship that sank in Stockholm harbour on her maiden voyage in 1628 and lay in the mud until she was raised in 1961; almost everything you see, the carved lions and the gilded stern, is original. From Djurgården a small ferry crosses to Slussen, and your guide walks you through Gamla Stan early in the day: Stortorget, Storkyrkan, the cathedral where Swedish kings were crowned, the outside of the Royal Palace and Mårten Trotzigs gränd, a stepped lane under a metre wide. Lunch is a sit-down meal of Swedish home cooking in the old town. Afterwards we cross to Södermalm and climb to the viewpoints above Slussen, looking back over Riddarfjärden to City Hall and Riddarholmen Church. The rest of the afternoon and the evening are yours.

   Included

   • Vasa Museum at opening with your guide
   • Ferry from Djurgården to Slussen
   • Guided walk through Gamla Stan: Stortorget, Storkyrkan, the Royal Palace from outside and Mårten Trotzigs gränd
   • Sit-down lunch in Gamla Stan
   • The viewpoints above Slussen on Södermalm

   Optional experiences

   • The Royal Palace state apartments
   • Skansen open-air museum
   • Fotografiska
   • ABBA The Museum

   Easier option: Skip the climb to Södermalm and stay in Gamla Stan for a fika after lunch.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: About 3 to 4 hours on foot on cobbles, with steps up to Södermalm.

   

3. Day 3: The outer archipelago: Sandhamn

   Stockholm to Stavsnäs by road, then by boat to Sandhamn and back

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Stockholm
   Day 3 details

   The Stockholm archipelago runs for some 80 km out from the city, tens of thousands of islands thinning from wooded inner islands to bare outer rocks. Rather than a loop near the city, we go out to Sandhamn, on Sandön at the edge of the open sea. After breakfast our vehicle takes us about an hour east to the harbour at Stavsnäs, and a scheduled archipelago boat runs out among the islands in about an hour. Sandhamn has been a pilot station and customs post for centuries and is now the sailing centre of the archipelago: a harbour of red and yellow wooden houses, the yacht club and its boats. Lunch is seafood by the harbour. Then we walk about 2 km through pine woods and over sand to Trouville, the beach on the south side of the island, with time to swim or sit on the rocks. We take an afternoon boat back to Stavsnäs and are in Stockholm by early evening.

   Included

   • Drive to Stavsnäs and back
   • Archipelago boat from Stavsnäs to Sandhamn and back
   • Walk around Sandhamn's harbour and old pilot village with your guide
   • Seafood lunch in Sandhamn
   • Walk to Trouville beach

   Easier option: Stay in the village after lunch: a bench by the harbour, a café and the short walk around the old houses instead of the beach.

   More active option: Walk on from Trouville along the shore path around the south of the island, about 2 km more, and rejoin the group at the harbour.

   Free time: Evening free in Stockholm

   Activity: Boat times follow the summer timetable and are confirmed with your dates. Bring a windproof layer for the boat.

4. Day 4: Across the Baltic to Visby

   Stockholm to Nynäshamn, then by ferry to Visby on Gotland

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Visby
   Day 4 details

   A slow morning, then our vehicle takes us about an hour south to Nynäshamn for the ferry to Gotland, Sweden's largest island. The crossing takes about three and a quarter hours, and lunch is included on board, with seats by the windows as the coast drops away and the open Baltic opens up. Visby rises from the sea as you come in: church towers and the long line of the town wall above the harbour. Our hotel is in or just outside the old town, a short walk from the quay, and your luggage goes ahead. Visby was a Hanseatic trading town, and its wall, built in the late 13th century and more than 3 km long with dozens of towers, still rings almost the whole old town; UNESCO listed it in 1995. In the early evening, when the day visitors have left, your guide walks you along the outside of the wall to Almedalen park and up through the lanes to the cliff top for the view over the roofs and the sea. Dinner is free.

   Included

   • Drive from Stockholm to Nynäshamn
   • Ferry from Nynäshamn to Visby
   • Lunch on board the ferry
   • Evening walk with your guide along Visby's town wall, Almedalen and the cliff-top viewpoint

   Free time: Late afternoon and dinner free

   Activity: Ferry times vary by date and are confirmed with your final itinerary. If the sea is rough, the crossing can be lively; sit low and in the middle of the ship.

5. Day 5: Visby: picture stones, ruins and the cathedral

   A day on foot in Visby's old town

   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Visby
   Day 5 details

   We start at the Gotland Museum's Fornsalen when it opens. Gotland is rich in Viking-age finds, and the museum holds carved picture stones, tall slabs showing ships, warriors and the dead riding to Valhalla, and the Spillings hoard, one of the largest Viking silver hoards ever found, dug up in a Gotland field in 1999. From there your guide walks you through a town of more than a dozen medieval church ruins: St Karin, the Franciscan church on the main square, open to the sky; St Nicolai, the Dominican church; and St Mary's Cathedral, the only one of Visby's medieval churches still in use. Lunch is a sit-down meal near Stora Torget. The afternoon is yours: the botanical garden by the sea wall, the lanes of small wooden houses in the north of the town, or a bike ride along the coast.

   Included

   • Gotland Museum (Fornsalen) at opening: the picture stones and the Spillings hoard
   • Guided walk through Visby: St Karin and St Nicolai ruins, St Mary's Cathedral, the town wall gates
   • Sit-down lunch in Visby

   Optional experiences

   • Bike hire for the coast

   Easier option: After lunch, the botanical garden and a café inside the walls, both flat and close to the hotel.

   More active option: Hire a bike and ride about 8 km south along the coast to the cliffs at Högklint for the view back to Visby.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: About 3 hours on foot in the morning; Visby's lanes are cobbled and slope up from the harbour to the cliff.

6. Day 6: Fårö: the raukar and Bergman's island

   Visby to Fårösund, by car ferry to Fårö, Langhammars and Digerhuvud, then back to Visby

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Visby
   Day 6 details

   Today is the island's wild north. Our Gotland vehicle drives about an hour to Fårösund, where a short car ferry crosses the sound to Fårö, a flat island of heath, pine and stone walls. We go first to Langhammars on the north-west coast while it is still quiet. The raukar are limestone sea stacks, the remains of old reefs worn by the sea into pillars and heads, standing on a shore of grey stones; Digerhuvud, a little further on, has a long line of them. Lunch is at a farm or village restaurant on the island. In the afternoon we visit the Bergman Center near Fårö church; the film director Ingmar Bergman lived on Fårö for about forty years, filmed several of his films here and is buried in the churchyard. On the way back there is time at Sudersand, the long sandy beach on the island's east side. Back in Visby we sit down together for a final dinner in Visby: Gotland lamb and saffron pancake with dewberry jam.

   Included

   • Drive to Fårösund and the car ferry to Fårö and back
   • Langhammars and Digerhuvud raukar with your guide
   • Lunch on Fårö
   • The Bergman Center
   • Sudersand beach
   • Final dinner in Visby

   Easier option: Stay by the vehicle at Langhammars, where the closest stacks are a few minutes' walk from the parking area.

   More active option: Walk the shore between Langhammars and Digerhuvud, about 3 km on stones, and be collected at the far end.

   Activity: The shore at Langhammars is loose stone; wear shoes with a firm sole.

7. Day 7: Back to Stockholm and home

   Visby by ferry to Nynäshamn, Gamla Stan for lunch, then Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ARN)

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   Day 7 details

   We take a morning ferry from Visby back to Nynäshamn, about three and a quarter hours across the Baltic, with breakfast at the hotel or on board depending on the sailing. Our Stockholm vehicle meets the ferry and drives about an hour into the city for a farewell lunch in Gamla Stan, with a last hour to wander its lanes, shops and cellars before you go. Your guide confirms each guest's departure time the day before. From Stockholm Central the Arlanda Express takes about 20 minutes to Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ARN), about 40 km north of the city, and your guide sees you onto the train or into a pre-booked car. Arlanda has direct and connecting flights home to Canada and the United States. Book a flight leaving after about 5 pm. If you need to leave earlier, tell us when you book: we can put you on a short flight from Visby to Arlanda instead of the ferry, at cost. If you want to stay on in Stockholm, we can book extra hotel nights.

   Included

   • Ferry from Visby to Nynäshamn
   • Drive from Nynäshamn to central Stockholm
   • Farewell lunch in Gamla Stan
   • Arlanda Express to Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ARN), or a pre-booked car

   Optional experiences

   • Extra nights in Stockholm

   Easier option: For a flight before about 5 pm, a short flight from Visby to Stockholm Arlanda in place of the ferry, at cost.

   Free time: An hour free in Gamla Stan after lunch

   Activity: The morning sailing from Visby may leave before 8 am, and the 5 pm flight advice depends on its time, which we confirm with your dates. Book a flight leaving after about 5 pm unless we tell you otherwise.

   

Wildlife and weather: June to August brings long days, with light until about 10 pm in Stockholm at midsummer, and the sea warm enough for a quick swim by July. Weather on the water changes fast, and a windy day can make the Gotland crossing rougher.

• Stockholm3 nights
• Visby3 nights